Industrial Control Program Research Articles

State-based verification of industrial control programs with the use of a digital model

ABSTRACT Today, the verification of the control logic of automation projects is mainly a manual task during real commissioning phase on the physical installation. This involves a lot of risks towards possible damage and unanticipated delays in project completion. Virtual commissioning allows the verification to start earlier in the project timeline but is often also a manual task and requires a lot of human knowledge and expertise. This paper proposes a workflow to provide additional support to the automation engineer based on a 3D Digital Model that interacts with the real control logic. The digital model records all occurring states and transitions in the background and visualizes the state graph to highlight unexpected behaviour and to support troubleshooting. The proposed approach is validated on a test case confirming (1) the effectiveness of highlighting unexpected behaviour during programming phase and (2) the substantial reduction in real commissioning time. The added value of the approach is concluded, although a number of limitations still exist. Future research includes the validation of the approach on real industrial cases.

Justification of the priority indicators choice for water quality control in aquifers

Introduction. The study of the aquifers water quality is an urgent task due to the increasing volumes of groundwater consumed, on the one hand, and the supply of drinking water to the population with insufficient water treatment or without it at all, on the other. In the Leningrad Region, one thousand three hundred thirty two water sources are used for drinking and household water supply to the population, while water without water treatment is supplied to the population of a significant number of settlements. Materials and methods. In this study, a systematic analysis, statistical analysis, and the first stage of health risk assessment - the identification of danger were conducted. Research materials included 2634 water quality laboratory studies protocols (135200 studies) of 728 underground water sources of the Leningrad region for 2018-2021; data of the Federal Information Fund for Social and Hygienic Monitoring (FIF SGM) (34709 studies) for 2009-2019, reports on the results of searches and assessments of groundwater reserves for settlements water supply for 2003-2015; sanitary and epidemiological conclusions on the possibility of using water sources for drinking and household water supply, placed in the register of the Federal Service for Supervision in Protection of the Rights of Consumer and Man Wellbeing. Results. The analysis of the laboratory examinations results of the underground water quality, due to natural factors, from various aquifers was exploited in the studied area. Substances which concentrations exceed the maximum permissible level have been identified. The first carried out stage of health risk assessment included hazard identification with ranking of chemicals by hazard indices for all operational aquifers. Recommendations are given on the adjustment of social-hygienic monitoring and industrial control programs of underground water quality, as well as on the improvement of water treatment systems. Limitations. In this study there was a limitation on the nitrogen triad compounds origin and petroleum products analysis, in addition, the health risk assessment was limited to the hazard identification stage, due to the fact that exposure assessment was not performed. Conclusion. Based on the ranking, there were identified carcinogenic substances as follows: arsenic, beryllium, lead, cadmium and substances that don`t have a carcinogenic effect: fluoride ion, ammonium ion, calcium, sodium, barium, magnesium, nitrates, nitrites, manganese, iron, which must be included in the groundwater industrial control programs.

Application of embedded soft PLC in the control system of rapier loom.

At present, the rapier loom has gradually become the mainstream equipment in the manufacturing industry. In order to make the rapier loom realize automated production and further improve the production efficiency of the rapier loom, improve the programmability of the system, and reduce the cost of system maintenance. The thesis developed a rapier loom control system based on embedded soft PLC, and carried out experiments and applications in the field. The contribution and innovation of this paper is to develop a complete low-cost control system, and through a genetic algorithm optimized PID algorithm to complete the more effective control of the loom tension system. The embedded soft PLC system proposed in this paper reduces the overall maintenance cost of the system and improves the programmability of the system. This text carries on the systematic scheme design to the embedded soft PLC from the hardware system and the software system respectively. First, according to the actual requirements, this article designs the overall scheme of the embedded software PLC hardware system with STM32F407ZGT6 as the core. Then this article is based on the embedded soft PLC hardware platform, according to the international standard of industrial control programming, writes the embedded soft PLC low-level driver software. Secondly, this article analyzes the factors that affect the warp tension during the operation of the rapier loom, and proposes the use of genetic algorithm to optimize the warp tension control method of the traditional PID algorithm. Finally, we conducted verification tests and on-site application debugging for the entire set of rapier loom embedded soft PLC control system. We controlled the warp tension as the main experimental object. The results show that this control system effectively improves the control accuracy of the warp tension of the rapier loom and meets the actual needs of industrial applications. The whole system has a good application prospect in the warp tension control of rapier looms.

