For Industrial Automation
For Industrial Automation
For Industrial Automation
NET
for industrial automation
W H I T E PA P E R
Unlocking the power of .NET for industrial automation
Introduction
Industrial application developers have had two main options for interacting with
production processes via programmable logic controllers (PLCs): they can buy a pre-
programmed monolithic, shrink-wrapped human machine interface (HMI), complete
and ready to go or they can customize their own solutions.
Shrink-wrapped HMI software packages are appealing because many complex
tasks are hidden from you. Purchase the development software from an authorized
distributor, load it into your development PC and then configure, debug and test.
Then, just deploy the necessary runtime applications, data servers and configuration
files on to your target PC or PCs. What could be easier?
But cookie-cutter HMI software solutions might not necessarily be the best or most
practical approach for your specific industrial applications.
For one thing, while the shrink-wrapped HMI software packages enable connec-
tions to other vendors devices, software, and systems via OPC or other standards,
such connectivity is seldom adequate for high security or real-time control. And no
matter how advanced the integration technology the package uses, you will end up
lagging behind the technology curve. For example, if you had bought a package
using the distributed common object model (DCOM) and wanted to benefit from
advances in security and robustness that Microsoft had made since you bought the
package, you would have to buy a new package. Moreover, the monolithic nature of
the shrink-wrapped offerings often makes it difficult to embed third-party capabili-
ties directly into your solution, thus limiting your options further.
Then theres training. Because the development environment and behavior of each HMI
vendors software varies, youll need to acquire specialized skills to accomplish simi-
lar tasks. Training courses, material costs and schedules also vary by HMI publisher
and many times are offered only through exclusive distributor channels. You could con-
sider hiring outside help, but because of the specialized training and experience, the
talent pool can be relatively shallow and therefore proportionately expensive.
And for many, cost of multiple deployments is an even bigger issue. Before you can
actually deploy your solution to PCs, portable devices, or Web servers, you must typ-
ically have to pay for additional runtime software licenses. If you have more than a
couple of users, this could amount to a considerable expense, often making this
approach cost-prohibitive, especially if you are paying for more functionality than
you actually never need.
Finally, there are the intangibles. As well-designed and flexible as these shrink-
wrapped solutions might be, they almost always force compromises that would not
be necessary if the solution were custom built for your specific applications.
Whether that is a matter of function or just pride, it can be significant determining
your satisfaction with the resulting interface.
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Unlocking the power of .NET for industrial automation
But many companies have missed out on the benefits of custom HMIs because they just did not have the time or resources to
devote and had to settle for a shrink-wrapped solution. Today, however, modern application development environments and
component-based toolkits are enabling companies to enjoy the flexibility and affordability of a custom application, without sacri-
ficing the ease of use and polish of a shrink-wrapped solution.
Unlike previous Build-it-yourself solutions, which only promised to enable customization but in the end required significant
investment of time and effort, engineers and operations specialists can assemble the new interfaces by entering parameters into
dialog boxes, with little, if any, need to program code. The secret is in using open .NET software development tools to craft inex-
pensive pre-designed HMI components and communications drivers into an HMI interface that fits your applications and
sensibilities perfectly.
.NET has fast become the platform of choice for IT, with many companies already staffed and trained for implementation and
long term support. Those who need the .NET technology for HMI development only, can download Visual Studio.NET Express
edition from Microsoft at no charge.
This white paper will look at these components-based solutions in more depth, specifically as they relate to building HMI and
communications for Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)-based systems within the .NET environment.
W H I T E PA P E R 3
Unlocking the power of .NET for industrial automation
separates the actual data itself from the display of that data, making it much easier to work with the data and move it between
applications. XML enables data from multiple sources to be aggregated into a single unit of information.
Visual Studio.NET
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, claims that the company spent more than three quarters of a billion dollars developing Visual
Studio.NET, an off-the-shelf toolkit for developing .NET-enabled applications. Smart application developers will take advantage of
this massive investment on Microsofts part to improve the quality of and reduce development costs for their own applications.
With Visual Studio.NET, you pay for these powerful development tools once and can then use them over and over again to
develop and deploy applications.
Visual Studio.NET provides todays application developers with a common, easy-to-use toolset for writing managed code for
Windows Forms, PDAs, and Web applications. These applications can range from simple HMI and blind data acquisition applica-
tions, to more sophisticated supervisory control, batch management, performance monitoring, and supply chain applications at
the factory or plant level, on up to intra- and inter-enterprise applications.
