A methodology based on distributed object-oriented technologies for providing remote access to industrial plants

Remote access to industrial plants has proven a serious competitive advantage. However, building efficient and safe systems is not a trivial task. It requires the integration of diverse complex technologies at different levels. Even though these technologies are not extended in industrial environments, in the authors’ opinion, they are mature enough to be used in industrial applications. This paper proposes a systematic object-oriented methodology to build applications with remote access to industrial plants through Internet-like networks. The methodology guides the designer regarding key issues, such as security, concurrency, distribution of alarms and monitoring information to different kinds of users. A generic architecture for building remote access applications is proposed. The central components of the architecture are the so-called Application Servers (ASs). Each of them offers services to remote users and directly accesses to specific parts of the physical plants. The proposed methodology suggests the basic structure for these ASs, based on several reusable components, as well as mechanisms to determine the number of ASs required. The instantiation of the generic architecture as well as the stages of the methodology are validated through an industrial case study: a laboratory manufacturing cell.