A Conceptual Model for Remote Data Acquisition Systems

Abstract

Abstract. Data acquisition systems (DAS) are the basis for building monitoring tools that enable supervision of local and remote systems. Unfortunately, DASs are commonly based on proprietary technologies. The data format usually depends on the industrial process, the fieldbus characteristics or the development platform. Currently, there are many standards of DASs, but none of them offer a well-accepted Application Programming Interface (API). However, all of them comply with the same conceptual model. Understanding this model allows for the significant improvement of the design of a specific DAS. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model of a generic DAS. This model gives researchers an abstraction of DASs and a quasi-formal specification of a generic DAS. It also enables developers to compare the existing standards and/or to propose a new open standard.

Distributed On-Line System for Process Plant Monitoring

“…A communication link is provided to send reports to the management layer. Nieva and Wegmann [55] suggested a layered protocol for generic data acquisition system (DAS), so that application layer programmers do not need to know the data acquisition details. Bolic et al [56] use 8-bit microcontrollers for acquisition as well as a central unit that provides task arbitration and user interface in their simple task controlling system.…”