Project No.: 5003-051342 01.09.97 - 31.01.2000 (second series)

Project leader: Prof. Alain Wegmann, Laboratoire d’informatique technique - LIT Département d’informatique, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL)
e-mail: alain.wegmann@di.epfl.ch

Name of project: NePESM: New paradigm for embedded system management

Partners: Dr. Martin Rutishauser, ABB Corporate Research Ltd. Im Segelhof, Baden-Dättwil

Funding: Sfr 561,864.-

Summary:
The project, called NePESM (New Paradigm for Embedded System Management), will develop and implement a new paradigm for distributed embedded system management. Distributed embedded system management (e.g. remote management of trains, buildings or electrical installations) is becoming an increasingly important marketing tool for electrical equipment suppliers as it can reduce customers’ overall ownership costs. Part of this project is to develop the core expertise for the remote management of embedded systems over the Internet.

Development is taking place in close cooperation with ABB, which is implementing a pilot project (GLASS) with a 9 to 15-month delay. While GLASS is concerned with the remote management of individual installations, the present project aims to manage the entirety of all installations, such as the remote operation of a power station. The first application is for high-voltage substations. Other applications are to be developed.

The aims of the project are:

• "Extensible appliances": NePESM is investigating the possibility of downloading mobile code within an appliance, installation of devices to allow them to cope with changing conditions in their environment (after a reconfiguration, for example).
• Communication architectures supporting plug and play: plugging a new appliance in a distributed embedded system must yield an automatic reconfiguration of that system.
• •nformation modelling: different modelling techniques are being compared in order to determine the most adequate technique for a Web-based maintenance system.
• System architecture and online analysis: NePESM will define a scalable system architecture which will support the integration of the information coming from an embedded system and provide tools for multidimensional analysis.

Cooperation:
Besides the customary publications, the outcome of this project will flow into products at ABB. Implementation in other companies is also planned.