Priority automation engineering : Evaluating a tool for automatic code generation and configuration of PLC-Applications

Abstract: This research explores the Automation Interface created by Beckhoff through introducinga compiler solution. Today machine builders have to be able to build machinesor plants in different sizes and provide many variations of the machine orplant types. Automatic code generation can be used in the aspect to reuse code thathas been tested and is configurable to match the desired functionality. Additionally,the use of a pre-existing API could potentially result in less engineering resourceswasted in developing automatic code generation. This thesis aims to evaluate theAutomation Interface (AI) tool created by Beckhoff. This is accomplished throughmeans of incorporating the API functions into a compiler solution. The solution isdesigned to export the information required through an XML-file to generate PLCapplications.The generated PLC-code will be in Structured Text. In order to createa functional PLC-application, the construction of software requirements and testcases are established. The solution is then validated by means of generating a dataloggerto illustrate the usage. The exploratory research revealed both the benefitsand cons of using AI to a compiler solution. The evaluation indicated that the AutomationInterface can reduce engineering effort to produce a compiler solution, butthe learning curve of understanding the underlying components that work with theAPI required a great deal of effort.