"Embeddable" PLC Functionality

We have a hardware platform with 8 dry contact closures and 8 intput 
lines, among other things, controlled by an ARM7 uC running a 
proprietary kernel.

We now have an RFP to add PLC functionality to the box, to make this I/O 
available to the end user.  We think we may be able to manage adding 
sequencing capability to the box, but we don't want to create user tools 
for building PLC programs.

Are there any IEC 61131-3 design tools (or even ladder program editors) 
that output any type of standard byte code output?  Or are they all tied 
to specific PLC hardware?

Thanks.

James Dabbs <jdabbs003@yahoo.com> schrubbelte:

>
>Are there any IEC 61131-3 design tools (or even ladder program editors) 
>that output any type of standard byte code output?  Or are they all tied 
>to specific PLC hardware?
>

Check out http://www.3s-software.com/, for instance. There are many
more, but I've worked with these guys and found them reasonable...

-peter

-- 

James Dabbs wrote:

> Are there any IEC 61131-3 design tools (or even ladder program editors) 
> that output any type of standard byte code output?  Or are they all tied 
> to specific PLC hardware?

I think there's a ladder editor with the LinuxCNC project- somewhere in 
the EMC2 part of the project. It should at least give you a head start.

http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php
http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl/emcinfo.pl?Sample_HAL_And_ClassicLadder

Paul Burke

James Dabbs escribi�:
> We have a hardware platform with 8 dry contact closures and 8 intput 
> lines, among other things, controlled by an ARM7 uC running a 
> proprietary kernel.
> 
> We now have an RFP to add PLC functionality to the box, to make this I/O 
> available to the end user.  We think we may be able to manage adding 
> sequencing capability to the box, but we don't want to create user tools 
> for building PLC programs.
> 
> Are there any IEC 61131-3 design tools (or even ladder program editors) 
> that output any type of standard byte code output?  Or are they all tied 
> to specific PLC hardware?
> 
> Thanks.

Isagraph

On 2006-04-04, James Dabbs <jdabbs003@yahoo.com> wrote:
> We have a hardware platform with 8 dry contact closures and 8 intput 
> lines, among other things, controlled by an ARM7 uC running a 
> proprietary kernel.
>
> We now have an RFP to add PLC functionality to the box, to make this I/O 
> available to the end user.  We think we may be able to manage adding 
> sequencing capability to the box, but we don't want to create user tools 
> for building PLC programs.
>
> Are there any IEC 61131-3 design tools (or even ladder program
> editors) that output any type of standard byte code output? 

Once upon a time, I wrote a ladder-diagram editor and code
generator combination that output C soruce code.  It used
template files for the output, so it's possible to generate
source code for any language that can do parenthesised infix
expressions.  At one point there was most of a generic assembly
language generator as well, but I gave up on that.

Here's a paper describing how it works:

  http://www.visi.com/~grante/ladder.pdf

You can download the sources for the editor and code generator
here if you want:

  ftp://ftp.visi.com/users/grante/stuff/led.tar.gz

The editor is written in Scheme using the Tk widget:

   http://kaolin.essi.fr/STk/

The code generator is in ANSI standard C and has been run on
MS-DOS, VMS, and various Unixes.   

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I feel real
                                  at               SOPHISTICATED being in
                               visi.com            FRANCE!