Industrial Co-Design Editor for Graphical and Text Control Programming
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in integrated programming and configuration due to the need for separate development environments and tools for different aspects of the system, leading to a piecemeal design approach that requires significant testing and debugging, and limited user interfaces that restrict programming flexibility.
Innovation Solution
An integrated development environment (IDE) is provided that offers a common design environment and data model for configuring and managing industrial automation systems, supporting multi-discipline programming through a graphical and text-based interface, using an industrial domain-specific language (DSL) for control programming, and allowing customization of the programming interface with modular code and visualization modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate development environments and tools are used for different aspects of industrial automation systems, then specialized functionality is achieved, but device complexity and development time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate development environments and tools into a single integrated development environment (IDE) that supports graphical programming, text-based programming, configuration, and debugging in one unified interface. This merging eliminates the need for developers to switch between multiple separate tools while maintaining support for different programming paradigms and automation tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The IDE is designed as a universal platform that performs multiple functions: graphical program development, text-based code editing, system configuration, compilation, debugging, and deployment. This multi-functional approach allows a single tool to replace several specialized tools while maintaining the capabilities needed for different aspects of automation system development.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate development environments are used for different aspects of industrial automation systems, then specialized programming capabilities are maintained, but development time and testing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges graphical programming, text-based programming, configuration, and debugging capabilities into one integrated environment, allowing developers to perform all these tasks without switching between separate tools. This consolidation significantly reduces development time while preserving specialized programming capabilities through support for multiple programming paradigms within the same IDE.
3Device complexity
If limited user interfaces are provided for programming, then system simplicity is maintained, but programming flexibility is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The IDE provides a universal interface that supports multiple programming approaches including graphical programming for visual logic development, text-based programming for complex algorithms, and configuration tools for system parameters. This multi-functional interface maintains relative simplicity while offering extensive programming flexibility across different task requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An industrial IDE supports development of control programming using an industrial domain-specific language (DSL) that allows control programming to be written using a scripted programming language having features catered to the industrial domain. The industrial DSL can simplify and streamline development of industrial control code relalive to using conventional graphics-based control programming formats such as ladder logic, since a script-based industrial DSL can be used to write programming code using fewer mouse clicks relative to traditional control programming environments. Editing tools inherent to the industrial DSL can provide dynamic programming feedback that guides the developer through the process of developing control code. A development interface of the industrial IDE can comprises two editing windows that render the control program in a graphical format and in a text-based format simultaneously, allowing the user to edit the program in either format on the same interface.