PC Control – Open Platform for Advanced Automation

What could an IPC with 32 GB RAM and a
64-core CPU achieve?

Beckhoff will have two booths at this year’s Hanover Fair. In Hall 9, Booth F06, Beckhoff will exhibit the major technology areas of “New Automation Technology”: IPC, I/O, automation and motion. An additional booth in the “Application Park” in Hall 17, Booth D26, is dedicated entirely to the subject of PC Control. Together with Intel, Microsoft and other partners, Beckhoff presents current and future technologies based on PC-based control technology, such as leading edge “Scientific Automation”.

– PC Control
– Performance in Automation
– Future of Automation
– Scientific Automation
– PC Control Applications

Beckhoff has created a standard in PC Control technology that has been established worldwide and is used in the widest variety of applications and industries. In keeping with the prediction of the joint founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, PC Control technology brings a doubling of the CPU power for control applications every 18 months. Hence the question can already be asked today: “What could an IPC with 32 GB RAM and a
64-core CPU achieve?” Beckhoff will provide answers to this in the Application Park.

Dr. Josef Papenfort, TwinCAT Product Manager at Beckhoff, today already views the PC as the most powerful control platform: “As processor power increases, the PC can take over many other tasks in addition to the basic functions for PLC, motion and HMI. This means that special functions, such as vision, robotics and measurement technology, which today are usually implemented as special hardware units, will soon become part of the ever-growing software PLC.”

Scientific Automation: integration of engineering scientific functions

“Scientific Automation” is the name given by Beckhoff to the integration of engineering and scientific knowledge in automation software that goes beyond the framework of traditional PLC and motion technology. The basis for Scientific Automation is the constantly growing performance capability of the PC, which Beckhoff is powerfully advancing with in-house motherboard development.

One major example of scientific automation is measurement technology, which up to now has been performed by specialised devices for many high-performance applications. “Our aim is to integrate measurement technology via Matlab/Simulink or the design of control loops directly into the control software. Even the statistics for quality evaluation or condition monitoring can be bundled in software based on the Industrial PC as a hardware platform,” explains Josef Papenfort.

Performance in Automation: advantage for the engineering industry

Under the topic of performance in automation, Beckhoff shows that fast PC Control technology not only contributes to process optimisation, it also increases energy efficiency. XFC – eXtreme Fast Control Technology – is based on an optimised control and communication architecture that combines an advanced Industrial PC, ultra-fast I/O terminals, the EtherCAT high-speed Ethernet system, and TwinCAT automation software, forming the basis for the control technologies of the future.

Using XFC, high speed of a new order of magnitude is achieved that is faster than previous solutions by a factor of 10 to 20 times. However, it is not about setting new speed records here, but about the considerable competitive advantages for machine and plant applications that arise from it. Fast PC-based control technology makes optimum control of the machine process possible. Drastic reduction of cycle times, or “the automation world below one millisecond”, enables the user to improve the quality of their process. For example, parts can be manufactured with greater precision. Along with several other benefits, this saves material costs and decisively increases efficiency.

XFC technology will also be shown as part of the special “Energy Efficiency” show in Hall 6. Beckhoff continues to participate as a joint exhibitor in the following booths: the EtherCAT Technology Group
(Hall 9, Booth F13), the PROFIBUS users organisation (Hall 11,
Booth A41), PLCopen (Hall 9, Booth H68) and the “TectoYou” initiative in Hall 26. All these learning opportunities and more are proof why Hanover Fair 2008 will be a must-see!

www.beckhoff.com/PC-Control-Live
www.beckhoff.com/XFC