Example of ACS with the Atlas Copco OpenProtocol

Demonstration of ACS with an assembly line getting its position information from an external system and handling spatial relation for devices and product spaces with the Atlas Copco OpenProtocol.

Preparing the Ubisense Platform in SmartSpace: Cells and Representations.

Creating an area by setting up a file with wall definitions and loading it into ACS.

Configuration of ACS including: Product Types, Product Spaces, Production Lines, Assembly Lines, External Systems and Device Types.

Show Simulations of the ACS Protocol and Atlas Copco OpenProtocol.

Preparation of your Environment

Follow the installations instructions for the combination of SmartSpace and ACS and other Ubisense products you require as described in your installation guide.

Use SmartSpace Config to Set up a Site and Add Representations for your Demonstration

Follow the instructions for configuring ACS given in Configuration in SmartSpace.

In particular, you must do the following.

Site Setup

  1. Add a Geometry Cell to your site.
  2. Add a Location Cell to your Geometry Cell.
  3. Extend your Location Cell. In the Cells task, double-click the location cell and, in the Edit the extent of Location Cell dialog, change the Top to 10.

  4. Extend your Geometry Cell and Site Cell to contain your Location Cell.

Restart the Location Management Services in the Ubisense Service Manager in order to make sure that the services are running correctly.

Create an ACS Area

You can create ACS areas with walls to create a simplified representation of parts of your to aid in configuration. See Creating areas for use in ACS for information on creating areas.

Add Representations

  • Import representations and push them to ACS.
  • Note: Use two different representations (e.g. BlueCar_template and WhiteCar_template).
In order to use your representation in ACS, remember to extend the representation name with _template.

Configuration in ACS

Add Product Types in ACS

See Product Types in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Choose one of your imported representations.
  2. Set a suitable Type (Name) and Description.
  3. Set the timeout to 10 seconds if you get the position from an external system, set no timeout otherwise.

Note: Add two different product types with different representations (e.g. BlueCar and WhiteCar).

Add a Production Line

See Production Lines in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Set a suitable name (e.g. Main Production Line).
  2. Set all Product types you want to support in your production line to Supported .

Configure the First External System

See External Systems in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Set a suitable name (e.g. LinePLC).
  2. As Type choose PLC.
  3. Set a suitable description.
  4. Specify the IP Address of the computer on which the External System will be run.
  5. Set a suitable Port (e.g. 2001).
  6. As Protocol choose ACSProtocol.
  7. As Protocol Version choose 1.0.0.
  8. Select Remote station is Server.

For example:

Configure the Additional Parameters for the External System

  • For parameter Alive Time-out leave the value at 15

Add an Assembly Line

See Assembly Lines in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Choose the area you created in SmartSpace Config.
  2. Set a suitable Name for your assembly line (e.g. Band-01).
  3. Choose your created Production Line.
  4. As Location Source choose External System.
  5. Set the Grid Snapping to 1.00m.
  6. Set the line geometry for your assembly line.
  7. On the Externally Driven tab, the parameters for the External System can be configured. (For the Demonstration, select only your configured External System LinePLC and set any Association Id ).
  8. Set Line Movement to Product offsets.
  9. Set Clear locations when connection is lost for more than [s] to 10.
  10. Commit your changes.

Add Product Spaces

See Product Spaces in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Select your Product Type.
  2. Add a Product Space.
  3. Set a suitable name for the space (e.g. Bonnet).
  4. Set the Grid Snapping to 1.00m.
  5. Enter a value at Extent ceiling height (e.g. 3m).
  6. Set a suitable geometry for your Product Space.

For your demonstration, add two different products with different product spaces (Boot for BlueCar and Bonnet for WhiteCar).

Configure the Second External System

See External Systems in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Add a new external system.
  2. Set a suitable name (e.g. AC-Controller-Left).
  3. From Type choose Tool Controller.
  4. Set a suitable description.
  5. Specify the IP Address of the computer on which the External System will be run.
  6. Set a suitable Port (e.g. 4545).
  7. From Protocol choose Atlas Copco OpenProtocol.
  8. From Protocol Version choose 1.0.0.
  9. Select Remote station is Server.

Configure Additional Parameters for the External System

See Protocols (Atlas Copco OpenProtocol) in the ACS Online Help.

For this example it is not necessary to change any additional parameters.

Add a Device

See Device Types in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Set a suitable device name (e.g. AC-Wireless).
  2. Add a suitable description.

