Distributed measurement and control system based on microcontrollers with automatic program generation

The paper describes an open architecture microcontroller based distributed measurement and control system with automatic generation of application program, interpretation of functions and generation of program for control of the newly added distributed unit os distributed unit of a new type connected to the system performs automatically, without user assistance. The elements of the system are interconnected by means of a serial common bus according to the reduced OSI protocol. The proposed concept was tested in a system developed by using 8-bit Atmel microcontrollers of 89S and 89C series. Apart from the central unit, intelligent distributed units were developed for the control of a stepper motor, programmable linear movement, control of halogen lamps, acquisition and generation of analogue, digital and timing pulses and a real time clock (RTC). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.