Ontology-based Determination of Alternative CNC Machines for a Flexible Resource Allocation

In case of an unplanned machine breakdown, alternative resources have to be found quickly to avoid delays in following process steps. In order to counter this, an automated determination of alternative CNC-machines and a reliable validation is proposed. First, a rough process description is extracted from the NC program. Second, a suitable machine is searched in an ontology based on the rough process description. The ontology contains a description of all needed properties of a machine and rules to derive the resulting capabilities. Third, the NC program is validated on a virtual machine to ensure the absence of errors.