Communication and fieldbus systems

In Automation Studio, a fieldbus device is added to the corresponding fieldbus interface and configured like an I/O module.

The import function provides a uniform interface for importing device descriptions from the various providers (GSD, EDS, etc.).

Complete integration of the fieldbus system in Automation Studio allows the selected fieldbus to be displayed and configured in the hardware tree.

• Modules available in the hardware tree
• I/O configuration for master and slave settings
• Assigning process variables to I/O
• Libraries for special types of access
• Connect fieldbus IO channels

OPC is an industrial standard that was created with the participation of numerous worldwide leading automation and hardware manufacturers in cooperation with Microsoft and managed by the OPC Foundation (http://www.opcfoundation.org/).

At B&R, access to the OPC client can take place either on the OPC server of a Windows PC or on the OPC server integrated in the real-time operating system. The standardized interface enables the user to select any SCADA package (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) that supports OPC or to create his own OPC client based on Visual Studio.NET, VC++ or VB.

When configuring the control application in Automation Studio, the user can access the process variables directly to create and manage the OPC configuration.

As the link to B&R Automation Net, the Process Visualization Interface (PVI) is a common interface to the B&R Industrial PC environment for all Windows-based software packages.

• Communication services for Automation Studio
• DLL interface for creating VB, VC++ Delphi applications, drivers, etc.
• PVI services DLL for connecting a .NET application to B&R controllers
• Open for other architectures Using additional PVI expansions, it is possible to link architectures such as DDE, OPC, or HTML to PVI and then send them on to B&R Automation Net. These PVI expansions were developed as expansion servers and are included in the PVI development package.
• PVI OPC Server
• PVI DDE Server
• PVI Web Server
• Support of PC and controller components RS232, Ethernet, Modem, PCI Bus, etc.

Automation Studio provides libraries for Ethernet TCP/UDP communication.

This makes it possible for users to create their own protocols.