Accessing the Performance of Model-Based Control in a Distributed Machine Tool Control Environment

Although Computerized Numerical Controller (CNC) machine tools have greatly improved precision, quality and productivity, there are still many areas where inaccuracies and inefficiencies remain. Model-Based Control (MBC) is a technique to advance machine tool accuracy and part quality by compensating for machine and process errors. Nominal Differential Expansion (NDE) thermal compensation is one MBC approach which we have integrated into a CNC turning machine testbed. To allow portability and redeployment of the CNC technology, the MBC testbed was implemented as a component-based system using a distributed programming infrastructure. This paper looks at software and performance issues related to distributed MBC architecture, which is slower due to increased overhead from network communication. We look at the requirements of distributed infrastructure as implemented by the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), and assess the performance of various DCOM configurations matching the MBC requirements. Results from our analysis of the distributed performance using MBC-based DCOM configurations are presented.