Android Machine Interface : Integrating anAndroid Mobile Device into an Industrial Control System

Abstract: The interaction between humans and industrial machinery have long been dominated by purpose-built hardware made to withstand the tough environment of the factory floor. Advances in hardware and software in the recent decade has made mobile and powerful devices common place, which has prompted this study to evaluate an Android tablet as an interface to control and monitor industrial machinery. This has been done through the implementation of an application used to control a braiding machine. Using this application as a proof of concept and a practical assessment, the study has concluded that an Android device is feasible to use to control and monitor industrial machinery. The study has also evaluated the network performance and security through testing, where it has compared the transport layer protocols TCP and UDP as well as the use of encryption for this implementation.