Talk:Wireless DNC
 | This article has not yet been rated on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. |
So, I'm something of a domain expert in this area (I've written firmware for use with Wireless DNC, and write DNC software), and this article has a few issues. DNC can refer to two different things: 'Direct Numerical Control' or 'Distributed Numerical Control'. Direct Control is pretty antiquated, but still sometimes used, and it refers to directly controlling a machine from a remote computer. DNC more commonly refers to a DNC System (Distributed Numerical Control System), which is software made for transferring entire programs from a computer system into machine memory. DNC Systems often have additional features for comparing and organizing files, and may use protocols other than RS232, such as SMB, FTP, or proprietary protocols like Fanuc Focas.
Summed Up: Direct Control -> Slowly feeding run data into a machine from a remote system while the machine is in cycle (though sometimes this is actually done from the machine itself when it has an external drive mounted). Distributed Control -> What the article is mostly talking about. Transferring entire programs into machine memory.
To make things more confusing, most Distributed Numerical Control systems offer Direct Numerical Control as a feature. So, The DNC system supports DNC. Colloquially, Direct Control DNC is referred to as 'Drip Feeding' for this reason. Individual machines may have 'DNC' buttons or features however.
Wireless DNC can thus refer to two different things: 1. Wirelessly Drip Feeding 2. Wirelessly Transferring Programs to Machines
Neither of these require a specific protocol to be used, as listed in the article.
Additional side notes: -Proprietary protocols other than RS232 can be used for Drip Feeding (Direct Control). -I'm not even going to get into how wrong the bits about WiFi/IP/Domain are. Modern RS232 units use TCP/IP, and function independent of 'Domain'. -Interesting historical note, the first purpose built wireless units for DNC (both kinds of DNC) actually had a custom stack and didn't use TCP/IP at all. -Drivers/virtual COM ports are commonly used, but not a requirement for either kind of Wireless DNC (ie you can connect a wireless bridge to a Fanuc machine and use to Focas protocol to transfer files or drip feed the machine).
I would argue that this article is going in completely the wrong direction. There is an interesting history to Wireless DNC which this article could be covering (though it's not really documented anywhere, unfortunately). Instead this article is doing a poor job of trying to explain DNC, and then stating that specific technologies (which are commonly used) are what make up Wireless DNC.