Talk:Real-time Control System Software

What are Real-Time Control Systems?

This article, see here, introduces the Real-time Control System as:

The Real-time Control System (RCS) is a software system developed by NIST that implements a generic Hierarchical control system...

This definition speaks of a software system developed by the NIST.

Now the NIST paper: Hui-Min Huang, Harry Scott, Elena Messina, Maris Juberts, and Richard Quintero, (2000) "Intelligent System Control: A Unified Approach and Applications" states:

'The hierarchical real-time control system (RCS) reference model architecture that is under development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims at designing and developing intelligent control for large and complex systems...

This definition speaks of a "reference model architecture" and the paper itself gives an introduction of:

• The RCS Reference Model
• RCS Methodology

And two case studies.

From what I see in that paper, the RCS looks like an enterprise reference architecure.

But then in A. Gambier (2004). Real-time Control Systems: A Tutorial more or less presents Real-Time Control System as a field of control engineering, stating:

The implementation of digital control systems and real-time systems belong together and they should be connected more or less later in the control engineering curricula... However, it is difficult to find this connection in the standard textbooks, where the real-time implementation is almost always ignored. For example, a very good introduction into computer controlled systems can be found in [1], but no orientation to the real-time software is given there. Mechanisation of control algorithms are given e.g. in [9]. In [8], hardware and software for digital control systems are described shortly. On the other hand, in [3] the realtime system design is treated from the optic of control engineering without to consider implementation aspects.

So it seems to me the term "Real-Time Control System" has at least two/three different meanings:

1. A subfield control engineering focussing on digital control systems and real-time systems
2. A reference architecture developed by the NIST
3. A software system developed by NIST

Maybe two and three are the same...!?

If this is true maybe some changes have to be made here in time. I think:

• A (new) Wikipedia Real-time control system article should be about the subfield of control engineering
• The (new) article about the reference should be renamed something like: Real-Time Control System (Architecture), Real-Time Control System Architecture, RCS (Architecture), RCS Architecture, or RCS (Reference Architecture).
• The current article could be renamed : Real-Time Control System (software)

-- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 20:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Real-Time Control Systems : Software and Documentation

I guess this recent NIST webpage Real-Time Control Systems Library –– Software and Documentation. It starts with explaining:

The Real-Time Control Systems library is an archive of free C++, Java and Ada code, scripts, tools, makefiles, and documentation developed to aid programmers of software to be used in real-time control systems (especially those using the Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Systems Design).

It gives a listing of the following RCS tools:

• RCS Java-based Diagnostics Tool : A tool written as a java applet that allows programmers to see the status and send commands to any RCS module.
• RCS Java-based Diagnostics Tool Instructions : Instructions on how to build applications for use with the diagnostics tool.
• RCS-Design Tool : A tool written as a java applet that allows programmers to create RCS applications graphically and generates source code.
• RCS-Design Tool Instructions : Instructions on how to build applications with the RCS-Design tool.
• RCS Data Plotter : A Java applet which plots data on a cartesian or polar graph, read either in real-time or from a text file.
• Socket Interface to NML : Describes how to connect to an NML server using sockets directly. This information should also be useful for other languages where the C++ NML client interface is not available.
• RCS Posemath Library : A library of classes for representing positions, rotations, and translations in a variety of coordinate systems and the functions to add/subtract/multiply/divide/convert them. For more info on posemath you may also want to check out: Karl Murphy's Posemath Examples
• RCS Library Lower Level Utilities : Describes many of the lower level utilities used to create the NODE, CMS, and NML components of the RCS Library but which may be useful on their own. Includes timers, semaphores, linked-lists, printing, and windows functions.
• RCS Library Installation Instructions : Provides instructions for getting and making the RCS Library.
• RCS Library Version Functions : Documentation for some functions for determining at run-time which version of the RCS library your using.

These parts seems all elements of the RCS software system.

Now the RCS reference architecture developed by the NIST since the 1980s by James S. Albus is now called here Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Systems Design. I guess my question is is what to do with this. Te reason I started this whole discussion is because I like to write a (historical) article about the RCS reference model architecture...!?

-- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 22:42, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Intelligent Systems Architecture for Manufacturing (ISAM)

In a recent NIST publication An Intelligent Systems Architecture for Manufacturing (ISAM) A Reference Model Architecture for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems ISAM is proposed as a spin-off of the RCS. This publication states:

The ISAM architecture can be implemented using the Real-time Control System (RCS) [23, 24, 25] developed at NIST and elsewhere over the past quarter century...

For a moment I thought ISAM is the new name of RCS reference model architecture. Now it seems to be a spin-off, but I am not quite sure. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 18:03, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

From the NIST ISD Reference Models page I now understand:

• the ISAM Framework is an RCS application to the Manufacturing Domain.
• the 4D-RCS Reference Model Architecture is the RCS application to the Vehicle Domain, and
• the NASA/NBS Standard Reference Model for Telerobot Control Systems Architecture (NASREM) is an application to the Space Domain.

The Development Support and Reusable Software are called "RCS Software Library", so I guess renaming this article to:

1. Real-time Control System Software, or
2. RCS Software

would seem to be a wise thing to do. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 21:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Disambig page

As a start to further develop these terms here I created a Real-time control system disambig page. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 22:21, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Real-time Control System

I started a new Real-time Control System (RCS) article focussing on the Reference Model Architecture, and renamed this article. -- Marcel Douwe Dekker (talk) 01:45, 4 August 2009 (UTC)