Expanding the Role of Finite State Machine Technology in Open Architecture Control

Modern machine control systems rely heavily on software to achieve system functionality. Until recently, control software’s primary purpose was to provide logic and sequencing of machine execution. With computer hardware now providing power and memory to spare, control software is broadening its horizon from a focus on execution control to multiple phases within a control systems lifetime, such as design, testing, and maintenance. This paper reviews an object-oriented Finite State Machine (FSM) framework developed at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that exploits this potential and expands the software utility and functionality of machine control logic. The public domain FSM framework handles additional control requirements such as reusability, extensibility, modularity, testing, diagnostic troubleshooting, reporting, and maintenance. Please send any comments or questions by e-mail to: [email protected].