Vance J. VanDoren, CONTROL ENGINEERING -- 12/15/1998
Industrial automation vendors are developing products system integrators have been
seeking for clients. Integrated architectures, common look and feel, and greater
connectivity are features industrial automation system integrators want for clients,
according to a survey of attendees at the Control System Integrator Conference this
past spring. Those needs are now being met.
Single look and feel
For example, Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, Wis.) has recently announced a new
Process Business that will focus on providing a range of solutions with a common
architecture and the same "look and feel" across all applications, from process
to discrete. Rockwell's strategy is to provide simpler and faster system integration
and improved information sharing between applications. The Process Business will
offer both hardware and software-based control solutions built on products from
Allen-Bradley (Mayfield Heights, O.) and Rockwell Software (West Allis, Wis.).
Similarly, Siemens Industrial Automation (Alpharetta, Ga.) offers "totally integrated
automation." Although this technology is by no means limited to system integrators,
it does fulfill an integrator's number one criterion—it all works together. All
the hardware, software, networks, and databases in Siemens' Simatic product line
are designed to simplify the process of connecting an automated facility to its
control system and the control system to the plant's information network. Likewise,
the "total plant" solutions offered by Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control
(Phoenix, Ariz.) include many of the systems, software, and products that system
integrators need to meet the specific needs of their clients—increasing throughput
and yields, reducing operating costs, avoiding costly incidents and the like.
Schneider Automation (North Andover, Mass.) goes one step further with it's "transparent
factory" concept. Not only are Schneider's software products designed to work together,
they're also designed to be integrated seamlessly with a host of partner products
from software vendors such as Wonderware (Irvine, Calif.), Intellution (Norwood,
Mass.), and Object Automation (Santa Ana, Calif.). Based on Internet technologies
over Ethernet, the transparent factory provides communications between a variety
of automation, manufacturing, and business systems.
Connectivity
Such connectivity, particularly the ability to exchange data among disparate programs
and computing platforms, is the goal of many vendors' development efforts. With
improved connectivity tools, system integrators can give their clients information
and control systems that provide more information about a plant's operations and
better control over the plant's overall performance.
Leading this development effort is software giant Microsoft (Redmond, Wa.). Microsoft's
COM, DCOM, DDE, ODBC, and OPC technologies allow software products from different
vendors to exchange data in standardized ways (see sidebar). These technologies
have been incorporated into hundreds of automation products in recent years.
For example, every component of Wonderware's FactorySuite 2000 software can function
as an OPC client and can be used with any OPC server. Not only can the components
talk to each other, they can talk to any OPC-compliant software with minimal custom
coding. FactorySuite includes tools for plant floor data collection; process visualization,
optimization and control; and data storage and analysis.
Similar tools are provided by the FIX family of products from Intellution (Norwood,
Mass.). These too support OPC as well as DDE and ODBC. Intellution's VisualBatch
software uses ODBC to store recipes and batch journals in systems such as Microsoft
SQL Server and Oracle. System integrators can use this feature to distribute batch
processing information throughout a client's organization.
Open systems
A welcome consequence of improved connectivity, say integrators, is a move towards
software standards that are well documented and available for anyone to implement.
So-called "open" systems are quickly replacing the traditional proprietary systems
that were understood only by the original vendor. In the past, integration was limited
to software and hardware from the same vendor. Interfacing proprietary programs
from different vendors required integrators to invest in costly and time-consuming
programming efforts that were specific to each client's project.
System integrators see the same advantage to open hardware systems, especially products
based on the "Wintel" standard—Microsoft Windows-based software running on Intel
processors. Westinghouse Process Control (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has adopted the Wintel
standard for their Ovation information and control system. All Ovation hardware
components are commercially available products that "plug and play" in a PCI-bus
architecture.
Ci Technologies' (Charlotte, N.C.) Citect, a Wintel-based supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) system, can collect and display data from thousands of
I/O points residing in controllers throughout a user's facility. Citect features
a Universal Data Server expressly designed to make it easier for system integrators
to interface Citect with third-party control systems. Ci Technologies' Systems Engineering
Division (Pymble, New South Wales, Australia), Australia's largest system integrator,
has influenced much of Citect's design.
Scalability
Open systems are especially important for system integrators who rely on clients'
expansion and upgrade projects for repeat business. An existing automation system
built on open hardware and software standards is much easier to modify and expand
than a proprietary system.
Expansion can be a particularly difficult problem if the proposed improvements exceed
the capacity of the existing control system. Whereas most software can be readily
reconfigured to expand a controller's database, it's not as easy to add horsepower
to existing hardware.
The DeltaV controller from Fisher-Rosemount Systems (Austin, Tex.), however, is
"scalable." It can be implemented as a small system and expanded by adding optional
hardware modules. DeltaV can be configured to handle continuous, batch, and sequential
applications that require from eight to 500 I/O points. DeltaV enables users to
measure, regulate, and manage their facilities and the equipment running them.
I/A Open Industrial Automation System from The Foxboro Co. (Foxboro, Mass.) is designed
for "sensor to boardroom" integration. Its modular hardware and software design,
and object-based communication, allow it to be scaled from a single station to a
large station with as much as 40,000 I/O points. All I/A Series systems use the
same UNIX-based application software, allowing users to expand their system according
to their needs.
