System Objects for MSI Integration
There are dedicated objects in the system’s I/O Model used to handle messages sent to and from the MSI. The functions of these objects and their important properties are described below.
Message Broker
The Message Broker Object defines the basic setup of the interface. The Message Broker can be created below the Core in the I/O Model (right-click on the Core object in the I/O Model and select from the context menu to open the Create Object wizard). Apart from the mandatory Object Name and optional Object Description properties, the important properties are described below:
In the Common Property compound:
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Processing Mode - During these configuration steps, the Processing Mode should be kept in "Configuration" mode. When everything is fully configured and ready to start, the Processing Mode is set to "Operation" to begin sending and receiving messages.
In the Message Type Options Property Compound:
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Message Type - The Message Type currently only supports MSI (other configurations to follow).
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Protocol - For MSI Protocols, currently only Web Service is supported (other configurations to follow)
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Version - Version here means the version of the MSI interface itself, this can be selected to be MSI 1.3, MSI 2.0 or MSI 3.1. This depends on the Pas-X Version in use. For the most common Version PAS-X 3.1.8.x, MSI 1.3 should be used. For the newer version of Pas-X starting from 3.2.x, MSI 3.1 should be used.
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Prefix - This configuration should be left empty for this example.
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Folder - This configuration defines where message configuration XML are stored. As the message configuration is generated by the Core, it is important that a folder is used, for which the Core Service has sufficient access rights (write access).
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System ID - This property holds the System ID described in the prerequisites section, it is vitally important that the System ID defined here matches the System ID configured in Pas-X.
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Debug - If there are problems with the interface or the interface configuration, then activating Debug will generate more Log messages, which allows for a simple and fast debugging of the configuration.
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Endpoint to Shopfloor and Endpoint to MES - These are non-configurable properties that are automatically generated to provide Web API endpoints for the PAS-X configuration (see PAS-X Endpoint configuration).
Message Processor
The Message Processor object manages the further processing of the incoming messages, as well as the preparation of outgoing messages. The Message Processor` is created below the Message Broker in the I/O Model (right-click on the newly created Message Broker object in the I/O Model and select from the context menu to open the Create Object Wizard). Only an Object Name needs to be entered.
If the Central Mapping feature shall not be used, no further configuration is needed on this object.
If the Central Mapping feature shall be used, then the central mapping will be configured in this object as a Historian Mapping table. This table holds the central mapping as described in Central Mapping. The mapping table has exactly the same format as the mapping table for the Historian Mapping.
This mapping can be generated manually or automatically. For automatic generation enable 'Auto Generate Mapping Table' in the configuration. The automatic generation is based on information taken from the 'ISA95 Equipment Model' and is explained in detail in Auto generation of Mapping.
Message Configuration
Message Configuration objects are required for the exchange of data between MES and Shopfloor using the Web API. They can be created below Message Processor and Message Broker objects in the I/O Model (right click on the parent object and select from the context menu to open the Create Object Wizard).
The properties and configuration of Message Configuration objects are explained in detail in a later section.