Since 2, the domestic monitoring configuration software products, technologies and markets have made rapid development, and the application fields are expanding day by day, and the number of users and application engineers is increasing. It fully embodies the development trend of "civilian use of industrial technology".
Monitoring configuration software is an important part of industrial application software, and its development is restricted by many factors. In the final analysis, it is the application that plays the most critical role in promoting its development.
With regard to the impact of the continuous emergence and rapid development of new technologies on the monitoring configuration software, some people think that with the development of technology, general configuration software will withdraw from the market. For example, some automation devices directly embed "Web Server" real-time images for the operators in the central control room to access.
the author doesn't think so. The diversification of users' requirements determines that it is impossible for any product to cover all the screen requirements of all users, and the demand of end users for man-machine interface of monitoring system cannot be fixed in a single mode, so the monitoring system of end users always needs to be "configured" and "customized". This is the main reason why it is impossible for monitoring configuration software to withdraw from the market, because the demand exists and is growing.
monitoring configuration software was born and developed with the continuous development of industrial IT technology under the background of information society. In the whole industrial automation software family, monitoring configuration software belongs to the basic tool platform. The monitoring configuration software has a far-reaching impact on industrial automation, informatization and social informatization, which drives the changes in the production and lifestyle of the whole society, and this change is still developing. Therefore, as a new thing, configuration software is still in a period of rapid development. At present, there is no special research institution to study, summarize and discuss its theory and practice, let alone form an independent and special theoretical research institution.
in recent five years, some technologies closely related to monitoring configuration software, such as OPC, OPC-XML, fieldbus and so on, have also made rapid development, which is a strong support for the development of monitoring configuration software. 7.2.1 Monitoring configuration software is increasingly becoming the focus of automation hardware manufacturers
The proportion of software in the whole automation system is gradually increasing. Although configuration software is only a part of it, it has eroded the market of many special software in recent years because of its strong penetration and expansibility. Therefore, monitoring configuration software has a high degree of industrial relevance, which is an important bridge for automation systems to enter high-end applications and expand market share. Driven by this idea, Siemens WinCC has achieved great success in the market. At present, internationally renowned industrial automation manufacturers such as Rockwell, GE Fanuc, Honeywell, Siemens, ABB, Schneider, Invesco, etc. have developed their own configuration software.
the proportion of monitoring configuration software in DCS operating station software is increasing day by day
After FOXBORO, Euro therm, Delta V, PCS7 and other DCS systems have used general monitoring configuration software as operating stations. At the same time, domestic DCS manufacturers also began to try to use monitoring configuration software as the operating station.
In universities and scientific research institutions, more and more people are engaged in the technical research of monitoring configuration software.
From the domestic academic journals of automation industry, the research topics centered on configuration software and new technologies closely related to it are on the rise. The existence of many researchers is an important active factor for the development and innovation of configuration software technology, and it is sure to accumulate many technical achievements. Whether it is technological achievements or researchers, they will follow the laws of the pyramid and form a transition from basic to high-end. These researchers and their research results provide useful experience for monitoring configuration software manufacturers to develop new products, and open up their ideas.
Linux-based monitoring configuration software and related technologies are developing rapidly, and many manufacturers have introduced mature products one after another, which will have a far-reaching impact on the configuration software industry.
7.2.2 Integration and customization
From the software scale, the code scale of most monitoring configuration software exceeds 1 million lines, which is no longer in the category of small software. Judging from its functions, data processing and processing, data management, statistical analysis and other functions are getting stronger and stronger.
as a general software platform, monitoring configuration software has great flexibility. But in fact, many users need "fool" application software, that is, they need little customization work to complete engineering applications. In order to take care of both "generality" and "specialty", the monitoring configuration software has expanded a large number of components to complete specific functions, such as batch management, accident recall, temperature control curve, oil well indicator diagram component, protocol forwarding component, ODBCRouter, ADO curve, expert report, universal report component, event management, GPRS transparent transmission component and so on.
