11/2/2016 FactoryAutomation:ProgrammingstandardsimproveautomationandcontrolsISA

TRAINING & STANDARDS & CONFERENCES NEWS & TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL

MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATIONS PUBLICATIONS & EVENTS PRESS RELEASES RESOURCES TOPICS DEVELOPMENT STORE

HomeISAPublicationsInTechMagazine2016/SepOctFactoryAutomation:Programmingstandardsimproveautomationandcontrols

Programming standards improve FastForward

IEC611313software

automation and controls standardsimprovethequality

ofapplications.
Softwarestandardsimprove
IEC 61131-3 and PLCopen standards theefficiencyofbuilding
ByBillLydon applications.
Structuredmodularsoftware
improvesthereuseof
applications.

AbouttheAuthor
BillLydonisInTechschiefeditor.
Hehasmorethan25yearsof
industryexperienceinbuilding,
industrial,andprocess
automation,includingproduct
design,applicationengineering,
andprojectmanagement.He
startedhiscareerworkingwith
computerbasedmachinetool
controlsinotherpositions,he
appliedprogrammablelogic
controllersandprocesscontrol
technology.Inadditiontolarge
companyexperience,he
IEC611313andPLCopenstandardsimproveeveryaspectofacontrolandautomationlifecycle. cofoundedandwaspresidentofa
venturecapitalfundedindustrial
automationsoftwarecompany.
IEC611313,alongwithPLCopenextensionsandsupport,providessoftwarestandardsessential Lydonbelievesthesuccess
forefficientlyachievingcompetitivemanufacturingincludingimplementingIndustry4.0,Industrial factorsinmanufacturingare
InternetofThings,andInternetofThingssystems.Thestandardsenableengineerstocreate changing,makingitimperativeto
industrialautomationapplicationsusingstructuredmodernsoftwaretechniquesthathavebeen applyautomationasastrategic
proveninthecomputerindustryovermanyyearstoincreaseproductivity,quality,andfunctionality tooltocompete.Heisalso
ofindustrialautomationsystems.Anothermajorbenefitisacommonbaseofunderstandingand involvedwithPLCopenstandards
trainingforapplicationengineersandservicepeople. astheNorthAmerica
representative.

Background ReaderFeedback
TheIEC611313standardissupportedbytwogroups:theInternationalElectrotechnical Wewanttohearfromyou!Please
Commission(IEC)andPLCopen. sendusyourcommentsand
questionsaboutthistopicto

International Electrotechnical Commission

InTechmagazine@isa.org.

IEC61131isanInternationalElectrotechnicalCommission(www.iec.ch)standardforindustrial
controllersthathassevenparts.IEC611313definesprogramminglanguages.Since1906,theIEC
hasbeenanonprofit,nongovernmentalinternationalstandardsorganizationthatpreparesand
publishesinternationalstandardsforallelectrical,electronic,andrelatedtechnologiescollectively
knownaselectrotechnology.EightytwocountriesareIECmembers,andanother82participatein
theaffiliatecountryprogram.TheIECisheadquarteredinGeneva,Switzerland,withregional
centersinAsiaPacific(Singapore),LatinAmerica(SoPaulo,Brazil),andNorthAmerica(Boston).

PLCopen
ThePLCopen(PLCopen.org)organizationwasfoundedin1992asanotforprofitindustry
associationofmembercompaniescommittedtodevelopingopenindustrialautomationsoftware
standardstoincreasefunctionalitywhilereducingengineering,training,operations,and
maintenancecosts.PLCopenhasavendorcertificationprogram,andcertifiedproductsarelisted
ontheorganizationwebsite.PLCopenisheadquarteredinTheNetherlands,withregional
representativesinNorthAmerica(www.plcopenna.org),Japan(www.plcopenjapan.jp),andChina
(www.plcopen.org.cn).ThewebsitedescribescertificationsofIEC611313compliantprogramming
systems.

https://www.isa.org/intech/20161003/ 1/4
11/2/2016 FactoryAutomation:ProgrammingstandardsimproveautomationandcontrolsISA

PLCopencertificationincludeconformance,safety,andmotioncontrol.Vendorcertifiedproducts
arelistedonthePLCopenwebsite(www.PLCopen.org).

Internet of Things
InternetofThings(IoT)conceptsaredrivingcomputingintoedgedevices,suchassensorsand
powerfulsinglechipcomputers,andIEC611313issuitedfortheseembeddedapplications.It
providestheprogrammingstandardtosupportimplementationsofIoTtechnologyforindustrial
controlsinautomation.

