Course Title: Manufacturing Information and Distributed Systems

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Manufacturing Information and Distributed Systems

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

MANU2081

City Campus

Postgraduate

115H Aerospace, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

Face-to-Face

Sem 2 2006,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 2 2008,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 2 2010

Course Coordinator: Milan Brandt

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 6087

Course Coordinator Email: milan.brandt@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 251.03.25


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

This course is designed to give students an understanding of advanced distributed computer systems for management of information relevant to manufacturing activities.The topics covered are:
Overview of MIS: Relationships of MIS with other computer based systems - Database systems. Transaction Processing System,
Office Automation System, Decision Support System. MIS models and sub-systems. Application areas of MIS in manufacturing.
The principles of database: Data structures. Records, fields, blocks, buffer. File organisation. Sequential and Direct access files. Indexed files. Data integrity and security.
Database Management System. Hierarchical database. Relational database. Structured Query Language. Database manipulation and programming.
Information architecture for computer integrated manufacturing: Application software systems. Software system support and maintenance.
Laboratory session
Principles of system modelling: System function and data abstraction. Input-output models. Object-oriented modelling. Model validation. Modelling techniques: SADT/IDEF, Petri-Net. Computer aided software engineering (CASE). Structured design tools.
Enterprise integration modelling Reference Architectures. Network Systems. ESPRIT, CIM-OSA, Purdue, GRAI. Manufacturing Systems Models. Discrete event system. Continuous event system Simulation languages and packages. Interpretation of simulation results. Inferences.
OSI lower layers and Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP): The physical layer. Digital signal transmission. Modulation and demodulation. Point to point communication protocol in physical layer - RS 232. The data link layer. Synchronization. Asynchronous protocols. XON/XOFF. Synchronous protocol. Medium access schemes. IEEE 802.2 logical link control (LLC). SDLC and HDLC. The network layer. Naming, addressing and routing. Fixed and dynamic routing schemes
Local area networks LAN topologies. OSI reference model. Communication issues between manufacturing devices of diverse nature.
The application layer Association control service element (ACSE). Manufacturing Message Specification (MMS). Resource sharing and management. Object oriented view of MMS. Virtual Manufacturing Device (VMD). File Transfer Access and Management (FTAM).
Filestore concept. Distributed database organisation. Remote database access standard. MAP application layer.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course is designed to give students an understanding of advanced distributed computer systems for management of information relevant to manufacturing activities. The specific educational aims are to understand the concepts and practice of the information systems used within the manufacturing process; to use and customise a range of typical vendor offerings.


On completion, the student will:
• Understand the concepts and practice of the information systems used within the manufacturing process.
• Use and customise a range of typical vendor offerings.


Overview of Learning Activities

Engineering employment requires the capacity to work effectively in teams, to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, and to learn effectively. In order to prepare students for employment as graduates they will be provided with a quality assured teaching and learning environment which is conducive to the development of adult learning. Adult learning is characterised by the student accepting responsibility for their own learning and by actively participating in the learning process as individuals and as contributors to teams. Adult learning is a hallmark of a professional. The specific responsibilities of students as adult learners in respect of this course are:

• to be aware of and to observe the regulations related to plagiarism.
• to submit (on time) all work for assessment as described below
• to submit (on time), all work for formative feedback as described below
• to complete all pre-reading and preparatory work prior to the class for which it will be used
• to effectively utilise the academic staff resources provided (consultation time, tutors, email etc)
• to participate effectively and honestly as a responsible member of a learning team
• to contribute effectively to the learning of peers in a climate of mutual respect and to question each other and the academic staff when uncertain.

This course will provide students with the opportunity to develop as adult learners by:

1. requiring them to make justified and informed choices and selections in design processes
2. allowing them to determine the depth of the study material. 


Overview of Learning Resources

Students are expected to have access to computing facility for completing some computational assignments and familiarisation of use of computers in office environment.


Overview of Assessment

This will consist of a formal exam and a group lab report.