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Control System programming toolkit

This system is oriented toward easing the process of synthesis and deployment of control logic programs. Main targets of the system are to provide more formal way for creating control programs and thus minimizing the volume of code the designer is required to create for designing a system.

The system is ideally suited for applications in the area of process control and simulation. When used for simulation it can be used for creation of simulations of existing processes which can be used for verifying the correctness of developed computer/PLC based control software. The system is used at the Advanced Control Systems Laboratory at the Faculty of Automatics, Technical University - Sofia. The system is used for training students in the courses in Computer Control Systems, Process Conotrol Algorithms Design at the Faculty of Automatics, TU - Sofia.

The system consists of the following components:

• Control System Program Generator - program for designing the control and data acquisition programs.
• Control Programs Interpreter - program used for running the created control programs. Some of the basic functionality provided by this program are:
  • Implementation of a library of functional modules - a set of calculation functions used in the control programs.
  • Handling of network communication - used for connection to other Interpreter programs or to the visualization/user input component.
  • Hardware drivers - required so that the control programs can interact with hardware devices.
• Visualization/User input program - used for gathering data from running control programs.
• Custom developed hardware modules - a number of hardware devices have been developed as the usage of the system has been widened.

Depending on client requirement the system can be deployed in different configurations. Using already designed (or newly designed) hardware modules the system can be built as a distributed control system, or as a centralized control system. The number of connected hardware modules to a single Interpreter program can be up to 256 hardware modules. Each hardware module has a local microcontroller which handles communication with the Interpreter program, and is responsible for communicating with the local inputs/outputs. The hardware modules can also be connected to the Interpreter program through network connections, which extends the maximum distance between the Interpreter and the hardware modules.