Software intensive systems

Industrialautomationsystemsarebecomingsoftwareintensive,makingthemmoreflexibleand
featurerichandcreatingtheneedformoreefficientprogrammingbasedonanintegratedmodular
programmingsoftwarestandard.IEC611313slogicalhighlevelmodularprogramming
environmentincreasesproductivityandquality.Thisisconsistentwiththeevolutioninthecomputer
industryfromlowlevelprogrammingtohigherlevelmodularprogramming.TheIEC611313
softwareprogrammingenvironmentisinherentlyselfdocumenting,soitiseasiertoperform
additionsandaddnewfunctionstoexistingsystems.PLCopenfunctionsaddedwithinthe
frameworkoftheIEC611313standardcontinuallybringnewcapabilities.Improvingtheefficiency
ofsoftwaredevelopmentandongoingsupportisimportant,sincetypicallysoftwareenhancements
andmaintenancecostsareatleasttwicetheinitialdevelopmentinvestmentofapplications.

Theintegrateddesignenvironmenttodevelop,simulate,anddebugautomation,control,and
humanmachineinterfaces

Integrated development environment

TheIEC611313developmentplatformforbuildingapplicationsisanintegrateddesign
environment(IDE)forcreating,simulating,anddebuggingapplications.UsingIDEapplications,
peoplebuildcontrolandautomationlogic,definealarms,andcreatehumanmachineinterface
screensinonesoftwareplatform.IEC611313programsdevelopedinanIDEaredownloadedinto
targetprocessorswheretheycontrolprocessesinrealtime.Whenapplicationsaredownloadedto
atargetcontroller,theIDEengineeringtoolsincludeonlinedebugging,breakpoints,watch
windows,andforcingvariablefunctions.

Multitasking oriented
IEC611313definesataskorientedenvironmentthathastheflexibilitytomeetthecontrol
requirementsforanyapplication.Atthehighestlevel,allthesoftwarerequiredtosolveaparticular
controlproblemcanbeformulatedasaconfiguration.Aconfigurationisspecifictoaparticular
typeofcontrolsystem,includingthearrangementofthehardware(processingresources,memory
addressesforI/Ochannels,andsystemcapabilities).Withinaconfiguration,usersdefineoneor
moreresources.OnecanlookataresourceasaprocessingfacilitythatcanexecuteIECprograms.
Withinaresource,oneormoretaskscanbedefined.Taskscontroltheexecutionofasetof
programsorfunctionblocks.Thesecanbeexecutedeitherperiodicallyorupontheoccurrenceofa
specifiedtrigger,suchasthechangeofavariable.Programsarebuiltfromanumberofdifferent
softwareelementswritteninanyoftheIECdefinedlanguages.Typically,aprogramconsistsofa

https://www.isa.org/intech/20161003/ 2/4
11/2/2016 FactoryAutomation:ProgrammingstandardsimproveautomationandcontrolsISA
networkoffunctionsandfunctionblocks,whichcanexchangedata.Functionandfunctionblocks
arethebasicbuildingblocks,containingadatastructureandanalgorithm.

Data types
IEC611313definesstrongdatatypingtopreventprogrammingerrors(e.g.,dividingadatebyan
integer).CommondatatypesareBoolean,integer,realandbyteandword,date,array,timeofday,
andstring.Basedonthese,userscandefinespecificdatatypesforanapplication,knownas
deriveddatatypes.Variablesareonlyassignedtoexplicithardwareaddresses(e.g.,inputand
outputs)inconfigurations,resources,orprograms,sothereisahighlevelofhardware
independencethatsupportsthereusabilityofthesoftware.Thescopesofthevariablesarenormally
limitedtotheorganizationalunitinwhichtheyaredeclared(e.g.,local).Thismeansthattheir
namescanbereusedinotherpartswithoutanyconflict,eliminatinganothersourceoferror.Ifthe
variableshaveglobalscope,theyhavetobedeclaredasglobal.Parameterscanbeassignedan
initialvalueatstartupandcoldrestarttoensureproperoperation.

Programming languages
TheIEC611313standarddefinesfivelanguagesthatallcanbeusedtogetherandsharecommon
datatypes.

Instruction List
InstructionList(IL)istextuallanguagethatresembleslowlevelassemblerprogramming.

Ladder Diagram
LadderDiagram(LD)hasitsrootsintheU.S.andisbasedonthegraphicalpresentationofRelay
LadderLogic.RelayLadderLogicisacknowledgedtobethefirstgraphicalindustrialautomation
programmingmethodthatsignificantlyimprovedproductivity.

Function Block Diagram

FunctionBlockDiagram(FB)hasbeenverycommonintheprocessindustryandisnowusedinall
applications.Itexpressesthebehavioroffunctions,functionblocks,andprogramsasasetof
interconnectedgraphicalblocks,likeinelectroniccircuitdiagrams.Itlooksatasystemintermsof
theflowofsignalsbetweenprocessingelements.Functionblockscontainalgorithmsandmay
containdataifrequired.Theinputsandoutputsoffunctionblockshavedefineddatatypesto
preventerrorsinprogramming.

