Shigetoshi Sameshima

An autonomous decentralized system architecture and techniques for on-line development and maintenance

The recent movement to customer-driven production has resulted in the needs for flexible production systems, that are compatible with the localization, the concurrency, and the cooperation of development and maintenance processes under online operation. This paper proposes an architecture and techniques to make online development possible. This architecture enables the online development of frequently reconstructed systems and is based on the autonomous decentralized system concept, which is tolerant of heterogeneous subsystems in a system. Techniques for online development are described, with which development and maintenance subsystems cooperate with online subsystems share mutual data and online data synthetically, and are prevented from disturbing online operation. These features make it possible to develop or maintain systems locally and quickly even when specifications of the whole system are ambiguous. The proposed architecture and techniques have been applied to many industrial production systems, and their effectiveness has been verified in a steel production system.

Middleware technology for ubiquitous computing: AYA (context-aware and yet another service) that permits autonomous collaboration on super distributed objects

AbstrocrThe present paper proposes a middleware, named AYA, for ad-hoc and autonomous collaboration over the super distributed objects environments where existing information devices cannot be prescribed because of their mobile capability. According to discovery o f the information devices, AYA firstly defines the user context, and secondly assigns roles of information devices based on the scenario for the defined user context, and finally executes the service for the user. These processes are continuously and iteratively conducted where context definition and role assignment in real and dynamic environment are main focuses to be dealt with. Mathematical description of the definition and assignment processes is given as well as some experimental development.

A service selection method based on context types for a ubiquitous service system in a public space

Service systems in public spaces are now being developed by employing ubiquitous computers in these spaces. Such systems must provide services to end users with a wide range of motivations, including unmotivated users who do not actively use the available services. Context-awareness to support these users is thus an important requirement for this kind of ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) system. We propose a service selection method based on registered context types for each end user in order to facilitate ubiquitous service systems in public spaces. By applying this method, we have developed a prototype of an interactive guidance board application and demonstrated its effectiveness.

An autonomous decentralized manufacturing system architecture and its trends for de-facto standards

The recent movement to customer-driven production has generated a need for flexible manufacturing systems that can respond directly to user needs by providing only the volume and type they require, rather than increasing the variety of products. This paper proposes an autonomous decentralized manufacturing system architecture and an information filtering technique for supporting online modification of product lines and free access to production information. It also describes the trends in its industrial de-facto standardization. The proposed architecture has been applied to many industrial production systems, and their effectiveness has been verified.

SDO model and its standardization activity

Growth of processor and networking technologies are enabling to connect real-world and computer systems through devices and much attention is being paid to the context-aware services. One of the issues to provide services using ubiquitous or pervasive computing is how to connect heterogeneous hardware device and software component to provide services. This paper proposes a new object model named super distributed objects (SDO) for unified management of them. This model has been proposed to OMG1 and it is adopted by standardization in progress.

Service reconfiguration using super distributed objects (SDO) in context-aware service systems

We propose a technique for combining devices to create a more flexible context-aware service system. This system integrates devices that are embedded or distributed in the users environment and are networked with each other. The system for providing context-aware services locates and selects devices appropriate to the users context. When the context changes while the service is being provided, devices for that service can be partially reconfigured without resetting all the parameters. We have verified the effectiveness of our technique in a prototype implementation.

An Information Delivery Method Driven by Event Matching for Information and Control Systems

In recent years, in the industry, real-time decision making integrating plant field and business systems information has become indispensable. In addition, with the arrival of the ubiquitous information society, the use of sensors in the field and information utilized for business are increasing. In this environment, handling field information in real time and connecting it with business is a crucial challenge. With condition-based management, the facilities are monitored and are kept in good condition depending on their state rather than according to a prescribed schedule. However, in the event of a facilities error, demand for access to the same data centers increases, degrading response performance. A method is described for delivering information data to operating applications as triggered by a control event. In the event of a facilities error, access to information data is integrated, and the information data is duplicated and delivered to operating applications. Then, concentrated demand for access to information data can be avoided, and the response performance of operating applications can be ensured. Since the method has not been tested, it is now necessary to perform a feasibility study including performance verification

Transmission performance testing for cooperating processes of an autonomous decentralized manufacturing system

An autonomous decentralized system (ADS) and its test technology for a customer-driven type production system is proposed. In the conventional technology, since online testing is assumed, it is not taken into consideration to test various conditions before installation. In addition, it is also difficult to evaluate transmission performance in the processing of a series of messages exchanged by cooperating applications, because the sending order of the messages of application is not managed. In this paper, we propose a test case generation technique that can generate various communication conditions based on categorizing communication functions in a manufacturing system. Furthermore, we propose a message flow management technique that manages the sending order of messages and creates a relationship between the receiving and sending messages. We show the implementation of proposed techniques and its effectiveness.

An approach standing on systems concept for designing information service system architecture in manufacturing industry

This paper shows an attempt to leads an approach to design information service system architecture standing on systems concept and presents an application example in manufacturing system. The systems concept, Autonomous Decentralization, gives a consistent design for reference architecture, concrete architecture and the implementation. The service system provides an autonomous process for a service receiver to get valued information changing the state of the receiver. The example of the service system provides recursively the manufacturing information to make visible at factory (MIERUKA in Japanese) for rapid decision making among stakeholders in the business process.

Platform-Independent Domain Management Using Super Distributed Objects (SDO) in Context-Aware Service Systems

In ubiquitous computing, it is said that services are provided anytime, anywhere, and for anyone. Moreover, context-aware services are expected. One issue in providing a context-aware service is the connection of heterogeneous resources (hardware devices and software components) that are embedded or distributed in the surrounding environment and networked with each other. Another issue is deciding from where or from which scopes to detect and select suitable resources. An object model named Super Distributed Objects (SDO)is proposed for a uniform description of resources and a technique of platform-independent management of domainsfor resources based on the SDO model.