Copa-Data's Chameleon puts "skins" on displays

April 1, 2010 - Copa-Data's zenon 6.50 with Chameleon technology provides skins that are easy to implement using centrally configurable and switchable color palettes.

Already a common feature of MP3 players and mobile phones, skins are now gaining ground in automation technology. Panels in automation equipment are subject to different conditions. Light, reflections, weak contrast and individual perception of colors play an often underestimated role, making information difficult to read and user elements unclear, which can lengthen reaction times and increase the likelihood of operation errors.

By having color schemes that can be switched at the press of a button, panels become easier and safer to operate. With the use of the zenon Chameleon Technology, users now have this ability. zenon Chameleon Technology facilitates centrally switchable color palettes. Every color for all objects can be adapted with one simple click. It can even be done automatically at log-in, during Runtime, or when configuring in the Editor.

Easily switchable color schemes make it easy to adapt displays to counter disturbing influences, such as direct sunlight, or different color perception, such as with red-green color blindness. At the same time, the zenon Chameleon Technology is the ideal tool for labeling different roles and modes. The user is immediately able to see what rights they are logged in with and can recognize at a glance if the project is running live or as a simulation.

COPA-DATA has prepared five initial skins for the for most common usage scenarios: "Administrator Mode" and "Simulation Mode" ensure clarity of role and mode, "Design" is trimmed down to usability, "Eagle Eye" ensures high contrast, and "Color Corrected" has been optimized for users with red-green color blindness. These skins can easily be integrated into zenon 6.50 as XML files and are all now available for download.


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Configuring SIDirect DAServer to Communicate with S7 PLC Over TCP Connection

The SIDirect DAServer provides access to data within the Siemens S7 200, S7 300, and S7 400 PLC families through a standard EtherNet network interface card without requiring Siemens SimaticNet software. The SIDirect DAServer is capable of DDE, FastDDE, SuiteLink™, or OPC connections to Windows® client program such as an InTouch® application.

This Technote provides a step-by-step procedure of how to configure and use Wonderware's SIDirect DAServer with a S7 PLC (S7-400 PLC is being used in this technote) via DDE/SuiteLink protocol.

Before you continue, make sure the following requirements have been met:

• Read and follow the instructions in the SIDirect DAServer's readme file and related documents for System requirements, proper installation procedures, and supported Operating systems.
• Install the latest version of the SIDirect DAServer. If a previous version was installed, uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. This technote is written using SIDirect DAServer version 1.0.0.
• Install and configure TCP/IP network protocol and the network interface card (NIC)
  so that it can communicate with the PLC via Ethernet.
• Make sure that you can "ping" the PLC successfully and receive valid replies from the PLC.

Note: Please check the SIDirect DASERVER Online Help for more information about the supported firmware and hardware. Only the TCP bus communications protocol is supported by the SIDirect DAServer. The SIDirect does not support MPI, Profibus, and other non-EtherNet protocols.

Configurating the SIDirect DAServer

1. Start the SIDirect DAServer Manager by selecting Start/Programs on the taskbar.
   
   
2. Navigate to the Wonderware folder that contains the System Management Console, then click System Management Console.
   
   
3. From the ArchestrA System Management Console (SMC), find the SIDirect DAServer in the DAServer Manager tree. Under the local node the DAServer name is ArchestrA.DASSIDirect.1 (Figure 1 below).

   
   Figure 1: DASSIDirect DAServer in the SMC

4. Expand ArchestrA.DASSIDirect.1 and highlight Configuration.
   
   The Global Parameters dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 2 (below):
   
   
   Figure 2: DASSIDirect - Global Parameters
   
   • Device Group Update Interval: Specifies the update interval of the default device group.
   • Slow Poll Interval: Specifies the interval that the DAServer polls the field device after it goes into slow poll mode when connectivity problems occur. The DAServer will be governed by device group update intervals when the communication returns to normal.
   • Transaction to Subscription Ratio: Transactions are poke/read messages from a DDE/SL/OPC client. Subscriptions are messages generated by items being on advise. Subscriptions are sent periodically at the Update Interval.

