Domain-Specific Language for Sensors in the Internet of Production

Abstract

A main prerequisite to applications in the Internet of Production is the integration of sensor data into an interconnected infrastructure, which in turn requires expert knowledge of sensor implementation as well as of network architecture design and communication protocols. To reduce complexity in this concern, the authors propose the SensOr Interfacing Language (SOIL), a domain-specific programming language for sensor interface definition and exchange of metrological data. Based on a meta-model, the functional interface can be designed without prior knowledge of the underlying communication details. It is composed of instances of components, parameters, functions and measurements as core elements of SOIL. Subsequently, the interface is automatically defined on protocol level and its software implementation is generated, leaving only the hardware-specific implementation to the developer. The domain-specific language is prototyped and evaluated by implementing and integrating interfaces for a virtual laser tracker and a distributed temperature measurement system, confirming the envisaged benefits.