zenon: HMI/SCADA system and communication platform

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zenon as a process control system

zenon is an open-design, object-oriented industrial automation application. It is used by many companies around the world for process visualization, as a human/machine interface (HMI) and as a process control system (SCADA). Its openness makes fast, efficient interfaces with any hardware or software possible.

The HMI SCADA system zenon communicates via standard interfaces such as COM, ActiveX, XML or zenon's own process gateway. It can also communicate with many proprietary interfaces, including, for instance, PI-PCS as used by SAP®. All the control connections are programmed in-house at COPA-DATA, fine-tuned for the target system and then exhaustively tested.

Process control system (SCADA) zenon and the IEC 61131-3 system straton

The HMI SCADA system zenon offers together with straton an integrated solution for all levels in the automation pyramid.

• Field level
• straton used near a PLC
• HMI / SCADA level
• zenon as an information gateway

The HMI SCADA system zenon has even more than this to offer. Its open design offers a great deal more potential than there is to be found in a pyramid. The system is so flexible that it can be adapted to suit any automation structure. Because who can say that a pyramid will always be the best structure? Not all relationships can always be represented strictly in accordance with a pattern. zenon can be adapted to suit existing structures and key elements.

HMI/SCADA level: zenon as an information hub

Helpful solutions achieve more than merely combining PLC and HMI configurations in an integrated solution. They also offer the freedom of working on a wide range of different platforms ranging from classic HMI tasks like operating and observing processes through to SCADA tasks such as archiving data, trend analysis or recipe management.

This also involves accessing all kinds of different systems, both vertical and horizontal, in other words connecting separate islands and combining the old with the new. As the information hub, HMI is the key technology for open integration and quick, flexible action.

SCADA system zenon as an information gateway

In terms of exchanging data, the integrity, resources and security depend on the reliability of interfaces and connections. The HMI / SCADA system zenon exhibits great versatility in this respect.

Different types of device are easily integrated, ERP applications benefit from direct data access and support real-time operations. It makes no difference to zenon whether an automation system's intelligence resides in the controller, in the control system or on the ERP level; it works in a distributed way regardless.

A distributed system not only enables intelligence to be distributed; the other side of the coin is that networking increases productivity. Another aspect of a distributed system is that a database failure cannot disable the entire system.

SCADA software zenon: Connecting all standards

Whether the hardware is a controller or a control computer, data is moved around and used securely and quickly. The HMI / SCADA software zenon makes OPC and all other current standards available at all times. At the same time the SCADA software zenon also offers more than 300 high-performance interfaces. These are developed individually by COPA-DATA, and function in accordance with the 'plug-and-play principle': easy to connect and to process, compress and monitor data, with regulation of quality and efficient data transmission.

Open COM, XML and ActiveX interfaces enable data to be combined from all manner of different sources. zenon also features an integrated Microsoft SQL Server 2005, which functions as a data hub.

The HMI/ SCADA system zenon has a process gateway, providing an elegant solution to another problem that represents a challenge to most control interfaces: zenon allows other systems to address it as a PLC. This, for instance, enables direct communication via Modbus or with network management software via SNMP.

New opportunities for direct communication and flexible integration have no particular value per se. They do, however, lead on to some significant benefits: they enable companies to pursue their own automation strategy in a focused and consistent way, ultimately bringing about a measurable increase in productivity – the HMI / SCADA software zenon is the key!