7.2.3 Vertical: the function extends upward and downward
Configuration software is located in the middle of the monitoring system, and it has relatively complete interfaces upward and downward, so the ability to penetrate the upper and lower application systems is also an instinct of configuration software, which is manifested as:
upward
its management function is getting stronger and stronger, and with the cooperation of real-time database and its management system, it has some MIS and. Especially the functions of alarm management and retrieval, historical data retrieval, operation log management, complex reports and so on are more common.
Downward
Network management (or node management) function is increasingly available: different nodes with the same configuration software can automatically access each other's databases after setting their addresses or computer names. This function of configuration software is similar to that of OPC specification, IEC6185 protocol, BACNet and other field buses, which reflects the development trend of its increasingly perfect network management ability.
soft PLC, embedded control and other functions: in addition to the configuration software directly equipped with soft PLC components, soft PLC components are also sold together with hardware as a separate product to form a PAC controller. This kind of soft PLC components can generally run in embedded Linux operating system.
OPC service software: OPC standard simplifies the interconnection communication between different industrial automation devices, and has become a widely recognized interconnection standard both internationally and abroad. Configuration software has both OPCServer and OPC Client functions. If the device drivers with rich configuration software are packaged as OPC Serve and sold separately according to users' needs, it will not only enrich the types of software products, but also meet users' needs in this respect. Matrikon Company in Canada, which mainly develops and sells various OPCServer software, has become a leader in this field. Monitoring configuration software manufacturers have a large number of device drivers, so it has unique advantages to develop customized OPCSever software.
industrial communication protocol Gateway: it is a special gateway, belonging to data link products in the field of industrial automation. OPC standard is suitable for data communication between computers and industrial I/O devices or desktop software, while industrial communication protocol gateway is suitable for protocol conversion in applications such as network segment isolation, unattended operation and strong data confidentiality between different industrial I/O devices and between computers and I/O devices. There are manufacturers specializing in the development and sales of industrial communication protocol gateway products in the market, such as Woodhead, prolinx, etc. However, configuration software manufacturers have turned their rich I/O drivers into communication gateways by extending a protocol forwarding module, and the risk and cost of development work are extremely small. Multi_OPCServer and communication gateway pFieldComm are both derivatives of ForceControl configuration software.
7.2.4 Horizontal: monitoring, management scope and application field are expanded
As long as real-time data communication (whether bidirectional or unidirectional), real-time dynamic graphical interface display, necessary data processing and historical data storage and display are involved at the same time, there is a potential demand for configuration software.
in addition to the well-known industrial automation field, the following fields have become new growth points of monitoring configuration software in recent years:
PAM (Plant Asset Management). The representative of this kind of software is Emerson's equipment management software AMS. According to the forecast of ARC, the global PAM business volume will reach 1.9 billion dollars by 29. PAM covers a wide range, and its * * * similarity is to collect the running state of equipment in real time, accumulate various parameters of equipment (such as running time, maintenance times, load curve, etc.), find hidden dangers of equipment in time, predict the service life of equipment, provide suggestions for equipment maintenance, and make real-time comprehensive diagnosis of equipment.
for process control and automation control, ICONICS company of the United States has introduced the analysis and management software Facility AnalytiX, facility analytix &; reg; Is a building automation solution with predictive function, which takes the advanced fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) engine of ICONICS as the core. Its internal algorithm will weigh the possibility of various failures, and accordingly suggest managers, operators and maintenance workers to take measures to prevent equipment failures or energy waste. When the equipment breaks down, advanced software technology will automatically provide a classified list of possible fault causes, which can reduce downtime and reduce the cost of fault diagnosis and recovery. At present, it has been widely used in American electric power and park-level building projects.
advanced control or optimized control system. After the popularization of industrial automation system, in order to improve the control quality and accuracy, many users began to introduce advanced control or optimized control system. These systems include adaptive control, (multivariable) predictive control, model-free controller, robust control, intelligent control (expert system, fuzzy control, neural network, etc.), and other control software written according to new control theory. The constant term of these control softwares is control algorithm, and the use of monitoring configuration software mainly solves the problems of man-machine interface of control software and real-time data communication with control equipment.
