The first quote says there needs to be an HMI (I assume customers are Humans
), the second says maybe not. I take this to mean that temporary/occastional HMI
functionality is desired without a
physical HMI (PanelView, etc.) solution.
Unless an operator panel will be built, HMI software that resides on a PC or laptop, perhaps only connected and rung when needed, might be a solution.
- AdvancedHMI comes to mind, with reasonable licensing costs; there is a learning curve involved but it is not steep, or it could be jobbed out.
- At least one of the commercial PC-based HMIs has a trial option where it runs for free for a few hours*, which might work for this occasional HMI application.
- Another option would be a custom program either using a library like pylogix (Github) or a generic communication protocol like Modbus.
- Can the GuardLogix implement a webserver? Perhaps data could be updated via a PC or laptop with a web browser.
- A similar option would be a Raspberry PI or similar combining the previous option (pylogix, Modbus) to communicate to the GuardLogix with a web interface for an HMI, but AdvancedHMI or the pylogix/Modbus on the PC/Laptop would be simpler.
* Ignition/Inductive Automation? Someone please confirm or correct me.