   The Transaction to Subscription ratio defines the maximum number of transactions the DAServer sends before sending one subscription. It is the ratio of transaction to subscription messages when there are several transaction messages pending. The second half of the ratio is always 1. Therefore, the default ratio 2 means 2:1 transaction to subscription messages. The ratio ensures that a certain amount of subscription activity is guaranteed even in a transaction overloaded state.

   For example if the ratio is set to 2 and there are 3 transaction messages and 2 subscription messages become due at the same time, the toolkit will send out 2 transaction messages, 1 subscription message, 1 transaction message and then 1 subscription message.

   • Transaction Message Timeout: The timeout for transactions (read/write/refresh/property) per message. This timeout prevents a client from hanging in a transaction forever if for some reason the transaction messages are never scheduled until completion. It is the maximum amount of time between message updates within a transaction. The timeout has to be set in such a way that under no circumstances data acquisition on an individual message takes longer than this timeout.
   • Server Protocol Timer: This option is disabled, since the SIDirect uses event driven protocol engine.
   • Diagnostic Backlog Size: Specifies the maximum number of transactions shown in the Transactions diagnostic root.
   • Poke Mode: The following modes are available:
   - Control Mode preserves the poke order without folding.
   - Transition Mode preserves the poke order with minimum folding by keeping the first, second and last poke values of an item.
   - Optimization Mode does not preserve the poke order and has maximum folding by only poking the last value of an item.
   
   • Case Sensitive: Controls how the DAServer scans item and device group names with respect to upper/lower case.
   • Device Group Cache: This parameter is for future use.
   • Simulation Mode: This parameter is is disabled for the SIDirect DAServer.
   • System Items: This parameter controls whether the system items appear in the browse interface and if they are recognized as valid ItemIDs by the DAServer's data acquisition interfaces.
   • Unique Device Groups: This parameter controls whether the device group names are checked for uniqueness across all device nodes of a DAServer.

5. Right-click the Configuration icon.

6. Select Add PortCpS7 Object from the sub-menu.

7. Right-click New_PortCp_000, and select Add S7Cp Object. The S7 CP parameter dialog window appears as shown in Figure 3 (below):
   
   
   Figure 3: S7 CP Communication Parameters
   
   • Network Address: Enter the IP address for the PLC. The S7 PLC used in the example of this technote has IP address of 192.168.10.41.
   • Local TSAP: Specifies the local station's transport service access point. The first digit specifies the device, and the second digit should be zero (0). Recommended setting is 01.00.
   • Remote TSAP: Specifies the PLC's transport service access point.
   • Remote Rack No: Enter the decimal number for the Rack.
   • Remote Slot No: Enter the decimal number for the Slot of the CPU.
   
   The example in this technote uses the rack number 0 and the slot number 3 , where the S7-400 CPU is located. (The power supply takes up two slots, so the CPU is in slot 3.)
   
   • Connection Resource: Select the Hex number for the Connection Resource from the drop-down menu.

8. Select the Device Groups tab.
   
   
9. Right-click on the white space in the Device Groups dialog box to add a device group ( similar to Topic Definition ) in the Device Groups dialog box as shown in Figure 4 (below):
   
   
   Figure 4: Device Group Dialog Box
   
   
10. Select, then right click the default Topic_0 to rename it to some meaningful name such as S7PLC as shown in Figure 5 (below):
    
    
    Figure 5: S7PLC Device Group
    
    
11. In the hierarchy tree on the left pane, right-click ArchestrA.DASSIDirect.1 and select Activate Server from the sub-menu to start the DAServer. The icon next to ArchestrA.DASSIDirect.1 will change from red to green as shown in Figure 6 (below):
    
    
    Figure 6: SIDirect DAServer is Activated
    

Testing the DASSIDirect Server

The DASSIDirect Server is ready for use. We are now going to do a quick communications test to verify that we can establish the connection to the PLC.

1. Click Start/Run and enter WWClient to start the Wonderware WWClient program.
   
   
2. Select Connections/Create from the main menu. The Create Connection dialog box will appear.
   
   
3. Enter appropriate information as shown in Figure 7 (below), where:
   • Node: blank since the DASSIDirect and the WWClient are on the same computer. Otherwise, enter the computer name of the machine running the DAServer.
   • Application: DASSIDirect, which is the application name of the SIDirect DAServer.
   • Topic: S7PLC, which is the exact name of the new device group we just created in the DASSIDirect's device groups window.
   • Connection Type: IOT which is the SuiteLink protocol used for this technote.
   
