Plug and play device integration for industrial automation with instant machine visualization using RFID technology

Development of graphical user interfaces for flexible automation systems is a tedious and pricy process. Changes in a plant assembly need to be applied separately to any referring graphical user interface. Device integration technologies, such as Electronic Device Description Language and Field Device Tool/Device Type Manager, allow integrating field devices and create an initial graphical user interface but undergo several restrictions such as platform-dependency and the need to manually adapt configuration and integration processes of field devices. We therefore present a novel approach of platform-independent device integration and automated generation of graphical user interfaces. Furthermore, we employ Radio Frequency Identification technology to overcome communication restrictions of field devices in order to transmit a device specific ID, facilitating automated device integration.