CNC DATA ACQUISITION: SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

Abstract
The Open architecture controller is a well known concept to promote the implementation of intelligent
machine performance functions on shop floor. However there are no further investigations about the
system validation, considering the data acquisition on interpolator level. This study aims at the
development of a CNC data acquisition system considering the implementation of a procedure to
validate the data transfer. Continuous monitoring of open CNC variables was implemented and
experiments for system validation were performed on milling machining centers. The results of the
implemented data transfer validation procedure show the system feasibility to continuously acquire the
CNC data.
Keywords:
Open CNC; data acquisition; system validation

Using sensor signals of the CNC system itself, with no

need for additional signal conditioning, is the main
advantage of open CNC data monitoring. That enables
more complex experimental investigations due to the low
investment in instrumentation [Oliveira 2008] .
According to Yun et al. [Yun 2007], the open architecture
control system structure is generally comprised of three
levels: device, control and system level. In order to
perform the communication among the levels, an open
and standardized interface is required.
The MTConnect is an engagement example to obtain a
common communication interface among equipments.
MTConnect does not intend to replace the existing
communication patterns, but it integrates the system by
using an agent that performs the communication between
the field devices and the external systems using the XML
language (eXtensible Markup Language) [Teti 2010].
The broad monitoring function application that relies on
the machine controller opening can be developed and
used in the industry. However, considering the controller
opening level, CNC monitoring systems need to be
developed and optimized [Schtzer 2012] .
The current work presents the development of a data
monitoring system at the level of the interpolator control.
The data is stored in a commercial CNC internal Buffer
and broadcast to a PC by the data transmission module,
programmed with the LabVIEW software. A procedure to
validate the system was implemented by means of the

1 INTRODUCTION
The machining process performance is strictly related to
the machine tool axes motion, considering mainly the
trajectory accuracy and the displacement, speeds and
accelerations.
In the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, the
CNC system performs the process of dealing with
technological parameters, and with the open architecture
concept, it promotes the access to such information. Such
concept is one of the key technologies to foster the CNC
data monitoring in the shop floor and had a major attention
in the 90s, mainly due to the need to implement the
flexible manufacturing systems. The customization
functions by the user generated the necessity of achieving
a neutral communication interface, which should be
independent from the manufacturer [Pritschow 2001].
Since then, communication protocols proposals arose, as
well as system configuration for the open architecture
controller, that, up to the current days, did not result in a
broad scale applied pattern in the industrial environment
[Pritschow 2001], [Teti 2010].
In the work of Pritschow et al. [Pritschow 2001], the
initiatives to obtain a common interface to the open CNC
show a similar pattern definition proposal for the open
architecture controller. The main features of the patterns
presented are the neutrality concerning the manufacturers
and the function customization by means of modules, by
using the Application Programming Interface (API).

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on High Speed Machining

monitored data comparison with the laser interferometer

data by means of experiments performed in a commercial
machine tool. The described approach adds on previous
CNC monitoring systems, since a CNC data transfer
validation procedure is presented.

External entities: open CNC and user;

Processes: data acquisition, transmission and
analysis;
Data depository: buffer and data storage.
The data acquisition process executes the data collection
of the open CNC and stores it in a buffer. The data
transmission and analysis process executes the data
collection and processing, and the monitored variable
values are stored in a text file. At the present work, the
buffer is dynamic, i.e., the data is temporarily stored and
withdrawn by the data transmission module in a cyclic
manner.
In order to build the buffer, CNC variables named
parameters R were used. In parameters R the feed rate
and axes positions data are stored. There are 100
parameters R that can be expanded up to 1,000, but such
expansion was not necessary for the experiments here
described.
The data transmission module was developed with the
Labview 8.5 software. The Labview programming
logics is based on the data flow programming. The data
transmission
module
developed
executes
the
communication between the CNC and the PC. The
program performs the cyclical reading of the 100
parameters R.
2.2 System validation experiments: analysis of the
monitored variable resolution in the open CNC
This experiment was executed in the CNC SIEMENS
810D of the machining center Discovery 760 Romi.
The following premise was developed for the experiment
execution:
Premise: the system collects data with appropriate
resolution for process performance analyses.
In order to analyze the behavior of the resolution achieved
in the online monitoring, the following feed rate were used:
600, 1,000, 6,000 and 12,000 mm/min.
The experiment was executed in a three axis machining
center. The X axis position and feed rate data was
simultaneously collected by means of a trigger that
freezes the control system data and places them in an
indexed buffer for later recovery.
The CNC variables that were monitored were
$VA_IM1[X1] and $VA_VACTM [X1], which are related
correspondingly to the X axis position and feed rate,
respectively. Moreover, the following NC program was
developed for the data collection:

