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This page contains the Technical Article: Generations of Technology in Industrial Automation software.

Industrial Automation Software

Supervisory and control system technology has evolved

over the years, creating several generations of software tools and automation products. A generation

represents an evolutionary step and a new platform,

encompassing a

complete overhaul of

programming methods, user interfaces, and paradigms

. This goes beyond mere incremental improvements

made during the maintenance

lifecycle of products; a new generation

entails a renewal of the internal architecture.

While it is

straightforward to identify

these evolutionary steps

through historical analysis,

it is less clear when we are in the

midst of

such a transition—like the one occurring right now. Similar to the transition from the VAX/VMS platform to the PC platform in the

1980s, or the

shift from DOS to Windows in the

1990s, we are

currently moving towards a new generation of supervisory systems and industrial management software tools.

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Intrinsically Safe Security

One feature that remains unchanged is operational stability as the

primary requirement. The mechanisms related to increasing the guarantee of stability are among the main architectural changes made possible by new technologies.

In the field of instrumentation, security is not solely guaranteed by internal procedures or manufacturers'

warranties but

also— and

primarily— by the system architecture, using voltages and currents

that are "intrinsically safe" in the environment where the instrumentation will operate.

The same concept applies to software. The previous generation of technology used C/C++, pointers, several modules sharing the same memory area, and direct access to hardware and

operating system resources. These methods,

while necessary at the time

, are considered intrinsically unsafe.

Improvements

The new generation of software uses computational environments, such as the .NET Framework or

Java, where processes are natively isolated

from each other and from the operating system, regardless of the programmer

. This isolation allows for better utilization of computers with multiple processor cores and

ensures greater operational stability, even in the face of potential

driver and hardware errors or failures

in individual system modules

.

Code Validation

Another change

aiming

to enhance safety is the replacement of

scripting languages used

for project customization. The previous generation

relied on proprietary scripts or interpreted languages, such as VBScript, VBA, or proprietary

expression editors

. The new generation

uses more modern and compiled languages like C# and VB.NET,

which offer object orientation and

improved execution control.

With interpreted languages, users cannot

perform complete code validation during

development stages;

final verification occurs only

when

the code

is executed. This means many

issues are only

identified during runtime, not during

engineering configuration.

For example,

errors such as uninitialized variables, type mismatches, and inconsistent parameters

are only

detected during

execution.

A typical project may have hundreds to thousands of possible execution paths

, and testing scenarios cannot

exhaustively cover all

these paths. Therefore, the ability to detect potential errors during

engineering

and

recover and isolate

errors during runtime are

crucial for safety and operational stability

. These capabilities are only

achievable by migrating

from legacy interpreted scripts to

modern compiled and managed languages.

Complete Project Life Cycle

Another concept of this new generation of supervisory systems is the focus on the entire project cycle, not just on the software tool itself

. This approach provides resources for all project phases,

including: initial engineering specifications, project configuration, testing, field installation, and maintenance.

Each project phase has its own requirements, and new software platforms must

offer tools to

support each of

these phases effectively.

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Technological Update

64-bit architecture, hardware acceleration, multi-touch, computers with multiple CPU cores, .NET Framework, C# and VB.NET languages, cloud computing, and graphical hardware acceleration

are just some of the technologies that were not available

when the

internal architecture of previous generations of supervisory systems was developed.

Although

some degree of improvement can be achieved through upgrades and conversions,

fully leveraging these technologies typically requires a core design and architecture

conceived from

the start with a complete understanding of available resources and

functional requirements.

Being able to open two projects simultaneously, automatically track configuration changes, allow remote access

by

multiple engineers

to the same projects, and select displays by "preview" of the image rather than

by name are common

features in current text editors

but

are

often missing in earlier generations of automation tools; some

may even lack 64-bit

support.

Many features

are closely tied to the technology and system architecture

. Therefore, they are

more effectively

incorporated into a new design and

generation of the product

. Generally, adding advanced features on top of a core product

built with

outdated technology is

costly,

unreliable, only partially implemented, and sometimes not

feasible at all.

New Design and Cloud Computing

Two themes that deserve their own

article—so we will

only touch on them briefly

here—are the new

design concepts for user interfaces and cloud computing.

Many years ago,

the concept of a tablet device existed, but it was only with the advent of the iPad that this technology was

widely adopted

. The major

differentiator was

"Design

." Beyond merely aesthetics, design encompasses usability and interaction with the system.

The new generation of automation software also

advances design, focusing not just on appearance but also

on improving the usability of

configuration tools and projects.

Just as the transition from DOS to Windows

transformed user interaction with programs,

the current shift from Windows to the .NET Framework

introduces new user interface paradigms. These advancements offer opportunities for more intuitive, productive, immersive,

and aesthetically pleasing configuration and programming interfaces.

Regarding cloud computing, while it

will not replace field control systems

,

it

introduces new features

for

engineering and configuration. During

execution,

cloud computing enables safer and more easily programmable interfaces

for distributing real-time data to clients outside the corporate firewall,

such as web clients or smartphones

.

For project configuration and engineering

, cloud computing facilitates easy collaboration, allowing distributed teams to work together more effectively.

Previously,

engineers had to exchange project information

via emails with pictures,

FTP all

project files, or plan

trips. With cloud computing resources for collaborative distributed engineering,

teams in different locations can interact in real time, sharing

configuration, development, and verification of the same project

with

secure access and

traceable modifications.

New Software Tools

In some companies,

it is

standard procedure for corporate IT to perform regular updates of their software systems. Many industrial systems are relegated and still use the same software tools from previous decades. Among several factors, some automation software was too tied to other automation elements, so the cost-benefit of upgrading to get marginal gains was not enough to justify the investment. This scenario also significantly changed due to the transition to this new generation of industrial automation systems.

The new technologies enable much more effective connectivity to legacy systems. Thus, replacing the control level to evolve your operator interfaces and adding more powerful management software is unnecessary. There are concrete and measurable gains, especially in security and flexibility, even keeping the field control systems with the old components and evolving the HMI or MES level. If your current system is based on legacy technologies, the most appropriate time to start planning to adopt new systems is exactly now, when the previous systems are still operable, not when their limitations due to old technologies

rise to the point of becoming your bottleneck in reliability, flexibility, or evolution of the whole industrial process.

But upgrading to the latest version number of the same software tool is not enough if that product was not created with the latest technologies. The use of current data migration techniques is very straightforward in changing your project configuration and your data from any legacy system to the new ones created on top of more updated technologies.

Finally, another important reason for this transition to new-generation software tools is that the measurement of the gains in reliability, security, flexibility, and functionality are not marginal percentages

but multiplicative factors. The adoption of the new systems has a clear ROI, ensuring longevity and security for the facilities: the real-time graphical application managing a process is the front

end and visible link to the large investment

in the industrial assets monitored. Therefore,

leveraging the full advantages of

new software

enables getting more from that whole system,

which easily

justifies the adoption of the most current technologies for that front

end.

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