Conversely, some control products can be scaled up or down by changing the hardware
while keeping the software in tact. The human-machine interface (HMI) product line
offered by Dynapro (New Westminster, B.C., Canada) is one example. Dynapro Beacon
software (more commonly known by its Rockwell Software brand name, RSView) is available
on a variety of Wintel-based computing platforms. Running under Windows CE on Dynapro's
factory-hardened CE Terminal, Beacon serves as a machine-level operator station.
Running under Windows NT, Beacon serves as a supervisory-level HMI for engineers
and plant managers. Beacon also runs on Windows 95 as well. Using this "scalable
architecture," a system integrator could configure a single HMI system and run it
on all three platforms without any recoding.
Flexibility
Other control products allow system integrators to add functionality as well as
extra horsepower with optional hardware modules. Programmable logic controllers
(PLCs) have offered such flexibility for years, but now there are several small-scale
control products that offer similar as-needed functionality.
For example, Unidrive from Control Techniques (St. Louis, Mo.) can be endowed with
several features for controlling ac electric motors. Not only does Unidrive come
in several sizes from 0.75 kW to 1 MW, it can be configured to handle motor applications
as diverse as sensorless vector, flux vector, servo, and regeneration. A selection
of more than a dozen plug-in modules makes the difference. Modules are available
to support extra I/O and feedback signals, custom control operations, serial communications,
and a variety of networking options.
Elsag-Bailey Process Automation (Wickliffe, O.) developed its latest control system
specifically for use by system integrators and other engineers for hire. Freelance
2000 includes integrated hardware and software to perform regulatory control, sequential
control, and operator interface functions. Freelance 2000 can consist of between
one and ten process stations that perform all loop and logic control functions,
each of which can be extended with up to four I/O units. Modular plug-in input/output
modules are used according to the type and quantity of process signals.
GE Fanuc Automation (Charlottesville, Va.) has recently introduced a modular controller
of its own, called VersaMax. With minimal configuration, VersaMax can serve as an
I/O subsystem for a PLC, a distributed control system (DCS), or a PC-based controller.
Add a CPU module and it becomes a micro PLC. Connect multiple units over a network
and VersaMax becomes a DCS itself.
Convenience
There are, of course, dozens of other features system integrators look for in automation
products. Some are simply a matter of cost and convenience—low price, ease-of-use,
one-stop shopping, availability of technical support, etc. Total Control Products
(Melrose Park, Ill.) is betting that all-in-one packaging will appeal to system
integrators. Its GLC 100 Graphic Logic Controller includes a PLC-like controller,
a touchscreen, software, I/O, and fieldbus connections all in one box. It's designed
to eliminate the cost and effort required to assemble these components from separate
sources.
The federation of automation vendors lead by PLC Direct (Cumming, Ga.) also offers
an all-in-one control system based on PLC Direct's DL205 I/O rack and a WinPLC module
from Host Engineering (Johnson City, Tenn.) that replaces the DL205's regular CPU.
Inside the WinPLC module, flowchart-based control software from Think & Do Software
(Ann Arbor, Mich.) runs under the Windows CE operating system. Not counting the
external Windows NT-based PC required to develop Think & Do programs, this combination,
plus enough I/O modules to handle 32 DC inputs, 32 dc outputs, 4 analog inputs,
and 4 analog outputs sells for less than $1,500.
Price helps
Price is also a selling point for the FactoryFloor software offered by Opto 22 (Temecula,
Calif.). For just $349, system integrators can get a complete set of software tools
for developing and running real-time control programs, creating HMI screens, exchanging
data with third-party databases, and exporting data to any other OPC- or DDE-compliant
application. For more about FactoryFloor see "Control Software Complements I/O Products"
in Control Engineering, December 1998.
Several vendors also provide enhanced technical support to help system integrators
make the most of vendors' products. The Alliance Program sponsored by National Instruments
(Austin, Tex.) is one of the largest of these partnership programs. Alliance members
receive discounts on products and training courses to help them gain expertise with
National Instruments' systems. They also receive automatic software upgrades and
priority technical support partnership program logos in the Integrators listings
in this issue.
For more information...
For more information, visit www.controleng.com/info
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Ci Technologies
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Control Techniques
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Dynapro
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Elsag-Bailey Process Automation
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Fisher-Rosemount Systems
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The Foxboro Co.
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GE Fanuc Automation
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Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control
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Host Engineering
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Intellution
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Microsoft
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National Instruments
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Object Automation
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Opto 22
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PLCDirect
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Rockwell Automation
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Schneider Automation
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Siemens Energy and Automation
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Think & Do Software
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Total Control Products
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Westinghouse Process Control
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Wonderware
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Microsoft Technology Enables Integration
COM (component object model) is the "plumbing" inside the OPC specification. It
allows the creation of extendible connections between client and server programs
running in a single PC. Vendors may add unique features to their COM-based products
while retaining compatibility with other OPC compliant products.
DCOM—(distributed component object model) enables the use of OPC interfaces over
a network of multiple PCs.
DDE—(dynamic data exchange) is an older mechanism for transferring data between
Microsoft Windows-based programs from different vendors.
ODBC—(open database connectivity) tools give programs the ability to read data from
and write data to ODBC-compatible databases such as Microsoft Access.
OPC—(object linking and embedding for process control) is a standard interface for
industrial automation which allows software and hardware device drivers to simply
'plug and play.' It allows system integrators to mix-and-match devices and software
components within a single system.
© 2004 Reed Business Information, a
division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.