   
   Figure 7: Create Connection Dialog Box
   
   
4. Click Create, then Done.
   
   The WWClient window should now appear similar to Figure 8 (below):
   
   
   Figure 8: WWClient Showing Connection with the DASSIDirect
   
   
5. Select Item from the main menu.
   
   
6. Enter a known good PLC register address.
   
   The following figures show an example of WWClient successfully advising item MB90 from the S7 PLC. Enter MB90 in the Item entry box. Click the AdviseEX button to register and advise the item. If the Ethernet connection to the PLC is good, you should see the value for the register MB90 as shown in Figures 9 and 10 (below):
   
   
   Figure 9: Item
   
   
   Figure 10: WWClient Displaying MB90 Values

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OPC - What is it?

OPC?

Based on Microsoft’s OLE (now ActiveX),COM (component object model) and DCOM (distributed component object model) technologies, OPC consists of a standard set of interfaces, properties, and methods for use in process-control and manufacturing-automation applications.The

ActiveX/COM technologies define how individual software components can interact and share data. Backed by Microsoft’s NT technology, OPC provides a common interface for communicating with diverse process-control devices, regardless of the controlling software or devices in the process. The goal of the standard is Plug-and-Play, a concept developed by Microsoft and a number of other companies a few years ago. By using a standard way of configuring computer hardware (and software interfaces) automatically, a device will easily connect to another and immediately work without the need for lengthy installation procedures or complex configuration. Instead of having to learn how to use 100 or more custom toolkits, users will only have to learn one set of tools, because all OPC drivers will work the same way. OPC’s purpose is to compel the automation industry suppliers to push all device drivers toward a standard form. Essentially, OPC defines a common interface that permits interface development work to be performed once and then easily reused.

The OPC standard requires hardware suppliers to provide front-line data collection and distribution. They are the most familiar with how to access the device’s internal data efficiently.These devices then
become OPC servers, providing data to OPC client applications consistently.Application developers can then write code in any language deemed appropriate.

OPC - History

OPC (OLE for Process Control) is an industry standard created with the collaboration of a number a leading worldwide automation and hardware software suppliers working in cooperation with Microsoft.The
organization that manages this standard is the OPC Foundation.The Foundation has over 150 members from around the world, including nearly all of the world’s major providers of control systems,
instrumentation, and process control systems.The OPC Foundation’s forerunner — a task force composed of Fisher-Rosemount, Rockwell Software, Opto 22, Intellution, and Intuitive Technology — was able to develop a basic,workable, OPC specification after only a single year’s work. A simplified, stage-one solution was released in August 1996.

The objective of the OPC Foundation is to develop an open, flexible, plug-and-play standard that allows end users to enjoy a greater choice of solutions, as well as sharply reducing development and maintenance costs for hardware and software suppliers. The OPC Foundation has been able to work more quickly than many other standards groups because OPC Foundation is simply building on an existing Microsoft standard. Other groups which have had to
define the standards “from the ground up” have had a more difficult time reaching consensus as a result of the scope of their work.

Microsoft is a member of the OPC Foundation and has given strong backing to the organization. However, Microsoft has been careful to remain in the background and let the member companies with direct industry experience guide the organization’s work.
One of the most valuable aspects of Microsoft’s participation is the fact that it hosts an annual OPC Foundation meeting in Redmond,Washington (Microsoft Headquarters) to provide Foundation Members with a preview of coming developments in OLE/COM and other Microsoft technologies. Many Foundation Members are small companies and would not receive that kind of briefing from Microsoft if they were not Foundation Members.

End-Users are encouraged to join OPC Foundation, and several manufacturers actively participate in the specification and technical review process. Both End - Users and Automation Suppliers benefit from having a standard. For every automation system installed today,
there is a significant amount of time and money spent on integration. OPC ensures that automation systems can share information and interoperate with other automation and business systems across their plant or factory.