industrial simulation system. Simulation software provides almost the same environment for users to operate simulated objects as real objects. Simulation software not only saves huge training costs, but also provides intelligent features that the physical system does not have. The developer of simulation system is specialized in the algorithm of simulation module, and does not necessarily have advantages in real-time dynamic graphic display and real-time data communication. reg； Monitoring configuration software and simulation software are integrated through high-speed data interface, which is widely used in teaching and scientific research simulation applications.
information construction of power grid system. Electric power automation is an important application field of monitoring configuration software. Electric power is the basic industry of the country, and its information construction is multi-level, which determines the multi-level demand for configuration software.
intelligent building: the main requirements of property management are energy management (energy saving) and safety management. This management mode requires that intelligent equipment in buildings must be networked. Firstly, the problem of information islands should be effectively solved, the manpower consumption should be reduced, and the emergency response speed and equipment life expectancy should be improved. Intelligent building industry plays an important role in energy metering, power distribution, security &; ; There is a strong demand for access control and fire protection systems to be connected to IBMS servers.
public security monitoring and management: hidden dangers of public security can cause improper emergency response, which is easy to cause public facilities paralysis, casualties and other vicious disasters. Public safety monitoring includes:
toxic gas concentration monitoring and fire alarm in civil air defense (station, square) and other municipal projects.
hydrological monitoring: including real-time monitoring of water level, rainfall, gate position and dam.
health status monitoring of major buildings (such as bridges): discover hidden dangers in time and predict accidents.
monitoring of power environment of computer room: in telecom, railway, banking, securities, customs and other industries and important government departments, the normal operation of computer servers is a necessary condition for the normal operation of business and administration, so the computer room where computer servers are stored has become the focus of monitoring, which includes: working parameters and status of UPS, working parameters and status of battery pack, running status and parameters of air-conditioning unit, water leakage monitoring, generator set monitoring, environmental temperature and humidity monitoring, and so on.
Real-time monitoring of urban hazards: monitoring of places where hazards are stored and their whereabouts. Avoid uncontrolled circulation of radioactive substances and highly toxic substances.
Three-dimensional pollution monitoring of land and resources: monitoring the contents of pollutants related to agricultural production in soil and atmosphere in real time, and establishing a three-dimensional real-time monitoring network.
real-time monitoring and dispatching of urban pipe network system: including monitoring of water supply pipe network, gas pipe network and heating pipe network. Configuration software has become a necessary part of industrial automation system, that is, "basic unit" or "basic component", which has attracted large automation companies to invest in developing configuration software with their own intellectual property rights in order to generate large-scale sales and gain profits from it by relying on a strong market.
at present, the monitoring configuration software with high market share at home and abroad are iFix of GE Fanuc, Intouch of Wonderware, WinCC of Siemens, Citech, etc. Chinese mainland manufacturers mainly focus on Power Control and Asia Control, and there are 5-1 other manufacturers engaged in monitoring configuration software business.
in the domestic market, the high-end market is still monopolized by foreign products. Domestic products have begun to seize some high-end markets, and the proportion is gradually increasing.
(1) Changes of configuration software products themselves
As a general tool software, configuration software has always been in the position of "connecting the preceding with the following" in the automation system. In the project involving industrial informatization, if real-time data acquisition is involved, users will first consider trying configuration software. Because of this, configuration software is used in almost all industrial information projects. The diversity of applications puts forward many new requirements for the performance index, usage mode and interface mode of configuration software, and there are also some challenges. These requirements have a great impact on the system structure of configuration software and play a key role in promoting the development of configuration software.
Function change: Human-computer interface is still the main function, and data collection, historical database, alarm management, operation log management, authority management and data communication and forwarding become its basic functions; Functional components are developing in a trend of differentiation, integration and functional subdivision to meet the needs of different industries and different user levels.
Adoption of new technologies: The IT trend of configuration software is obvious, and a large number of latest computing technologies, communication technologies and multimedia technologies are used to improve its performance and expand its functions.
Pay attention to efficiency: In fact, some "configuration" work is very complicated, and users want to quickly generate their own project applications through templates. Graphic templates, database templates, and equipment templates allow users to quickly generate target programs in a "copy" manner.
the configuration software pays attention to the improvement of data processing ability and data throughput ability: in addition to the conventional real-time data communication and man-machine interface functions,