Massey contends that automation software should be thought of as more than simply a prescribed process for automating a specific task; it should be a means of creating an array of software tools for the automating of a wide variety of tasks.

It is that approach, he says, that lies behind B&R’s Automation Studio, an integrated set of development tools designed to allow engineers and programmers to create applications in a standardized environment and then port them to the control platform of choice.

“This single software package is used to program and communicate with all of B&R’s products,” says Massey. “It uses libraries and function blocks as well as IEC 61131-3 languages plus ANSI C to make programming flexible and reusable,” he notes, in reference to the International Electrotechnical Commission’s 61131-3 standard, and the C programming language published by the American National Standards Institute. “It also provides Unicode support, remote diagnostics, connection with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and version control,” Massey continues.

It is an approach that holds out the promise of faster development times, as well as a variety of cost savings throughout the lifecycle of a project, and it’s one that B&R is not alone in deploying. “It’s an approach that’s become somewhat common among automation vendors,” notes Ron Bliss, Logix software marketing manager for vendor Rockwell Automation Inc., Milwaukee.

Abstract and inherit

“We have a range of control platforms in our Logix family,” he continues, “but our development environment is designed to look the same to the user regardless of what application they are trying to control. The same programming tools and the same instruction set is used.” Abstraction, a concept imported from personal computer (PC) programming, comes into play here. It’s the process of simplifying programming by masking some details in order to allow the user to concentrate on others.

“We provide users with a tool that they need to organize their control execution while not tying that development to the limitations of a particular hardware platform,” says Bliss. “They are abstracted from the hardware in the sense that the limitations of the hardware don’t manifest themselves in the programming environment. Then, once they’ve developed their application, the system compiles and builds source code appropriate to the targeted control platform.” Not only does this help reduce initial development time, but it also facilitates the reuse of programs despite changes in the scale of the target application or the hardware used.

The studio approach has been aided by another concept borrowed from the PC world: inheritance, or the ability to create new objects by using existing, previously validated objects. This allows the creation of standardized libraries whose components can be modified via add-on instructions. Along with reducing development time and ensuring consistency, this impacts an organization in other ways as well.

“Say, for example, you’re an end-user and you hand your code off to one of your systems integrators, who then discovers a problem with some aspect of it,” explains Bliss. “The necessary changes can be made, and then through a simple import operation, you can replace the existing code and inherit the changes throughout the system without having to go in and manually edit each instance where that particular problem occurred.”

Language flexibility

Standardized programming languages, such as those contained in IEC 61131-3, are central to the studio approach, as Mark DeCramer, product manager for automation vendor Wago Corp., Germantown, Wis., makes clear. Referencing his company’s CoDeSys integrated programming environment, he notes that its use of IEC 61131-3 allows users to develop their applications or routines in whichever of the standard’s four languages is most efficient for the purpose at hand.

“Languages such as Ladder Diagram and Sequential Function Chart are prevalent in our industry,” he observes, “but it can be cumbersome to write sorting, file-access and numerous other routines using these languages. These routines can be written as function blocks and stored in libraries, where they can be easily re-used and shared among users, reducing software development time.”

DeCramer goes on to note other advantages of this multi-language capability. “The Structured Text Programming language permits constructs such as IF-THEN-ELSE, DO WHILE, FOR-NEXT and CASE statements, which allows writing well-formatted software. The same software can be written in ladder logic, but the resulting code will be rife with JUMP statements and disjointed logic, making it difficult to read, re-use and especially troubleshoot. Logic written in Structured Text is also easily commented, resulting in more readable software.”

“Easy to troubleshoot” brings up another selling point of the integrated, ...