A dynamic pair-program sending architecture for industrial remote operations

Abstract

Remote operations such as maintenance, diagnoses, and command executions are more and more needed in industrial automation domains. Remote operation software that flexibly responds to changes in requirements from factory, chemical plants, or remote-side operators is desired. We developed a dynamic program-sending and automatic starting architecture for this purpose. In the architecture, a pair of programs appears in one remote operation context at a time. One program called a "Worker" is dynamically sent to a plant side and another called a "WorkerGUI" is dynamically sent to a remote operator side. Both programs are simultaneously started and communicate each other using Java/RMI. The remote-side operator's commands via the "WorkerGUI" are sent and executed in the plant side "Worker" program and the execution results are sent back to the operator side "WorkerGUI". By using this architecture, a remote-side operator is able to select best match programs whenever he or she needs, and dynamically send and start them. Thus, the architecture establishes flexible remote operation environments. We explain our architecture first, and then, report the evaluation results through experiences of architecture development, three prototype application developments, and using the applications in a real remote plant operation environment.