HMI and Smart Phone

[RickParrot]

My company wants me to develope an HMI that will monitor our Allen Bradley 500's and 5000's but will also be interactive through smart phones. What software does our members recommend? Thanks

 

[dmroeder]

Well the simple solution would be to use a PanelView Plus and enable FactoryTalk Viewpoint, which is basically a web version of your application that runs in the background on the PanelView. You can then punch in the PanelView's IP address in your web browser and view the screens. I've only tinkered with the really early versions of this, I think these days you can enable the ability to operate.

I remember doing something similar a while back, our sales team wanted it because it looked cool (at the time, Viewpoint wasn't around). Nothing cooler than watching a guy with a 3.5" smart phone trying to operate a machine when a 10" HMI is 6 feet in front of him.

 

[mendonsy]

You could also use one of the 3rd party HMIs that supports a VNC connection such as Maple Systems (Weintek).

 

[Paullys50]

You really have to plan this out a bit, after all it's not just running an HMI on your phone.

1 - You have to review what SCADA or hardware you already have that can serve this information to the phones. As dmroeder the PV+ is a basic option. But if you want to monitor multiple systems you will probably need something more robust, or at minimum have a PV+ dedicated to this purpose.

2 - Wireless and networking. Are your PLCs even on a proper network to be accessed, and are there wireless access points in place for the phones to connect too?

3 - SECURITY! As soon as you start adding wireless you can't ignore security. I hate it when sales guys show this demo and make it seem 'that easy'. Sorry but security is a big consideration.

As a side note, about 8 years the organization I was working for at the time added wireless access points to a new processing area we were building and commissioning. This process was occurring at multiple sites. The network was so open, that I accidentally went online with a machine 500 miles away. Thankfully, I realized this almost immediately as the machine I was standing in front of was idle, but the logic I was looking at was running. These machines were the same, so program was the same. It was an IP address typo on my part. This was with GE Proficy software. I had no business having access to those machines, I was just a rookie controls technician only responsible for equipment at the site I was employed.

Understand the big picture that management can't see.

 

[gclshortt]

We use a dedicated web server. Information is gathered from the factory floor and placed in a database. ASP is used to deliver the information to the user. Tablets, Phones, etc.
They can view online the current status of the machine. Uptime, downtime, rates, temperatures etc. They can also go back in history, currently 10 years for previously collected data. However we limit the actual running of the machine from this device.

A quick way to get the data into a database would be to use AdvancedHMI.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/advancedhmi/

Regards,

 

[RickParrot]

Thank you all. The Maple System sounds interesting. We have both Panelview and Panelview Plus here. Our Network is very secure and is maintained daily. Will the Maple work good with our Allen Bradley or is FactoryTalk View MORE compatible.
BTW, Love the "mini-skirt" quote!

 

[mendonsy]

The Maple Systems supports AB and lots of others. I find them extremely useful for mixed systems with more than one PLC vendor.

 

[keshik]

Some Schneider HMIs have an iPhone and Android app that you can get that will directly host your HMI screens to your phone, with minimal extra work to enable it: http://www2.schneider-electric.com/...ices/product-launch/hmi/vijeo-design-air.page

 

[0x539]

You could also use one of the 3rd party HMIs that supports a VNC connection such as Maple Systems (Weintek).

Using a full desktop VNC session is not going to be usable on a ~5" screen.

gclshortt has the right idea. Use a single web service, far easier to maintain and upgrade in the future.

Our Network is very secure and is maintained daily.

I'd take that challenge.

 

[mendonsy]

Using a full desktop VNC session is not going to be usable on a ~5" screen.

I agree completely, but a full desktop isn't what we are talking about here. A 7" touchscreen image on to a 5" phone isn't really all that bad, particularly if you take that into account when designing the screens. The VNC apps for both Android and IOS handle this reasonably well.

 

[Firejo]

http://www.sweetwilliamsl.com/scadamobile/

 

[Firejo]

http://www.pacetoday.com.au/News/Top-5-SCADA-and-automation-apps-for-iPhones-and-iP

 

[0x539]

I agree completely, but a full desktop isn't what we are talking about here. A 7" touchscreen image on to a 5" phone isn't really all that bad, particularly if you take that into account when designing the screens. The VNC apps for both Android and IOS handle this reasonably well.

True, but I find those 7" HMI screens unreadable too. ;P

 

[PLC Pie Guy]

The VNC viewer works with PanelView Plus as well. If you are already using FTV then wouldn't that be the easiest solution. That is how I do it. I find view point to be clunky and messes with some of my graphics. The VNC viewer app installed on my IPhone works very well.

My 2 cents.

 

[ndzied1]

Firejo beat me to recommending the Sweetwilliams stuff. It is only for apple devices though...