Industrial Robot Control by Means of Gestures and Voice Commands in Off-Line and On-Line Mode.

The paper presents the possibility of using the Kinect v2 module to control an industrial robot by means of gestures and voice commands. It describes the elements of creating software for off-line and on-line robot control. The application for the Kinect module was developed in the C# language in the Visual Studio environment, while the industrial robot control program was developed in the RAPID language in the RobotStudio environment. The development of a two-threaded application in the RAPID language allowed separating two independent tasks for the IRB120 robot. The main task of the robot is performed in Thread No. 1 (responsible for movement). Simultaneously, Thread No. 2 ensures continuous communication with the Kinect system and provides information about the gesture and voice commands in real time without any interference in Thread No. 1. The applied solution allows the robot to work in industrial conditions without the negative impact of the communication task on the time of the robot’s work cycles. Thanks to the development of a digital twin of the real robot station, tests of proper application functioning in off-line mode (without using a real robot) were conducted. The obtained results were verified on-line (on the real test station). Tests of the correctness of gesture recognition were carried out, and the robot recognized all programmed gestures. Another test carried out was the recognition and execution of voice commands. A difference in the time of task completion between the actual and virtual station was noticed; the average difference was 0.67 s. The last test carried out was to examine the impact of interference on the recognition of voice commands. With a 10 dB difference between the command and noise, the recognition of voice commands was equal to 91.43%. The developed computer programs have a modular structure, which enables easy adaptation to process requirements.

Intermediate-Representation Translation Techniques to Improve Vulnerability Analysis Efficiency for Binary Files in Embedded Devices

임베디드 기기는 시퀀스 제어 기능과 수치연산 기능을 활용하여 제어 프로그램에 따라 산업현장의 기기 등 다양한 자동화 시스템에 활용된다. 현재 임베디드 기기는 기업의 산업현장, 원전, 대중교통 같은 국가기반시설에서 제어 시스템으로 활용되고 있다. 따라서 임베디드 기기를 대상으로 하는 공격은 큰 경제적 손실과 사회적 손실을 야기할 수 있다. 임베디드 기기를 대상으로 하는 공격은 대부분 데이터, 코드 변조로서 제어 프로그램을 대상으로 이루어진다. 산업 자동화 임베디드 기기의 제어 프로 그램은 일반적인 프로그래밍 언어와 달리 회로 구조를 표현하기 위하여 설계되었고, 대부분의 산업 자동화 제어 프로그램은 그래픽 기반 언어인 LAD로 설계되어있어 정적분석이 용이하지 않다. 이러한 특징으로 인하여 산업 자동화 제어 프로그램에 대한 취약점 분석 및 보안 관련 연구는 정형 검증, 실시간 모니터링 수준에 그친다. 또한 사전에 취약점을 탐지하고 공격에 대한 대비가 가능한 산업 자동화 제어 프로그램 정적분석 연구는 매우 저조한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 산업 자동화 임베디드 프로그램에 대한 정적분석 효율성 증대를 위하여 회로 구조를 표현하기 위해 설계된 산업 자동화 제어 프로그램을 논리식으로 표현하기 위한 방법을 제시한다. 또한 다양한 제조사의 산업 자동화 제어 프로그램을 통합적으로 분석하기 위하여 LLVM IR을 활용한 중간어 변환 기술을 제안한다. LLVM IR을 활용함으로서 동적 분석에 대한 통합분석이 가능하다. 본연구에서는 해당 방법에 대한 검증을 위하여 S 社의 제어 프로그램을 대상으로 하여 논리식 형태의 중간어로 변환하는 프로그 램의 시제품을 개발하였다.Utilizing sequence control and numerical computing, embedded devices are used in a variety of automated systems, including those at industrial sites, in accordance with their control program. Since embedded devices are used as a control system in corporate industrial complexes, nuclear power plants and public transport infrastructure nowadays, deliberate attacks on them can cause significant economic and social damages. Most attacks aimed at embedded devices are data-coded, code-modulated, and control-programmed. The control programs for industry-automated embedded devices are designed to represent circuit structures, unlike common programming languages, and most industrial automation control programs are designed with a graphical language, LAD, which is difficult to process static analysis. Because of these characteristics, the vulnerability analysis and security related studies for industry automation control programs have only progressed up to the formal verification, real-time monitoring levels. Furthermore, the static analysis of industrial automation control programs, which can detect vulnerabilities in advance and prepare for attacks, stays poorly researched. Therefore, this study suggests a method to present a discussion on an industry automation control program designed to represent the circuit structure to increase the efficiency of static analysis of embedded industrial automation programs. It also proposes a medium term translation technology exploiting LLVM IR to comprehensively analyze the industrial automation control programs of various manufacturers. By using LLVM IR, it is possible to perform integrated analysis on dynamic analysis. In this study, a prototype program that converts to a logical expression type of medium language was developed with regards to the S company s control program in order to verify our method.

