De-coupling for re-use in design and implementation using virtual sensors

ViSIAr (Virtual Sensor Integration Architecture) is an idealized framework for building sensing subsystems of flexible assembly and other robotic systems. This paper considers how it supports the design and analysis phase, and might therefore support the exchange of software solutions to sensing problems, by clearly identifying the role and function of software components and de-coupling them from specific hardware. Sensor usage models, specifications of what is to be sensed and the way in which it is sensed, are proposed as the principal objects suitable for design re-use and potentially for code re-use. Generally applicable classes of virtual sensor control models (which form part of sensor usage models) are presented.