Atemperaturecontrolloop,orproportional,integral,derivative(PID),isanexcellentexampleofa
functionblock.Oncedefined,itcanbeusedoverandoveragain,inthesameprogram,different
programs,orevendifferentprojects.Thismakesithighlyreusable.

Functionblockscanbewritteninanyofthe
IEClanguages.Inaddition,formany
implementations,userscancreatefunctions
withtheCprogramminglanguage.These
capabilitiesletuserscreatenewfunction
blocksforprojectsandapplicationsto
promotereuseofprovencode.
Standardfunctions
IEChasdefinedstandardfunctions,suchas
ADD(ition),ABS(absolute),SQRT,SINus,and
COSinus.Thesefunctionsareavailableto
useinIL,LD,ST,andFBprogramming.

Structured Text
StructuredText(ST)isaverypowerfulhighlevellanguagewithitsrootsinAda,Pascal,andC.It
containsalltheessentialelementsofamodernprogramminglanguage,includingselection
branches(IFTHENELSEandCASEOF)anditerationloops(FOR,WHILE,andREPEAT).All
standardIEC611313functionscanbeusedinStructuredTextprogramming,anduserscancreate
theirownfunctionblocksforapplicationsandprojects.

Sequential Function Chart

SequentialFunctionChart(SFC)describesgraphicallythesequentialbehaviorofcontrolprograms
andhelpstodecomposeacontrolproblemintomanageableparts,whilemaintaininganoverview
oftheexecutionflow.SFCconsistsofsteps,linkedwithactionblocksandtransitions.Eachstep
representsaparticularstateofthesystemsbeingcontrolled.Atransitionisassociatedwitha
condition,which,whentrue,causesthestepbeforethetransitiontobedeactivated,andthenext
steptobeactivated.Stepsarelinkedtoactionblocksperformingacertaincontrolaction.Each
elementcanbeprogrammedinanyoftheIEClanguages,includingSFCitself.Onecanuse
alternativesequencesandevenparallelsequences,suchasthosecommonlyrequiredinbatch
applications.Forinstance,onesequenceisusedfortheprimaryprocess,andthesecondfor
monitoringtheoveralloperatingconstraints.Becauseofitsgeneralstructure,SFCalsoprovidesa
communicationtool,combiningpeopleofdifferentbackgrounds,departments,orcountries.SFC
canbeusedtodefinebothserialandparallelprocesses.Applicationexamplesincludestartup
sequences,shutdownsequences,batchprocesscontrol,andmachinecycleoperations.

https://www.isa.org/intech/20161003/ 3/4
11/2/2016 FactoryAutomation:ProgrammingstandardsimproveautomationandcontrolsISA

Recent developments
TwomajornewdevelopmentsaretheadditionofthePLCopenXMLinterchangestandardandthe
PLCopenOPCUAstandard.

XML interchange
ThePLCopenXMLstandardprovidesanopen,
nonproprietary,softwareinterfacefortheinterchangeof
industrialandprocesscontrolprogramsbetween
controls,productlifecyclemanagement,machineand
processsimulation,computeraideddesign,
documentationsoftware,andothersystems.The
PLCopenXMLschemas,documentation,andan
introductionareavailablefreeatwww.controlxml.com.
ThefilesincludeanexplanationofthePLCopen
XMLSchema,adocumentonXMLformatsforIEC
611313,andXMLschemafiles.ThePLCopen
standardhasgainedacceptancebytheAutomationML
organization(www.AutomationML.org).

OPC UA
PLCopenjointlydevelopedthePLCopenOPCUAstandardwiththeOPCFoundation.Itincludes
datamodelstosimplifytheinterfacebetweencontrollers,controlsoftware,andbusinessenterprise
systems.Theintegrationofdatawithrealtimecontrolandbusinessinformationsystemsisdone
usingthesefunctionblocks.

Thefunctionblocksarealsodefinedfordirectmachinetomachinecommunicationsbetween
multiplevendorcontrollerstocoordinateautomation.Theseareimportantfunctionsforachieving
thegoalsofIndustry4.0,theIndustrialInternetofThings,andsmartfactoryapplicationstoimprove
manufacturingefficiencyandproductivity.Thesefunctionblockssimplifytheintegrationof
production,processcontrol,packaging,andothermachinesintoefficientnewsystemarchitectures.

Design philosophy fundamentals

IEC611313andPLCopenstandardslowerthelifecyclecostofautomationandcontrol
implementationswithadesignphilosophyenabledbythestandards.Engineersthatleveragethe
standardshaveagreatadvantagewhenprogrammingapplicationsthatmakeallaspectsofthe
controlandautomationlifecyclemoreefficient.

https://www.isa.org/intech/20161003/ 4/4