Using Embedded Web-servers in Industrial Applications

Dipl.-Ing. Peter Brügger,

iniNet Solutions GmbH, Seewenweg 5, 4153 Reinach, Switzerland,
Chairman VPI Initiative, bruegger@ininet.ch
Fon:+41617169626 Fax: +41617169617
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Sikora
Steinbeis-Transfer Centre Embedded Design and Networking, University of
Cooperative Education Loerrach, Germany, Member of the Board VPI Initiative,
sikora@ba-loerrach.de

1 Abstract
This presentation is intended to focus on the typical concerns of a company when
deciding whether or not to use Ethernet and Web-Technology in a new design. It is
splitted into the following sections:
- What is the reason for using Embedded Internet? Embedded Internet allows a
dramatic cost reduction as well in the development phase as over the lifetime of
the product.
- How to achieve this cost reduction? The consequent integration on the HTTP
protocol and the use of existing SW and HW building blocks allows the focus on
the company’s core competence.
- How important is security? Security is crucial when connecting to the Internet.
However, the internet connection is generally only one aspect of embedded
Internet. The VPI-Initiative (Virtual Private Infrastructure) offers an open, secure,
and scalable approach using standard protocols.
- What about real life examples? The last section shows existing products (in mass
production) which have successfully implemented these concepts.

2 Why Using Embedded Internet

There are a lot of questions about the motivation of using web-technologies in
embedded devices [4]. The most important of them is, whether web-technology is
able to solve a demand which could not be solved before using another technology.
We believe that this is not the case. All demands for an embedded system can be
solved with other technologies, too. The real reason for the use of Web-technologies
lies in the potential of cost savings over the lifetime of a product.

2.1 The Problems of Legacy Architecture

Many existing products are based on a software-design which was defined five or
even ten years ago. Over the time, additional requirements had to be added to keep
the product up to date. Very often, additional interfaces and protocols had to be
added, making the overall software-architecture more and more difficult to maintain.
The following issues are concerned:
- product development and maintenance
- production and integration
- flexibility for changes on the existing product
Ethernet, TCP/IP and especially HTTP are the first protocol to integrate all demands
for external interfacing of an embedded product. External interfacing can include
- local MMI’s
- remote MMI’s
- interface to SCADA
- interface towards third party products
- interface for database connectivity
- remote maintenance
- parameter and calibration interface for production and product integration
- interface for quality control
With a traditional approach, the embedded system had to be extended with new
features and new protocols to follow up the demands. The system became more and
more complex, resulting in ever growing engineering and maintenance cost.
However, the most crucial benefit with embedded web-servers and its underlying
protocols is the seamless integration into the standard (office-driven) IT world. They
can even be compatible with Microsofts .net products.

3 Focus on Core Competence

Consequent integration of all demands resulting from external interfacing on the
HTTP protocol proved to reduce the overall system cost in many industrial products.
One of the reasons why many developers still hesitate to use TCP/IP lies in the
complexity of this protocol. It seems easier to add e.g. another feature on a serial
fieldbus protocol than to make the big step towards Ethernet. The main task of the
developer mostly lies in the field of real-time and control issues, and not in the area
of standard IT protocols.

3.1 Webserver enabled systems

This contradiction can be solved by using existing Software- and Hardware building
blocks. As an example, the goNet evaluation Kit [1] will be presented. This kit
integrates a HW design consisting of a microcontroller, an Ethernet interface and all
the necessary software (RTOS, TCP/IP, web-server, connectivity) already included.
Using an approach based on existing embedded building blocks allows a high
efficiency in software development. The engineer can focus on the core competence
in the area of control, measurement and automation.

