Embedding Android devices in automation systems

The paper presents a novel architecture based on frequent utilization of PDAs and mobile phones as human machine interface (HMI) in controlling various systems. There are two main considerations discussed. One is with regards to real-time constraints in the context of industrial process control. The second is the possibility of transferring some tasks from the process controller towards the Android device (tablet or smart phone). Therefore, after analyzing the current implementations together with their limitations, we designed an evaluation framework. The main goal of the new structure will be to analyze the limitations of balancing processing load between process controller and Android device's resources. The structure is comprised of a cheap Android tablet connected to an embedded module via an USB cable. The embedded module has as his core a state-of-art ARM Cortex M4F processor for industrial applications. The proposed solution provides the advantages derived from both components. The implementation required driver development, considerations which are also presented briefly.