2 SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
The pieces of equipments used at this work are the
machining center Discovery 760, Romi, Brazil, the high
speed
machining
center
LPZ
500,
MAP
Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, Germany, the laser
interferometer 5528A from Hewllet-Packard, USA, and
the data acquisition board CP5511 SIEMENS AG,
Germany. LPZ 500 is a five axes simultaneous machine,
however, for the present experiments, it was operated
using only three Cartesian axes X, Y and Z.
The board CP5511 performs the communication between
the personal computer and the CNC machine-tool by
means of the OPI (Operator Panel Interface) with 1.5
Mbps speed. The next topic presents the system
development.
2.1 Open CNC monitoring system
The acquisition strategy presented here was applied in an
open commercial CNC, with the 250 samples/second
sampling frequency.
This strategy uses an open CNC internal procedure called
synchronous action, which can be programmed directly in
the NC program. The synchronous actions record
continuously the monitored data in a buffer and the data is
transmitted cyclically to a personal computer where they
were stored. The open CNC data transmission system
was developed with the LabVIEW 8.5 software , National
Instruments Corporation, USA.

Open CNC
- Position
- Speed
- Acceleration

Axisdata

Data
acquisition
Data acquisition
using the
synchronous
action function

Data
collected

CNC internal buffer

- Dynamic buffer
- CNC variables
- Parameters R

Data
transmission
Data block
transmitted
continuously from
the CNC to the
PC

G54
G1 X0 Y0 F1000
F (Programmed with 4 different levels 600, 1000,
6000, 12000 mm/min)
$AC_MARKER[1]=0
$AC_MARKER[2]=1
ID=1 DO $R[$AC_MARKER[1]]=$VA_IM1[X1]
$R[$AC_MARKER[2]]= $VA_VACTM[X1]
$AC_MARKER[1]=$AC_MARKER[1]+2
$AC_MARKER[2]= $AC_MARKER[2]+2
X80
M30

User
- User interface

Monitored data
- Data storage

Although the machining center has three axes, only the X

axis was chosen for monitoring, as it is supposed that the
X axis analysis can be expanded to the other axes, as the
sampling rate is the same.
The NC program executes a linear motion in the X axis
between the coordinates 0 and 80 mm, and this length is
enough for the axis to accelerate and reach the
programmed feed rate. This is performed in the program
by the programming line ID=1. The X axis position and

Fig. 1: Monitoring data flow diagram

The PC communication to the CNC was performed by the
board CP5511 and by the server NCDDE (NC dynamic
data exchange), Siemens AG [Siemens 1997] .Figure 1
shows the data flow diagram developed to the system.
The data flow diagram shown in Figure 1 is comprised by
the following components:
2

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on High Speed Machining

speed values are thus stored cyclically in the CNC buffer

at every 10 ms and transmitted to a file with the monitoring
system developed.
2.3 System validation experiments: step input
response
In this experiment, the Y axis feed rate data of the milling
machining center LPZ 500 was measured simultaneously
by the laser interferometer and by the CNC monitoring
system. This experiment premise was:
Premise: The feed rate monitored by the developed
system is very close to the feed rate measured by the
laser interferometer.
The distance run was linear in 350 mm, with programmed
feed rate of 5,000 mm/min.
In order to assemble the instrument, a temperature (air
and material), humidity and pressure compensation station
was used for automatic correction of the laser
measurement. Figure 2 show the laser interferometer
assembly in the machine LPZ 500 for measurement.