The image above shows a block diagram of the software components that are
integrated on the embedded system based on a 32 Bit Microcontroller (V850/NEC).
The goal is to speed up the development time and thus to reduce time to market, as
well as lowering the cost and the risk of a design failure. To achieve this, it takes
more than adding several software components on a microcontroller:
- A hardware reference design integrating all necessary components. The
schematics of the reference design can be used by the customer. They can be
extended with additional, product specific circuits.
- The development of the software can be started at the same time on an existing
evaluation board. When the customer-specific hardware is ready, the software
can be ported easily from the evaluation-board to the new hardware.
- A JTAG debugger can be plugged in to the customers hardware. The time to test
and set up the hardware is very short, because the core components have all
been reused from the reference design, both for hardware and software. After a
few days, the developer can focus on the control software and the additional
circuitry.

The design should be based on an industry proven microcontroller family rather than
on a specific single chip solution (Ethernet controller + Microcontroller) for several
reasons:
- A large, scalable family of microcontrollers offers the flexibility to develop a
product range to address several tasks. For every task, the microcontroller which
fits best in terms of integrated functions can be chosen. The software and
hardware architecture can remain almost identical.
- Long term availability: Standard microcontrollers are in production for a longer
period of time. They are designed for the specific needs of industrial applications.
When they go out of production, an upward compatible solution is offered very
often.

3.2 Network Oriented Software

An embedded system integrating TCP/IP has two jobs to do. First, it has to control
and measure. In these terms, the system has the same tasks as ten or twenty years
ago. Second, the TCP/IP interface makes the embedded controller part of a
distributed system. As introduced in the beginning, these are the possibilities which
bring in the ‘Value-Add’ of the new technology. An embedded Webserver and a
TCP/IP stack are just 20% of the solution. There will be many more functions that are
demanded by the network.

3.2.1 Visualisation
The embedded Webserver can be used to offer an MMI to an external Browser.
These MMI’s can be used for
- configuration
- local operation
- remote operation
- remote maintenance
Standard HTML authoring tools mostly do not meet the demands of an automation
application:
- no animated visualisations
- they are too complicated for users on the factory floor
- the code size of the MMI’s becomes very large

The SpiderControl Editor is a pure graphic development tool for Java Applet-based
graphic interfaces. It offers the user the option of a convenient development of MMIs.
The Editor is tailored to the needs of automation and provides compact and, above
all, extremely portable solutions which can be stored directly on an embedded
System.

The whole development cycle for set-up and integration of a user interface can be
realised in a few simple steps with such a tool. The user does not need to cope with
Java code, browser incompatibilities and webserver programming, but is left to
concentrate solely on the functionality of the surface

3.2.2 Embedded Visualisation

The MMI’s produced with the above editor can be executed in any Java-enabled
Web-Browser. But in the same time, the MMI’s which are designed with this tool can
be used on an embedded system integrating a LCD-touchscreen, e.g. 1/4VGA. This
technology is called microbrowser. The microbrowser implements the same
visualisation objects that exist as a Java implementation, but written in the C-
language. It is therefore possible to run sophisticated, webserver based MMI’s on a
small 16Bit Microcontroller.

3.2.3 SOAP Interface

SOAP is facing a growing importance as a truly portable RPC (Remote Procedure
Call) standard also in the embedded world. On an embedded system, it is possible to
implement both a SOAP server or client which is fully compatible to the office IT-
world and the Internet. Gateways, drivers or even OPC are no more necessary.
4 Internet Security

4.1 Parameters
As presented above, connectivity to the internet is only one aspect of embedded
Ethernet. Obviously, security is an absolutely crucial issue. The following problems
arise:
- How can the embedded system be presented to the internet without damaging
firewall security concepts?
- How can embedded web-servers be maintained by people from the factory floor,
who do not have the know-how to manage complex VPN connections and
firewalls?
- The owner of the embedded system, the machine or the factory does not want to
loose control over his equipment. Access rights must be under tight control by the
owner. Connections can be opened on demand, only by the owner, also by
untrained people.
- Devices must be attached to the internet using different communication
technologies (PSTN, ISDN, ADSL, or GSM modems, Leased Lines,...). All of
these possibilities must be seamlessly integrated and maintained.
4.2 VPI-Initiative
The VPI-Initiative [2] has defined some basic standards to solve these issues. The
ideas are based on the integration on the HTTP protocol. It includes Internet portals,
HTTP relaying- and tunnelling mechanisms to fulfil the above demands.
A VPI portal needs to fulfill three important requirements:
- Security has to be conveyed in a plausible and comprehensible manner
- The connection between portal and embedded system has to be fully
interchangeable
- If there are leased lines they have to be used with a minimal expenses
- The portal may has to be used transparently by both automatic processes as well
as real users.

