The Hume SECS/GEM tools are provided in the  Datahub Solution Development Kit (SDK).  The SDK provides more than libraries for SECS/GEM equipment integration - it is a suite of tools that are designed for the integration challenges of the modern factory and test floor.  We understand why you are integrating the equipment, and the tools you need for job tracking, material movement, process program management, data collection, SPC, APC, FDC, RTR, feed-forward, and closed-loop control.  Our DMH message system can provide an integration backbone that bridges a wide variety of hardware, operating system, and programming language barriers.  Our Datahub software can give you an elegant mechanism for capturing, organizing and distributing real-time production data.  The factory developer’s challenge is different than the tool provider.  He is faced with dozens of equipment types, all different.  Even the same tool may have different interface behavior over its short lifetime as its control software is upgraded.  For this challenge, a premium is placed on flexibility, and working with a high-level, productive environment with excellent runtime visibility into the proper functioning of his low-volume applications.  The factory host developer will find a lot to like Datahub SDK.  Here are just some of the features that Freescale, National Semiconductor, and other manufacturers have found most valuable. 

 

SECS/GEM CAPABILITIES

• We provide high-level, configurable, working host applications with source code for three major programming environments - the Windows .NET Framework, the Sun Java 2 Platform, and the Tcl/Tk open-source platform for both Windows and POSIX systems.  The .NET software includes the SecsHost component which can be used from any .NET language including C#, C++, VB, and Java.  The Java SecsHost class library is similar, but it is expressly for Java.
• Similar Supervisor applications are provided for the supported platforms.  The applications manage multiple equipment interfaces, and they feature built-in handling of most of the routine SECS message conversations.  The host logic will successfully attach to GEM compliant equipment or near GEM equipment and dynamically discover its alarms, variables, equipment constants, and initialization behavior.  Without any code development you can create dynamic event reports that are setup on the tool whenever it comes online; capture event, trace, and alarm data; and upload and download process programs.
• The Tcl/Tk version features a Replay window with Save and Load that lets you capture and replay SECS-II message exchanges.

  • Make the most of scarce access to process tools.

  • Run characterization scripts and use the results for off-line interface development.

  • Replay individual messages while dynamically revising custom application code.

• The .NET SecsHost component is a true, embeddable component.  You can deploy it in multiple instances in your own applications for rapid, high-level equipment integration. Don't spend your precious time developing and maintaining low-level communication and protocol driver code.
• The Hume SECS/GEM application software has been in 7x24 use by major fabs for years.  The software incorporates practical solutions and best practices to address the deficiencies, inherent contradictions, and under-documented areas of SECS and GEM.  It has the flexibility to workaround many of the problems that exist with defective and non-standard equipment.
• Supported connection types: Standard HSMS,  Draft 1993 HSMS, SECS-I on RS-232, and SECS-I terminal server connections.  Both HSMS passive and active roles are supported.
• SECS equipment simulator applications are also provided to help you demonstrate, test, and develop custom host applications.

• The SECS functionality includes low-level diagnostics and tracing, all of it dynamically adjustable, and accessible through the network.  Trace windows with dynamically adjustable views are available for each connection.  You do not need to purchase a separate product for interface characterization.

• SECS-II messages are dynamically constructed using a text notation which is a direct mapping of the SEMI standard notation.  For example, the text "L {A xtc970} {A 2.1.0}" represents a list of two ASCII strings.  The software includes commands to join list elements, to split lists, or to retrieve elements inside of lists.
• The tools support transparent conversion of .NET or Java Unicode strings to all the SECS data types including SECS Variant data, also known as Localized Character Strings.

Read more about the SECS/GEM host software: .NET, Java, Tcl/Tk

PLATFORM FLEXIBILITY

A factory system isn't your desktop machine, and you don't want to continually update it against new security threats.  Our customers who are using HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris have enjoyed rock-solid performance in a world where updates and reboots are infrequent.  Take a closer look at our portable Tcl/Tk software - you can develop on your desktop or laptop, and move your applications unchanged to the factory systems.  Our extended version of Tcl/Tk which supports HSMS and SECS-I includes other commands that we have developed to support serial device communication, linear algebra, DMH message system communication, and various protocols such as UDP, NTP, DDE, and ODBC.  Because Tcl/Tk is a popular open-source platform, there are also 3rd party packages for working with XML, sending e-mail, integrating web services, using GPIB, and countless other functions.