New Project and Need Help.

The Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLC would do the job for sure. It has Ethernet communications built in, so could accept commands from a remote Linux server. It has been around for many years and will probably be available for many more years.

There is no single "industry standard" because there are many competing brands and models. There may be a solution that is less expensive than the ControlLogix. You should consider also which brands have support available at the remote location. If there are no local business that provides service, parts, and programming for a particular brand (and you have no in-house talent), then that is a big negative for that option.

...do I need anything special to program and configure the PLC?

Click to expand...

Wow!, I'll say you do! You need the programming software package for whatever brand and model of PLC you decide to use. You cannot program one brand of PLC with the software for another brand - they are not that flexible because of competition. It sounds like this is a new function for you, so you will probably also need some training on how to use the software to write a program.

What industry are you in?

I would highly recommend bringing in a consultant to either quote the job or give you the direction that you need. Your company has already burned a year on the project with no results, time to pay the dollars to a firm that can get in done for you in a few weeks so you can start seeing ROI.

The only way you'll be able to have a solid foundation is to begin with the experts in the field. This site is full of those, however posts on a forum won't give you the solid foundation you are looking for especially if the system is part of something grander.

Thanks for your feedback.

I agree with you 100%. That is why I am here to learn. One of the PLC training professors I was talking to recommended that I go to this site to get a different look at this problem. The original project is a much larger system that is using in-house developed circuit cards to do the PLC type functions and it was controlled via rs232 commands using an in-house developed communications command set transmitted over many miles to over 100 locations and has to be synchronized with data and voice from the system. It was transferred via DDS leased circuits. The new system was being developed totally in-house and must use IP over T1 transport. Our lead hardware designer and imbedded software designer both just left the group with a design that has a major design flaw that was discovered only a couple a weeks before we took over the project. Therefore we have turned to COTS off the self products to provide the customer with their system that they want on time. At this point I have been working with many engineers and technical staff before going out for hired help to determine the path to take. There are many sales people that say their equipment is the best and that they are the industry leader, but people like you that work with the equipment know better. I really appreciate the insight that is provided and your thought that this could be done much quicker than trying to develop it in-house at this point.
Thanks,
wdycus

Paully's5.0 said:

What industry are you in?

I would highly recommend bringing in a consultant to either quote the job or give you the direction that you need. Your company has already burned a year on the project with no results, time to pay the dollars to a firm that can get in done for you in a few weeks so you can start seeing ROI.

The only way you'll be able to have a solid foundation is to begin with the experts in the field. This site is full of those, however posts on a forum won't give you the solid foundation you are looking for especially if the system is part of something grander.

Click to expand...

There will be around 150 nodes. Is that an issue?

Click to expand...

Yes. Many networking and software solutions are not designed for that many nodes. Whatever you decide, you must doublecheck that you dont hit a hidden limit somewhere.
There is also the issue of scale. There is a big difference in designing and maintaining a system consisting of less than 10 stations, and a system with 100+ stations.

Your device may possibly be an "RTU" rather than a "PLC". Maybe there is an off-the-shelf device already.

[..]and has to be synchronized with data and voice from the system.

Click to expand...

This part you must explain more.