upper limit (2.004) and lower limit (1.995) for the speed
with greater variability, which was 12,000 mm/min, (Figure
4) resolution with F 12,000 mm/min).
Other cause that can influence the resolution variation is
the machine-tool measurement system itself, which, in the
case of Discovery 760, is a rotational encoder. For the
machines with linear optical encoders, a lower variation of
the data measured to be expected.

Fig. 3: Resolution control graph for 600 and 1,000 mm/min

Fig. 2: Laser interferometer assembly for the experiment

3 MONITORING SYSTEM VALIDATION

This analysis can be expanded to other CNC models, but
it must be observed that, the faster the CNC interpolator
cycle time, the lower the variable resolution for the same
feed rate.
In order to check if the data acquisition process is
controlled, the monitored variable resolution was analyzed
by means of control limit graph. Thus, in case there is
special cause variation (for instance, measurement
instrument out of calibration) they will be presented in the
graph. The upper and lower control limits are calculated by
the variation of +/-3 standard deviations in relation to the
resolution data average [Kume 1993].
Figures 3 and 4 shows the resolution behavior monitoring
and the corresponding feed rate value influence in the
collected data resolution. As Figures 3 and 4 shows, for
the feed rates 600 mm/min, 1,000 mm/min, 6,000 mm/min
and 12,000 mm/min, the results showed that, even though
the higher feed rate have higher variability, the values are
within the control limits, showing that there are no special
causes influencing the process. Such limits are given by
the resolution averages and standard deviations.
In the numerical results presented in the graph, it can be
seen that the standard deviations of the position for each
of the feed rate are low in relation to the work accuracy
commonly achieved in a conventional machining center.
From this result it is seen that, from a practical point of
view, the data monitoring system assessed here has an
acceptable repeatability, with maximum variation around
0.009 mm (value achieved by the difference between the

Fig. 4: Resolution control graph for 6,000 and 12,000

mm/min
In order to assess the system capacity to acquire optical
linear encoder data and such data represents the behavior
that happened in the tool center point, the experiment
comparing the feed rate measurement performed by the
system and a laser interferometer was executed.
The experiments were performed in the machine LPZ 500
with CNC Siemens 840D. Figure 5 shows both behaviors
of Y axis feed rate, which programmed value was a step
input of 5,000 mm/min.

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on High Speed Machining

The implemented procedure to validate the system shows

the difference of the maximum peak value of the feed rate
signal measured by the monitoring system and by the
laser interferometer was lower than 0.5%, showing a
system with the ability to monitor CNC data on interpolator
level.

5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the financial support of the
CNPq, CAPES, FINEP and DFG in the scope of the
Brazilian German Collaborative Research Initiative in
Manufacturing Technology (BRAGECRIM). Special thanks
are also due to Dra. M.C.O. Papa and Mr. J. Mewis.

Fig. 5: Step input response of 5,000 mm/min - Laser and

CNC acquired data
As shown in Figure 5, the steady state values are
practically the same for both measurement systems. A
small difference is noticed due to the data synchronization
during the ascent ramp; but in the peak value, a variation
lower than 0.5 % is seen.
With the results presented in Figure 5, it is possible to
state that the data acquisition system developed
measures accurately the behavior of the variable of
interest.

4 CONCLUSIONS
The development of an alternative system to monitor the
CNC manufacturing was presented at the present work.
In order to execute the system proposed a CNC data
acquisition procedure was developed, and the system
validation procedure was implemented, that adds on
previous works, since the CNC data transfer to the system
is validated.
The monitored variable resolution presented values within
the control limits and the largest standard deviation was
0.002 mm. It shows that the system collects data with
appropriate resolution for the process performance
analysis.