Configuration Management Interface for Industrial Controller Data Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems face challenges in standardizing communication between industrial controllers and external applications, leading to inefficiencies in data exchange and potential synchronization errors during hardware-in-the-loop simulations.
Innovation Solution
A configuration management interface system that imports industrial control programs, identifies available data items, and generates a control unit file to serve as a standardized communication interface between industrial controllers and external applications, facilitating data exchange and reducing synchronization errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standardized communication interface is implemented between industrial controllers and external applications, then data exchange efficiency is improved and synchronization errors are reduced, but device complexity increases due to the need for configuration management systems and control unit file generation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of control programs to automatically identify available data items and their characteristics before configuration is needed. This advance preparation stores information about data tags, data types, and controller configurations, eliminating the need for manual analysis during the configuration phase and reducing synchronization errors from the outset.
Solution Approach 2:
The configuration management interface acts as an intermediary between industrial controllers and external applications. It generates control unit files that serve as standardized communication interfaces, translating between different controller data structures and application requirements. This intermediary layer standardizes data exchange while managing the complexity of multiple controller types and application needs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual configuration of communication interfaces is performed for each industrial controller, then adaptability to different controllers is maintained, but time consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically analyzes control programs beforehand to identify all available data items, their types, and their controller associations. This preliminary analysis creates a database of controller configurations and data structures that can be quickly referenced during configuration, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual analysis for each controller while maintaining full adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The configuration management interface provides universal functionality that works across multiple industrial controller types and applications. By implementing a standardized process for importing control programs, analyzing data items, and generating control unit files, the system handles diverse controllers through a single unified interface, reducing configuration time while maintaining controller-specific adaptability.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate program development is required after simulation validation, then development flexibility is maintained, but productivity decreases due to redundant work
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of control programs during the simulation validation phase, automatically identifying data items and generating control unit files. This advance preparation ensures that the communication interface configuration is complete and validated before deployment, eliminating the need for separate program development work and redundant configuration activities while maintaining the flexibility to make changes if needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the simulation validation process with the configuration generation process. By combining control program analysis, data item identification, and control unit file generation into a single integrated workflow that occurs during simulation validation, the system eliminates redundant separate development phases while maintaining the flexibility to validate and adjust configurations before final deployment.
Data Source
AI summary
A configuration management interface system is provided for standardizing communication between an external application and one or more hardware or emulated industrial controllers. The interface system reads one or more industrial control programs and presents available data tags defined by the control programs to a user via an interface screen. The user can select a subset of the available data tags that are to be exposed to the external application for data communication. Based on the selected data tags, controller configuration information read from the control programs, and additional configuration information provided by the user, the interface system generates a control unit file that acts as a communication bridge between the external application and the selected data tags residing on the industrial controllers. The control unit file can be used to interface the application (e.g., an industrial simulation or another type of application) with either hardware controllers or emulated controllers.