Many manufacturing companies large and small have adopted Microsoft as their standard for front office productivity soft-
ware, cross-platform integration, and application development. With so many companies already using Visual Studio.NET to
develop plant and enterprise business applications, it makes a lot sense for them to also take advantage of their investment in
Microsoft development tools and training to develop plant- or factory-floor applications.
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Unlocking the power of .NET for industrial automation
An off-the-shelf solution for HMI software companies and independent application developers alike
Literally tens of thousands of components for the .NET Framework are available off-the-shelf (not to mention hundreds of how-
to books and other support materials), these very same benefits are also accessible to developers of industrial custom HMI and
data acquisition applications. Unlike companies that chose to go the monolithic, shrink-wrapped HMI solution route, developers
of custom applications are also free to take advantage of a huge assortment of third-party, .NET-compliant industrial components
and communications drivers that can be easily plugged into their custom applications.
W H I T E PA P E R 5
Unlocking the power of .NET for industrial automation
Getting this data requires polling the PLC that controls an auto verification system and Transitions has built custom interfaces to do
this using programming tools from CimQuest INGEAR. These tools package all the necessary Allen Bradley drivers with Microsoft
Visual Basic or Visual Studio.NET routines and procedures that are commonly used to provide industrial services.
According to Patrick LaFerriere, who is responsible for the manufacturing execution systems for Transitions shop floor opera-
tions, this kind of programming requires knowledge of Microsoft programming languages and of the industrial processes that are
being programmed.
Its relatively easy to find Visual Basic or .NET programmers, I can have the Microsoft programmers writing for the PLC very
quickly, said Laferriere.
CimQuest INGEAR provided Transitions with collection of runtime free class libraries that simplify building, developing and deploying
connected systems for manufacturing applications using Visual Basic or Visual Studio .NET. INGEAR.NET provides a direct Ethernet
communication channel to programmable logic controllers needed to write HMI interfaces to PLC controls or to acquire data from
them. It requires no additional third-party components, drivers, APIs or tools, such as OPC Servers.
The tool uses only three primary classes of code, one class manages the PLC, one manages the data that are read from or writ-
ten to that PLC, and one manages groupings of methods, properties and events to optimize read/write operations on a collection
of tag classes.
The properties, methods and events in the PLC controller class, represented by the
lower portion of figure 2, establish the connection to the Allen-Bradley controllers, exe-
cutes communication transactions, such as individual Tag Read/Write and TagGroup
Read/Write operations, and manage error reporting and notification.
The properties, methods and events of the tag classes, represented by the green rec-
tangles in figure 2, represent data values to be read and written to the AB
programmable logic controller device. This covers operations such as addressing data
tables, defining data types, setting format for data values, time-stamping operations,
etc. And the TagGroup class properties, methods and events perform optimized
read/write operations on a collection of Tag classes, including adding and removing
tags from groups.
With .NET we can simply define everything we need up front, make one call to the PLC
Figure 2: Only three primary classes of .NET code and receive everything we need in a single array, said Laferriere.
manage all communications with the PLC.
Laferriere says also that accessing the PLC more efficiently in this way also puts less
strain on the system, which reduces the chance of failure, especially critical for an operation which must run 24/7 to meet pro-
duction goals.
Using such capabilities, Laferriere says that he is able to integrate easily with applications that he might never have been able to
access cost-effectively. In addition to the integration of track and trace data from the PLCs, as mentioned above, there are numer-
ous possibility for data mining to drive enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions.
Indeed, Transitions is now literally transitioning the communications to the web-based framework, so that all global locations can
share a common database, common key performance indicators (KPIs) and can report data consistently.
Whether you choose to go with a shrink-wrapped over a custom HMI, of course, depends on many factors, including available budget,
need for customized interfaces, number of potential users, maintenance requirements and availability of qualified personnel. But if you
need a professional, perfectly tailored interface for your PLC application, there are very few instances in which using .NET technology
to customize an interface will not pay for itself many times over, while leading you to an industrial HMI that is truly your own.
For a step-by-step demonstration of how to create your own custom HMI and SCADA applications for Allen-Bradley, GE Fanuc, and
Schneider PLCs using Visual Studio.NET and downloadable, runtime-free industrial communications drivers and .NET graphics compo-
nents, visit www.ingeardrivers.com.
0769302 01/09
W H I T E PA P E R 6
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