Add a Device Instance

See Device Instances in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Set a suitable name (e.g. Device Left).
  2. As Device Type choose AC-Wireless (the type you created in the previous step).

Enable Product Space Rules for the Device

See Device Instances (Setting Product Space Rules) in the ACS Online Help.

  1. Select your created device.
  2. In the Device Activation pane, select the ObjectIsLocated Event for your device.

  3. Enable the device for each of the product spaces you created earlier.

  4. As External System name select the check box for AC-Controller-Left (the second external system you created).

Enable External System Connectivity

See Connection Status in the ACS Online Help.

Make sure the Desired status column for both the external systems are set as Connected.

ACS is now configured.

Simulating the Two Protocols

For your demonstration there are two tools you can use to simulate the ACS Protocol and the Atlas Copco OpenProtocol

In order to see any output at the cmd you must set an Environment variable, otherwise you can see the output only in the log-File

set UABASEEVENTLOG=1.

Simulate the ACS Protocol

With the tool ubisense_acs_protocol_clientserver.exe you can present the product types moving at your assembly line. Use the Ubisense Application Manager to download the tool (see the Installing Client Machines on Windows section of your installation guide for more information).

ubisense_acs_protocol_clientserver.exe server <IP-Address> <Port> 16

For example:

ubisense_acs_protocol_clientserver.exe server 169.128.155.56 2001 16

When the ubisense_acs_protocol_clientserver starts the user has to configure some values:

Parameter You enter...
Enter line name: The name of the assembly line, e.g. Band-01
Enter #products: The amount of products to be generated, e.g. 20
Enter start offset in cm: The offset from the start of the assembly line, e.g. 0
Enter product distance in cm: The distance between two products, e.g. 600
Enter Product Type (colon separated): e.g. BlueCar:WhiteCar
Enter first Product ID (numeric): The ID of the first product to be generated, e.g. 1
Enter speed (m/s): The speed at which the tags will move along the line, e.g. 0.2
Enter loop pause (s): The refresh rate, e.g. 1

Simulate the Atlas Copco OpenProtocol

With the tool ubisense_open_protocol_clientserver.exe you can present devices using the Atlas Copco OpenProtocol. You can find it in the tools directory.

ubisense_open_protocol_clientserver.exe server <IP-Address> <Port> 1

For example:

ubisense_open_protocol_clientserver.exe server 192.168.178.201 4545 1

Demonstration in SmartSpace Config

Now you can show the moving products and the spatial relations in SmartSpace Config.

Add Representations to ACS Product Types

See Adding a representation to a type.

For each of the product types you created in ACS, in the MODEL ASSIGNMENT tab, double-click <Add new type rep> and select the product and the a representation. Save the assignment.

Note: You don't need to use the same 2D representation that you exported to ACS and instead assign a default 3D representation in SmartSpace Config.

Define Spatial Extents for ACS Product Types

See Adding a space property to a type and Configure space properties of types.

For each of the product types you created in ACS:

  1. In the TYPES / OBJECTS tab, define a space property whose name (e.g. Bonnet) corresponds to the Product Space you defined in ACS.
  2. In the SPATIAL PROPERTIES tab, define a space that corresponds to the one you defined for the product in ACS.

Add a Representation for the ACS Device

See Adding a representation to an object.

  1. In the MODEL ASSIGNMENT tab, double-click <Add new object rep> in the lower part of the screen.
  2. Select the ACS Device type and then the object (e.g. Device Left).
  3. Select a representation for the device and save the assignment.

Note: The device has a default space consisting of a cylindrical space of 10 cm in diameter with zero height which you can amend if required.

Set the Spatial Relations

See Configure space properties of types.

  1. In the SPATIAL PROPERTIES tab, double-click <Add new request>.
  2. In Container, select the product extent you defined.
  3. In Contained, select extent of 'ACS Device'.

Add your Configured Tool to the Object Location

  1. In the OBJECT PLACEMENT tab, choose ACS Device from the dropdown.
  2. Drag your device into your area.
  3. Set the Z-Coordinate to 1.5.
  4. In SHOW SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS, select the spatial relationship(s) you defined.

Now when your device is contained in a product space the containment is indicated by the containing space displaying in blue.

objects located in SmartSpace Config from ACS setup

At the command line, from ubisense_open_protocol_clientserver.exe you will see a telegram each time your device enters or leaves your Production Space (if you have set UABASEEVENTLOG=1 as described above).