Posted to News on 19th Oct 2018, 13:45
New real-time diagnostics system for PLC-based control systems
After an initial launch in its home market (France) in September 2017, Itris Automation is now offering ICS Monitoring internationally. ICS Monitoring is a real-time diagnostics system for PLC-based control systems to help facilitate and accelerate the identification of the causes of machine stoppages.
With its customers' needs in mind, Itris Automation put to use its engineers' expertise in computer science and automation to create a product that enables users to quickly identify the causes of machine stoppages. To do this, ICS Monitoring simplifies the representation of the program's data flow and logic, while displaying the real-time values of the variables. This representation, with the live values and dynamic navigation, makes troubleshooting a PLC program easier, with no need to use the development environments or for the user to be a PLC code expert. ICS Monitoring therefore enables operators and experts to quickly identify the cause of a problem and reduce downtime.
Compared with other diagnostics options, ICS Monitoring is said to be unique in its capacity to support a number of different PLC makes and models. Furthermore, no code instrumentation is required when setting up the system, as the only reference is the code.
ICS Monitoring can integrate seamlessly into the production environment. On the one hand, it can connect directly to the process data via Modbus TCP or OPC communication protocols, enabling data to be shared in real-time. On the other hand, it can work with version management tools to keep the program information up to date, and with supervision systems, from where it can be launched directly.
Sylvain Jacques, production manager at Soitec, a world-leader in innovative semiconductor materials, spoke about his experience with the first version of ICS Monitoring at the launch event in September 2017: "ICS Monitoring has fitted perfectly into our infrastructure. It especially complements our SCADA systems which raise alarms and provide information about potential breakdowns, while ICS Monitoring allows us to see the current status of our installation so that we can quickly make the right decisions to maintain its operation and availability."
ICS Monitoring is now available for programs based on PLCs from Schneider Electric, Siemens, Rockwell Automation and Codesys, among others. Go to www.itris-automation.com for more information.
