Difference between revisions of "Serious Human Interface™ Platform (SHIP) System Architectural Overview"

Revision as of 04:10, 30 April 2017

The Serious Human Interface™ Platform, or "SHIP", is an integrated collection of capabilities to connect Industrial Machines to Humans wherever they are. These capabilities include:

• Graphic/Touch front panel systems to deliver a modern interactive experience directly in front of the machine
• Communications systems to connect the machine, the front panel, and the cloud as well as other networks
• Cloud based systems, including over-the-air/wire updates, dashboards, analytics, provisioning, security, data piping, tablet/phone connectivity, and more to connect humans to the machines remotely

As an OEM systems designer, you can select from this collection of capabilities to evolve your Industrial Machine to a highly connected, interactive product.

Often OEMs start with the front panel "refresh" as the first step in the process, using the Serious Integrated Modules (SIMs) as a fast and cost effective way to transform the in-person human machine interactivity. Others start with a more subtle architectural change, using the Serious Communications Modules (SCMs) to re-engineer the insides of the machine in preparation for being cloud connected, reduce cost, and enable software and system scalability in the future.

Typical Industrial Machine Architecture

Many existing machines have a fairly straightforward "operator interface" with buttons, LEDs, and perhaps a small text display for basic menus, configuration, and status information. The central unified Microcontroller (MCU) is the focus of the OEMs' software teams, constantly refining, debugging, and updating the firmware for various machines, sharing and managing legacy codebases and looking to extend functionality and especially connectivity. The I/O system, typically with relays, sensor interfaces and analog front ends, evolves over time based on machine features and capabilities.

Evolving the Industrial Machine Architecture

Many OEMs, over time, realize their I/O and power subsytems can be separated for easier scalabilty across products. As well, Power/IO subsystems often use larger components for voltage isolation etc, and the PCB and assembly techniques for Power/IO boards have diverged from that of the tiny and dense surface mount packages of microcontrollers and digital domain systems. With the advent of cheap MCUs, the architecture evolves into more distributed system:

This is similar to what has happened in the automotive industry, where the I/O systems have completely distributed into intelligent sensors and actuators on a CAN network and managed by a main machine controller system, sometimes even layers of control systems (e.g. braking control which manages an array of sensors and actuators).

Re-imagining the Local Human Machine Interface

Even this interface shown is more advanced that some, but the system architecture of many existing machines is a monolithic software and hardware structure:

From an Operator Interface to a Human Machine Interactive Experience