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Free OPC Software

Automation Media is dedicated to develop the awareness and understanding about interoperability in automation by providing best information about open specifications that standardize the communication of acquired process data, alarm and event records, historical data, and batch data to multi-vendor enterprise systems and between production devices. Production devices include sensors, instruments, PLCs, RTUs, DCSs, HMIs, historians, trending subsystems, alarm subsystems, and more as used in the process industry, manufacturing, and in acquiring and transporting oil, gas, and minerals.

Supplier	Product	Notes
MatrikonOPC	OPC Explorer	Popular free OPC client used for testing. Comprehensive features, very easy to use. Sponsored Link
4CE Industry	OPCX DA	Demo version of an ActiveX control which aims to simplify Data Access client development.
Advosol	Free Tools	Advosol offers a number of test and sample clients, usually as part of a toolkit or component evaluation (requires registration). Supported specifications include DA 2, DA 3, AE, HDA and XML-DA.
Bee Computing	Oxalis	HDA client providing graphical visualization of historical data. HDA server access ceases after 30 minutes in demo version.
Canary Labs	Trend Historian, Trend Link	Evaluation versions of Canary Labs' trending and logging utilities. Updated versions include OPC Historical Data Access support: HDA server in Trend Historian, client in Trend Link.
Cogent Real-Time Systems	OPC DataHub	Time-limited demo of DA 2 and DA 3 server and client combination that supports OPC tunnelling, aggregation, and bridging. Also offers TCP and DDE client and server, plus scripted read/write connections to ODBC databases and MATLAB.
Control See	U.C.ME-OPC	Client software for alarm notification and remote control, using a variety of wired, wireless and mobile technologies. Demo download runs for one hour before requiring restart, but otherwise unrestricted.
EXELE	TopView for OPC	Evaluation download of DA 2.05 client, allowing OPC tags to be monitored for user-configured alarm conditions. Notifications may be sent by email, pager or cell phone. Voice annunciation and text-to-speech allow delivery of audible alarm messages by phone or through the computer's speakers. A Remote Viewer option allows TopView instances to be remotely monitored from a Desktop PC or Windows Mobile device.
ExperTune	OPC Test Client	Simple test client, originally intended for checking compatibility of servers with the company's PID tuning product.
GE Fanuc	OPC Data Access Object	ActiveX control. Allows limited use of custom OPC interfaces from VB client.
ICONICS	OPC DataSpy	Client for diagnostics and monitoring. Supports local and remote connections to DA and AE servers, and includes useful features such as a log of OPC calls. Slightly marred by an HMI which is counter-intuitive in parts.
ICONICS	OPC Enabled ActiveX Controls	Gauge, Switch and Vessel controls are available, allowing connection to any OPC data source.
Industrial DOT NET	Quick Data	Free DA client based on the same company's Local IO product. Includes facilities for buffering, scaling and masking of tag values. Requires .NET Framework 1.1.
Integration Objects	OPC DA Explorer, OPC AE Explorer	Free GUI clients offering simultaneous connection to multiple servers.
IOServer	IOServer	Evaluation version of an OPC server which also includes client functionality. See servers for more details.
Kassl	Freeware clients	A range of easy freeware clients for DA, AE and HDA, plus an XML-DA test client.
Kassl	dOPC Explorer	Easy to use and attractive DA and XML-DA diagnostic client, including basic trend charts. Now supports DA 3 and XML-DA 1.01. Free for non-commercial use.
Kepware	KEPServerEX	Demo server download (see servers) includes simple yet elegant OPC Quick Client.
Kepware	LinkMaster	Demo version of comprehensive bridging product. Able to act both as OPC client and server, as well as DDE server. See also products from MatrikonOPC and Northern Dynamic.
Matrikon	Operational Insight Lite	Free tool with a number of advanced capabilities, including trending and process mimics based on real-time and archived OPC data (DA and HDA). Requires periodic license renewal (free of charge) via Matrikon web site.
new MatrikonOPC	HDA Explorer	Free tool for verifying historical data through HDA, testing HDA servers, and troubleshooting connectivity to HDA servers.
MatrikonOPC	OPC Client for ODBC	OPC client which enables any ODBC-compliant database to exchange process data with an OPC server, using standard SQL queries.
MatrikonOPC	OPC Data Manager	'Thin' OPC client which bridges between two OPC servers, taking data from one and writing it directly to the other. See also products from Kepware and Northern Dynamic.
