A reconfigurable communication gateway for distributed embedded control systems

Modern automation and control systems used in industrial large-scale applications are characterized by its distributed nature in the areas of power and energy systems, manufacturing, building automation, and logistics. In order to cope with different communication needs and changing requirements in such large-scale scenarios over its life-time, the main aim of this paper is to propose a programmable and (re-)configurable communication gateway device compliant to domain standards. This approach is therefore based on the IEC 61499 reference model for distributed and reconfigurable automation and uses the service interface function block concept and highlevel communication patterns to achieve a hardware-independent access to communication services. Moreover, the utilization of the IEC 61499 management model supports the possibility of the online-reconfiguration of communication links and therefore provides a very flexible structure and implementation for an industrial automation gateway device.