StateWORKS Newsletter 1/2010
Topics:
1. Welcome
Today I would like to draw your attention to the new library which allows one to embed an RTDB object into a graphical user interface. The other topic is the new activity of our group in hardware design that has an indirect influence on StateWORKS applications.
Regards
F. Wagner
2. RtdbUILibrary
The application domains of StateWORKS development tool and its run-time system are control systems.For a long time we have wanted to complete our software offer with a tool that allows implementation of a Graphical User Interface linked with RTDB objects.
Eventually, we have realized this aim by developing a library for C# applications. The library is a set of UserControls each representing a RTDB object. They are connected via the tcp/ip interface with an RTDB based application. By inserting the library into the C# project Toolbox the controls can be used in the project.
The first application of the library has been a TechnoDoor application: one screen shot of the application GUI is shown in the attached file pdf-file. The values displayed represent RTDB objects. The GUI itself is a relatively simple C# application for communication with the operator. The non-trivial control task is carried out by a system of state machines running in the separate RTDB application: the two programs are linked by the RTDB tcp/ip channels.
An interesting feature of this project was the development of a generic 3-term servo controller for the RTDB.
3. IOboard
When designing control systems we are still confronted with selection of hardware interfaces for the control. Although the market for such hardware is large we have been often unsatisfied with the features of such interfaces, especially communication protocols in stand alone applications. Very often the "value for money" criteria has been not fulfilled. So, we decided to have an associate company make better and less expensive units.
You can see the first result on http://www.ioboard.net/. We are designing an entire family of these boards which should all be available in a few months. They are designed to operate on an Ethernet LAN, rather than on USB, and therefore they have galvanic isolation from the host computer.
Considering the communication with the board we can offer of course an IO-Handler for RTDB (which was already used in the TechnoDoor project mentioned in the previous section). One day we will realize the concept of state machines, external to RTDB, running in these Ioboard modules, which have quite powerful processors.
