A virtual prototype of a FMS can be employed for various objectives in the life cycle of the FMS, such as designing it's layout, evaluating the validity and efficiency, and communicating with people (designer, salesman, operator, ...) about the FMS. These objectives may be achieved by observing the behavior of the virtual prototype working with tasks described according to the objectives.
Presented in this thesis is the identification of the required tasks for the designer and salesman, together with the development of the command structure for describing the identified tasks. The tasks are classified to four levels: 1) PLC/sensor level, 2) device level, 3) operation level and 4) high level. The commands for describing the tasks are also classified to four levels corresponding to those of the tasks. Each level of commands is presented with its structure.
The main results of the thesis research include: 1) identification of the tasks for the FMS designer and salesman , 2) development of the command structure to describe the tasks, 3) implementation of the software system supporting the operation level command using visual C++ and openGL, 4) application of the software system to the virtual prototypes of real FMSs.
