IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics

By Yuefei Xu, Ronggong Song, Larry Korba, Lihui Wang, Weiming Shen and Sherman Lang

Abstract - In today's globalized business world, outsourcing, joint ventures, mobile and cross-border collaborations have led to work environments distributed across multiple organizational and geographical boundaries. The new requirements of portability, configurability and interoperability of distributed device networks put forward new challenges and security risks to the system's design and implementation. There are critical demands on highly secured collaborative control environments and security enhancing mechanisms for distributed device control, configuration, monitoring, and interoperation. This paper addresses the collaborative control issues of distributed device networks under open and dynamic environments. The security challenges of authenticity, integrity, confidentiality, and execution safety are considered as primary design constraints. By adopting policy-based network security technologies and XML processing technologies, two new modules of Secure Device Control Gateway and Security Agent are introduced into regular distributed device control networks to provide security and safety enhancing mechanisms. The core architectures, applied mechanisms, and implementation considerations are presented in detail in this paper.

2. "A New Function Block Modeling Language Based on Petri Nets for Automatic Code Generation"

Abstract - A component based modeling language with the component interfaces derived from the elements of the Petri net theory called CNet is presented in this paper. In contrast to IEC 61499 function blocks that define the flow of events and data separately, CNet models them combined as colored tokens. The event-discrete behavior of CNet components is described by a special class of colored Petri nets with timed arcs and sharpened semantics in order to allow automatic generation of possibly concurrent Java code. In this paper, the state space of CNet components is analyzed and a novel event-discrete "handler-based" execution model that implicitly models an automaton is introduced.

Abstract - This paper presents the generic model of intelligent instruments and specifies it for intelligent sensors, from a functional point of view, i.e., from the point of view of the services they offer to the system designer. Basic services are concerned with data estimation and data characterization, both based on local transducers and on the availability of remote signals. Advanced services are concerned with data validation, through fault detection and isolation procedures, and with fault tolerance, by means of accommodation and reconfiguration strategies. Finally, the integration of intelligent sensors in distributed control systems is discussed.

Abstract - This paper presents a smart capacitive angle sensor suited for automotive and industrial use. To comply with tough constraints of such applications in terms of environmental conditions, unit costs, and physical size, a fully integrated solution is mandatory. However, the limitations and capabilities of a single mixed-signal integrated circuit have considerable impact not only on the hardware architecture of the digital and analog system components, but also on the feasible measurement algorithm. A thorough investigation of all major nonlinear effects leads to an accurate system-level model of the sensor which is used to design a robust and reliable fully integrated sensor system capable of handling signal offset and amplitude variations. In addition, the proposed system recognizes and reacts on electromagnetic disturbances. Measurements taken from a final prototype comply with the simulation results.

Abstract - This paper describes an intelligent optical sensor for real time defect detection in gas metal arc welding processes. The sensor measures the radiations emitted by the plasma surrounding the welding arc, and analyzes the information in real time to determine an index of local quality of the weld. The data processing algorithm encompasses a Kalman filter to reduce the heavy amount of noise affecting the measured signals, and an intelligent fuzzy system to assess the degree of acceptability of the weld. The fuzzy system is also able to detect the risk of specific problems (e.g., anomalies in the current, voltage or speed of the arc, contamination with other materials, holes) and the position of defects along the welding line. In an extensive experimental comparison, the fuzzy system outperforms a former version of the detection algorithm based on a statistical approach.

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IEEE Industrial Electronics Society

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics

Volume 1, Number 4, November 2005

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