Proficy iFIX workspace & Unity Pro XL

Hey, guys

I've been asigned to migrate a TSX P57 2634M PLC and right now I'm trying to cross reference the data base from de iFIX with the data base of the PLC but I've found differences among the tags and the address such as:

iFIX data base, example tag:

TAG: AIT_001
I/O Addr: 102

Unity PRO XL data base, same example tag:

TAG: AIT_001
ADDRESS: %IW0.10.0

I can't find any match between the two addresses, if you know anything about it, please, I'll be really gratefull.

The Tag in iFix relates to the memory space in the PC running the SAC. The Tag in your PLC relates to the internal memory address of the PLC. If the designer did a good job, they should link together, but you shouldn't assume that.

If you click on one of the lines in the PDB, it opens a box and it should tell you which driver it is using. You then have to understand how the driver works in mapping between the PLC and the PDB.

Some drivers like IGS can be transparent so that you actually put in the variable name of the PLC in the address field... others however are not or can't be depending on the communication topology.

Do you know which driver it is and how to configure it?

cardosocea said:

The Tag in iFix relates to the memory space in the PC running the SAC. The Tag in your PLC relates to the internal memory address of the PLC. If the designer did a good job, they should link together, but you shouldn't assume that.

If you click on one of the lines in the PDB, it opens a box and it should tell you which driver it is using. You then have to understand how the driver works in mapping between the PLC and the PDB.

Some drivers like IGS can be transparent so that you actually put in the variable name of the PLC in the address field... others however are not or can't be depending on the communication topology.

Do you know which driver it is and how to configure it?

Click to expand...

If I double click the Tag in the iFIX database it shows a setting pop up in which there's a Addressing headland where you can set the driver and it says:

Driver: SIM Simulation Driver.

I was trying to upload a screenshot, but I couldn't

And this was reading data from the PLC like this?

Actually I have no knowledge about its actual comm, since there's no indication of this comm at the network architecture.

I didn't understand what you mean by not knowing about this comm. Do you mean the SCADA to PLC connection or that tag in particular?

The Sim driver is as the name indicates a simulation driver... you can simulate signals or use it as a memory area to hold data that can be used by other tags to create chains.

Usually this is not written to the PLC from the Sim driver and am not sure if it can be done. Since you said you were converting the application, I thought this was a working piece of equipment.

when I said I don't know anything about the actual comm I ment there's no connection in the network sheets I was given, I was just told the PLC is communicating with the HMI, they are not even sure what protocol it is using.

It is a working equipment. As far as I know.

Do you see any information in the "Next Tag" field for this tag?

would you please point me where I can find this "Next Tag" field?

If I double click on the Tag it shows me, as I said before a box, with 4 tabs: Basic, Alarms, Advanced and Proficy Historian.

I don't have iFix in front of me...

It may say Next block and either have an empty space or a tag looking text inside the text box.

The reason being that the simulation driver can be used as a placeholder for variables... so that variable you are looking at may be in a chain which will lead you to the actual address being read from the PLC.

There is a combo box with the word "Next" next to it, but when I try to open the box it pops up the following message:

"In order to display the next block, please enter a next block tag"

But I am not sure what I'm suppouse to type.

That means that the tag is not passed on to other tags... which makes this all the more weird.

You can add the driver to the list of data that the PDB presents it as a column, perhaps list the data like this and check if there are other tags without a SIM driver on it?

You can choose different drivers in iFix if you want, so it is possible that this particular tag is on the SIM driver but others aren't and you're going around in circles.
You can also configure the PDB to display the NEXT block field in a table format, you can then check if the tag AIT_001 is perhaps configured as the Next block in another tag definition.

Lastly, and without sounding like a dick, perhaps having a quick glance at iFix and PDB documentation to get your head wrapped around the possibilities of the PDB?

http://help.geautomation.com/iFIX58...tm?TocPath=iFIX%20Database%20Reference|_____0

From experience, other SCADA systems aren't made for signal processing, but iFix is and it can be a pain if someone configured it that way as it can get confusing quite fast.

Already presented the driver as a column, there are 400+ tags and all of them are linked with the SIM driver.

What's more weird, I've found tags which are used in the displays with a different node, and neither the tags or the node are to be found.

I don't know to much about OPC, but, is there a chance that's what's going on here?

I know I asked this but, did you ever see this system working in real life? With your own eyes?

I get the feeling that someone got paid to design the HMI and they did, but no decision or money was given to actually install the comms driver and instead they used the SIM driver to prove that the screens, alarms, etc... work in the screen but the leg work of putting them against a PLC needs to be done.

On the driver box, you can generally click and see the available drivers... if OPC is used, you would see it up there.

I haven't just yet see it with my own eyes. This week, most likely the next one, I will.

But I'm pretty sure it is working right now since they handle some chemicals...

If I click on the Driver box it shows me two options: SIM driver and OPC Client v7.41f