Using the feature exchange language in the Next Generation Controller

Abstract: "The Air Force has two ongoing initiatives to aid the ailing U.S. Machine Tool Industry. The first is the Intelligent Machining Workstation (IMW), which has the goal of automatically producing one-off quality parts. The second is a Next Generation Controller (NGC) initiative, which has as its primary objective to design and specify an open architecture controller for machine tools. This report analyzes whether the integration language developed for the IMW is adequate to support the requirements of an integration language needed to build the NGC. The IMW's Feature Exchange Language (FEL) is a simple message oriented language designed to integrate diverse modules. The NGC has a specified need to design a Neutral Manufacturing Language, which can be readily used to integrate diverse third-party modules into a coherent controller. We show how with a few minor extensions FEL can be used to meet this need."