Objectives:
Programmable
Logic Controllers (PLCs) are the most common devices for integrating and
controlling industrial processes. Despite having standard programming
languages, it is still time consuming their direct programming. Using higher
level programming languages, as IO Petri nets, followed by the translation to
the PLC languages, is a convenient way to create PLC programs. Since PLC
standard languages do not have all the features of Petri nets, in some cases
the PLC implementation may not be exactly the desired one. It is important to
validate the PLC implementation. Using external hardware devices, or internal
software interfaces, which monitor the PLC inputs and outputs during a
verification stage, is promising way to go.
The
main objectives of the work are the following:
-
Develop one digital (binary) interface to the PLC
-
Use the interface for logging, along time, the input
and output binary signals of the PLC
-
Identify simple Discrete Event Systems (observable, described by a small number
of states)
Localization:
ISR
/ IST
Observations:
Previous
works provide good starting points for the thesis. In particular a number of
hardware prototypes already exist, together with a number of system models
already available in a database.
This
work is conducted in collaboration with the company Inocam,
responsible for the engineering design of industrial machines used in the
footwear industry.
More information in:
http://isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/~jag