GMGbox: A Graphical Modeling-Based Protocol Adaptation Engine for Industrial Control Systems

The agility and scalability of modern industrial control systems critically depend on seamlessly integrating of heterogeneous field devices. However, this integration is fundamentally hindered at the communication level by the diversity of proprietary industrial protocols, which creates data silos and impedes the implementation of advanced control strategies. To overcome this communication barrier, this paper presents GMGbox, a graphical modeling-based protocol adaptation engine. GMGbox encapsulates protocol parsing and data conversion logic into reusable graphical components, effectively bridging the communication gap between diverse industrial devices and control applications. These components are orchestrated by a graphical modeling program engine that enables codeless protocol configuration and supports dynamic loading of protocol dictionary templates to integrate protocol variants, thereby ensuring high extensibility. Experimental results demonstrate that GMGbox can concurrently and reliably parse multiple heterogeneous industrial communication protocols, such as Mitsubishi MELSEC-QNA, Siemens S7-TCP, and Modbus-TCP. Furthermore, it allows engineers to visually adjust protocol algorithms and parameters online, significantly reducing development complexity and iteration time. The proposed engine provides a flexible and efficient data communication backbone for building reconfigurable industrial control systems.