The prerequisites of an embedded system are as follows:

- Integration of an HTTP server which makes available the user surfaces specific to
the machines
- The HTTP server has to allocate an interface for remote procedure calls for
access to its variables and functions.

HTTP Tunneling
A VPI-agent allows to reach a device via the Internet even if it is behind a firewall and
does not have a “public” TCP/IP number.
The operator of the intranet has control over the VPI-agent and can define at any
time which target systems should be imaged on the Internet. Through the Internet
Service Provider (ISP) the VPI-agent keeps a tunnel to a central webserver on the
Internet (or VPI-portal). A user now selects the address of this server and must
identify himself with his user name and password. Subsequently, this user receives a
list with the links (direct on the target system) to which he has right of access. If the
user selects such a target, the connection is now taken up fully transparent and
maintained via the marked route.
The VPI-agent is a software module which can be operated on any system within the
intranet. A PC, a server or a suitably embedded device can be used for this.

5 Examples

5.1 Introduction
In this section, some design examples will be discussed not only in terms of
architectural issues, but also to demonstrate the broad range of applications with
commercial benefit from embedded internet.
5.2 Building Automation
The ‘Ambus-Net’ device is used in the metering/building automation sector. It is
capable of maintaining up to 255 meters (cold-/warm-water, electricity, flow,…)
attached to the M-Bus. Features:
- 16 Bit@20MHz micro-controller
- Local touchscreen/MicroBrowser
- Embedded Webserver MMI’s
- Alarming over networks
- Modem/ISDN/GSM connectivity for remote maintenance
- Compact-Flash media data logging
- SOAP Interface
The Ambus-Net is a true microcontroller design. By the intense use of existing
building blocks, the system was developed in very short time at very moderate
development costs.
Ambus-Net can be attached to a VPI-Portal via the integrated Modems (all options)
or via Ethernet and a VPI-Agent.

5.3 Measure and Control (MSR)

The following example (Kistler Instruments) describes a modular, Web-server based
pressure measuring device implementing very demanding real-time computing tasks.
The Web-server is used for most of the tasks for external interfacing described
earlier. Features:
- 32 Bit@40MHz micro-controller
- Remote configuration with Internet Explorer or external MicroBrowser device
- Various data processing services for database storage, quality control, backup,
file exchange, etc. using the webserver interface

5.4 Automation
SAIA-Burgess is a well known manufacturer of PLC’s. Most of their PLC’s integrate a
webserver which can also be used for viualisation. The programming tool has an
integrated MMI Editor which allows to create MMI’s for Java-enabled Browsers or
even lean MicroBrowser clients. Due to their open and extendible webserver
architecture, these products have become a very attractive choice for web-based
projects in building- as well as machinery and factory automation. SAIA-Burgess
claims that the approach of distributed control using Web-technology marks a change
of paradigm and often allows to avoid the presence of a PC or IPC in many projects,
thus becoming both a more reliable and cheaper solution.
6 Sources
[1] http://www.unique-aktuell.de/hotspot/2003/hs_12/hs_12.htm
[2] http://www.vpi-initiative.com
[3] Sikora, A., Brügger, P., "Virtual Private Infrastructure - An Industry Consortium
for Unified and Secure Web Control with Embedded Devices", 9th IEEE
International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation
(ETFA 2003), Lisbon, Portugal, 16-19 September 2003.
[4] Sikora, A., "Embedded Applikationen im Internet", Teil 1: "Übersicht über Vor-
und Nachteile von vernetzten Anwendungen", Elektronik 22/2000, S.90 - 102,
Teil 2: "Implementierungen", Elektronik 23/2000, S.164 - 169.
[5] http://www.spidercontrol.net