
Now that there is
not only one virus
out there
that manipulates industrial control systems including connected PLCs it is time to change to an alternative solution that does not depend on one
operating system only. So keep the Stuxnet worm and other, buffer-overflow dependent risks way from your SCADA and PLC system:
OpenAPC is an Open Source APC (Advanced Process Control) solution that is
highly flexible and configurable and covers a wide range of
automation, visualization and process control tasks from home control up to industrial automation. It consists of several sub-components that are specialised
for different tasks. Here the
ControlRoom software package covers the visualisation and process control part of the OpenAPC package.
CNConstruct is a CAD-tool that can be used to create motion and processing data for controlling e.g. XY-tables and connected tools for material
processing.
BeamConstruct is a highly specialised CAD-application for industrial laser marking purposes, it can be
used to create data for 2D and 3D laser scanner systems. For more and detailled
information about BeamConstruct
laser marking software please click here.
Control applications created with the integrated ControlRoom editors visual interface can perform several tasks - dependent on how the application is
configured and used:
- Visualisation
- HMI / Human Machine Interface (or MMI / Man Machine Interface)
- PLC / process control
- SCADA / supervisory control, data acquisition and processing
- Home automation and professional automation
- User interface design and programming without the need to write programs
The ControlRoom software component offers some advanced features like:
- Flexible network-capability
- Open plugin interface for adding new controls and interfaces
- Easy connection, handshake and co-processing of different OpenAPC instances
- Platform-independence: the same OpenAPC-project can be used on Windows™, WindowsCE™ Windows XPe™, Linux™, Mac OS X™ and more
- Easy project creation via ControlRoom's visual editor
- Separated applications for editing, debugging and a highly optimized one for running a ControlRoom project so that the final project can be executed without problems also on weak hardware platforms
- Full support for user management, user levels and privileges
- Support for touch screen controlled HMIs
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But ... there are several MMI/SCADA applications out there - why just an other application of this type?
The question to that answer is simple: the OpenAPC package is different to all applications that are out there. Or to be more detailled:
- OpenAPC is as simple as possible while it offers everything that is necessary - so it can be understood by users fast and easily without
missing anything important - or in other words: we do not have thousands of fancy features that overlap each other and nobody uses because
nobody is able to understand them, we have exactly what is needed
- ControlRoom is really portable and platform-independent: when choosing it as your control application you are not locked to one particular operating system for all time. In worst case
you can transfer your existing project files to an other system easily, there is no need for expensive porting.
- ControlRoom offers open programming interfaces to the outer world you can utilitize without licensing restrictions. So you do not have to share the unique characteristics of your product with others
(including us): you can adapt a plug-in for the hardware that makes the difference between you and your competitors and still use the functionality not only of the ControlRoom software component. So you do not need to write
your own software just for keeping your business secrets.
- ControlRoom is very flexible: not only the open programming interfaces but also the internal structure of the application allows you to solve very different
tasks. That means on the one side you can't say easily what kind of application ControlRoom really is but on the other side you are not locked to the
functionality of a PLC, MMI or SCADA application only. More than this: you can combine the features of different worlds within one application according to
your needs.
- Integrated additional tools: The contained CAD-tool CNConstruct and the laser marking software BeamConstruct
are fully featured software components where you could pay nameable amounts of money for - when purchasing similar software at other companies. Here these
software components are not only contained within the full OpenAPC package but also can be integrated easily: CNConstruct and BeamConstruct projects can be
added to a ControlRoom HMI seamless via related plug-ins, so support for CNC and industrial laser marking can be included into ControlRoom process control
applications seamless.