The Facility Control Markup Language FCML

Abstract

Abstract-In the domain of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), significant challenges reside in the variety of proprietary interfaces and protocols which accompany the components and devices provided by different manufacturers. Centralized supervision and control is hampered by incompatibility issues and additional costs occur because a number of different systems have to be installed and maintained. The Facility Control Markup Language (FCML) is designed to provide standardized and uniform access to different devices which usually only adhere to proprietary interfaces and protocols. This way, operators of SCADA systems can easily integrate and access additional devices and manufacturers can offer their products to a greater number of customers due to increased interoperability. As an application of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), FCML is designed as an open and extensible standard which can easily be adapted and extended to include requirements of future applications and devices. FCML is not platform dependent, uses open software components and standards, and reduces the resource requirements of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs). One vision subjacent to FCML is that web-based SCADA systems are very promising for a wide range of SCADA applications, for reasons of modularity and ease of deployment.

ATCA Advanced Control and Data Acquisition Systems for Fusion Experiments

“…Although the implementation of this requirement does not depend on the technology selected for the fast controller it is worth mentioning as an acknowledgment of ITER complexity. The solution envisaged for this problem is enhanced by self-description of each system using structured data [63], [64]. This procedure facilitates acceptance, commissioning, and integration of functionality at the remote production sites while it also facilitates the fault recovery function during operation and maintenance leveraging also on the use of hardware with shelf-manager.…”