IEN: How can/will the sector answer industry demand for increased automation and flexibility?

Salley: To supply industry demands, control systems have to automate the process of developing a new controls platform. Most control systems today are designed as a general purpose controls platform, specifically designed to enable them to be used across the entire range of possible systems. To begin with a general purpose control platform and then develop it into a specific controls platform for a specific application requires a very large investment in time and money. This would be like creating a new piece of software in assembly language versus a higher-level language, and if you were creating a database application you would use a language specific to a database.

Delta Systems, Inc product, Softflow, is an automation tool for building specific control systems specifically for machines. By focusing on a specific market segment, we can automate several tasks that typically have to be built each time. For example, we have a state machine engine built into the system to handle changing the machine from one operating state to another -- like changing from running to faulted, stopped to running, and so on.

As the software industry has moved from low level languages (general purpose) to high level languages (specific) the controls industry will have to move to meet the demands of industry.

IEN: Will distributed control architectures continue to displace centralized controls?

Salley: Yes. Take SerCOS as an example: by closing the servo loops at the drive level with a microprocessor, we are distributing the control overhead and increasing the overall performance of the system.

I think some processes, like logic control, motion control, and the GUI, will be integrated into one central PC on a single machine, but as certain technologies like servo motion loops become embedded in their respective devices, the control becomes more distributed.

In Softflow we have integrated the three functions of logic, motion, GUI into one system. This allows simple control hardware architecture to be deployed. We refer to this as "One Box" instead of the three traditional boxes (PLC, Motion, HMI).

IEN: What innovations are in store for users of equipment, systems and peripherals?

Salley: Increased offerings at the device level using Ethernet as a communications link for I/O. Using non-proprietary communications schemes (i.e. Ethernet, SerCOS) allows system suppliers to use devices from multiple vendor sources. This allows for a more competitive marketplace.

IEN: What enhancements can be expected in the software that powers motion technology?

Salley: What we know as motion technology today (i.e. proprietary languages, basic object programming) will be replaced by a more mechanical design environment. Today's motion technology is too geeky to be used by most mechanical engineers. But it is these same engineers who design the machines these systems are used on. To add value to the system, motion technology has to be developed so that the system can be designed from a higher level.

IEN: How much progress has been made in resolving software and hardware debugging issues. . .

Salley: Very little; most systems are still designed with several different environments. The logic component is programmed in ladder, the motion in a proprietary scripted language, the GUI using an interpreted icon based design with a proprietary scripted language.

This leads to no central method for testing and debugging. So it's "let's install it and see what happens."

. . . Documentation challenges?

Salley: To have accurate documentation for these types of systems would require more work than the actual development. Since the development is fragmented, the actual documentation is as well.

IEN: What advances do you see in plant floor connectivity. . .

Salley: Faster Ethernet, more wireless (802.11b), access directly into the machine for information.

. . . Open standards?

Salley: SerCOS has proven that having standards that allow competing companies to develop their products around is beneficial in feature richness and lowering the costs of the system.

At the communications level standardization will continue.

IEN: Where are other R & D hot spots?

Salley: ePC, the Internet of things. There is a strong movement for the replacement of the UPC. This will impact the way control systems are developed.

IEN: Will wireless play a role in motion?

Salley: I don't think so.

IEN: Is Internet-based control gaining any traction?

Salley: It is not visible from my point of view.

IEN: How can companies maintain legacy equipment with advanced motion technology, in the spirit of the lean enterprise?

Salley: Obsolescence is a problem. The faster the developments, the increased problems of maintaining the legacy systems. I see very large technical achievements in the area of motion over the next few years. Some systems will become antiquated and therefore left behind. I think the best protection is to use systems that have adopted an "open" design that allows multiple sources for the product.