Object-oriented graphical specification and seamless design procedure for manufacturing cell control software development

A seamless design methodology for developing manufacturing cell control software is proposed. The methodology is based both on the graphical specification and on the systematic design procedure of its conversion to the control code. The graphical specification describes the component configuration of the cell and the activity sequence on which the devices should act. An object diagram and an activity-control-condition diagram are introduced for this purpose. The systematic design procedure specifies a clearly-defined conversion from the initial graphical specification to the cell control software code. The conversion consists of three processes: refinement, translation and information. A diagram editor has also been developed to help the programmer carry out this design procedure. Finally, the functionality of the control software generated by using the proposed methodology is validated through co-simulation with a Petri net simulator