MatrikonOPC	OPC Desktop Historian	Process Historian that collects and archives time-series process data, with reporting, analysis, and viewing facilities. Efficiently stores an unlimited amount of data and an unlimited number of tags.
MatrikonOPC	OPC Redundancy Broker	Enables easy implementation of redundancy in OPC-based systems, being designed for applications that must use redundant hardware and/or software to achieve a high degree of communication reliability.
MatrikonOPC	OPC Trender	Comprehensive yet easy to use trending tool. OPC DA is used to gather real-time data from any OPC server, while OPC HDA may also be used for historical data retrieval.
MMI OPC	OPC Explorer	Very simple GUI client for browsing available Data Access servers and items.
National Instruments	Server Explorer	Powerful and easy to use test client. Connection Wizard allows a server connection with a group and multiple items to be established with just five mouse clicks.
Nautsilus	OPC Explorer	Demo version of a Data Access 2.0 diagnostic client. Allows live linking to other applications (e.g. Microsoft Excel) via a simple Copy and Paste operation, plus bridging between two servers.
NETxAutomation	OPC Voyager	Visualization software for buildings and industrial plants. Free tester version has no time restriction, but is limited to 5 pages and 5 elements per page.
OpenOPC	Command-line Client	Powerful console client, supporting a full range of OPC DA operations. Great flexibility through ability to use pipes, plus CSV files as input/output.
New Century Technologies	OPC Proxy	Gathers and caches data from multiple OPC servers in a networked environment. The data is then presented to client programs using simplified (non-OPC) COM interfaces.
Northern Dynamic	OPC Gateway	Enables data transfer between two OPC servers using only point and click or drag/drop configuration. Provides support for data transformations. Trial version is functionally unrestricted, but limited to 30 days use. See also products from Kepware and Matrikon.
Northern Dynamic	OPC DA Server Toolkit	A simple but effective OPC Browser utility is provided with Northern Dynamic's toolkit download.
OPC Programmers' Connection	Delphi OPC Sample	Our own simple console client, written in Borland Delphi. Includes Delphi conversions of all published custom OPC interfaces.
Open Automation Software	OPC for DB	Time-limited demo version of a Visual Basic application for bidirectional data transfer between databases and OPC servers. Source available at extra cost.
PowerOPC	OPC Browser, OPC Data Access Client	Simple DA 2.0 (and 1.0) browser and client utilities. Data Access Client subscribes to the first 100 server tags it finds and continuously displays updates of their values.
Prosys	Prosys OPC Client	Simple DA client with source, demonstrating capabilities of the Prosys Sentrol rapid development framework.
Rensen Information Services	OPC Office Link	Greatly simplifies the task of importing live OPC data into Office applications (e.g. Excel) and ODBC databases. Free time-limited download available for evaluation.
Resolvica	OPCEx	Provides an easy way to access real-time data from any OPC server via Microsoft Excel. Free trial download is available.
Rockwell Software	OPC Test Client	Simple MDI application, with comprehensive support for the Data Access interfaces.
Softing	OPC Demo Client	Flexible and easy to use client. One of our favorites. Version 4.10 adds integrated XML-DA support to the existing support for DA and AE.
SST	OPC console client	A simple console client, including source. Supports OPC Data Access 2.
SST	OPC Simulation server and GUI client	A simple GUI client, supplied with an in-process server (see servers) for testing.
WinTECH Software	Various clients	ClntDemo2.zip usefully displays all OPC interface calls in a logging window. Also available are demo clients for Alarms & Events and Historical Data Access.

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Kepware KEPServerEX v4.270.416

Kepware KEPServerEX 4.270.416 | 36 MB

KEPServerEX is the latest generation of Kepware's OPC server technology. It was designed to allow you to quickly setup communications to your control systems via a wide range of available "Plug-in" device drivers and components. With over 80 downloadable drivers that support hundreds of model types, getting data to you client is a snap. The KEPServerEX also provides a common and self-evident user interface across all drivers so that you feel at ease every time you use the product no matter what driver you use. You can add many devices utilizing multiple drivers all within the KEPServerEX interface without worrying about learning new communication protocols or spending time understanding new applications

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Please buy, this software for business.

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