Abstract A Standard for Real-Time Smart Transducer Interface

In order to handle the inherent complexity of the multitude of available different transducer components, a generic interface approach is necessary. Such a universal smart transducer interface should provide precisely defined interfaces between smart transducers and their users, which are simple and precisely specified within the value domain and the temporal domain. The Object Management Group adopted a smart transducer interface standard that incorporates (i) realtime characteristics and functionalities for the smart transducer network (ii) online diagnostic service capability (iii) support for start-up and dynamic configuration (iv) a uniform naming and addressing scheme for all relevant data in the smart transducer system (v) a generic interface that enables the smart transducer system to interact with other systems via CORBA. This paper describes the main concepts and implementation experiences of this smart transducer interface. The approach integrates a time-triggered communication protocol with an appropriate access scheme, the so-called interface file system. This interface file system provides a unique naming and addressing scheme enabling access to internal transducer data via a CORBA gateway.