Tolerating partial failures on IEC 61499 applications

In a modern industrial environment control programs are distributed among several devices. This raises new challenges, especially in handling the failure modes. Automatic reconfiguration is a possible approach in dealing with partial failures. The authors have proposed an IEC 61499 based replication framework for building fault tolerant applications - thus a failure of one sub-component does not to jeopardize the execution of the whole application. The proposed framework is capable of supporting dynamic reconfiguration on all automation levels in an industrial cell in order to patronage a fault tolerant and seamless production line.

The Study of Soft PLC Running System

PC-based automatic control system is low cost, open good, easy to use, etc., so it becomes a new direction in the automation technology. The formulation of international standards EIC61131-3 not only normalizes the field of industrial control programming language, but also provides the conditions for the development of PLC technology. This paper introduces the theory of soft PLC, discusses the PLC software models and implementations based on the EIC61131-3 standard, detailed describes the principle and implementation of soft PLC operating system programs, designs soft PLC running system software based on industrial PC, constructs soft logic control system based on industrial PC. Finally, the real-time performance and reliability of the soft PLC were verified. The results show that the system is reliable and control effect is good.

Efficient Biogas Production through Process Simulation

An interactive simulator of the process of anaerobic digestion was developed. It is based on four interacting submodels describing the biological, physicochemical, reactor, and plant subsystems of the overall process. The simulator was adapted to simulate a 10 L lab-scale reactor processing three different well-defined substrates as well as varying mixtures of these compounds. Because of its structured configuration, the simulator can be adapted to other types of biogas plants with respect to plant setup, reactor volume, and substrate composition. The biological and physicochemical submodels were implemented in the programming language FORTRAN; the reactor and plant submodels were implemented in an industrial process control and simulation program. The combined submodels result in an interactive process simulator that was equipped with various control loops, automations, data acquisition systems, and graphical user interfaces. The simulator can be used for the design, test, and optimization of automation ...

Workplace Monitoring of Occupational Exposure to Refractory Ceramic Fiber—A 17-Year Retrospective

This article presents a 17-year (1990–2006) retrospective summary of ongoing studies of occupational exposure to refractory ceramic fiber (RCF) in the United States. Beginning in 1990, RCF producers integrated and harmonized individual workplace monitoring programs to provide data useful for various longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses, benchmarking, and various technical analyses. For 10 of these 17 years, the program has been conducted in partnership with government agencies, first a 5-year (1993–1998) program with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and later another 5-year (2002–2006) program with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. This article updates earlier published studies and provides lessons to be learned in the design of industrial hygiene monitoring and control programs.

Analysis of Short Latencies In Industrial Network Environments

The bibliography shows the typical shape of probability density function (PDF) that describe network latencies. The paper presents the results of the measurements of the PDF of Round Trip Time (RTT) in real network environments. The results show, that the appropriate PDFs are significantly differentiated and depend on the kind of the network, its load, peers load, logic of applications, etc. The PDF measurments is focused on industrial network control programs transmissions, where only loses and short delays are important.

Recent developments in industrial control programming

Abstract Software plays an ever-increasing role in industrial automation. With this, the associated softwate costs increase, not all of them heing directly visible: the required maintenance over the life cycle, adding new functionalities. coping with new governmental rules, etc. The activities of the vendor and product independent organisation PLCopen focus around IEC 61131-3, the only global standatd for industrial control programming. PLCopen has defined extensions to IEC 61131-3 in order to improve hatdwate independence from software code, as well as reusability of the code and coupling to external software tools. Recent results are a Motion Control Libraty, Safety and XML specifications.

Surveillance of respiratory diseases among construction and trade workers at Department of Energy nuclear sites.

Medical screening programs were begun in 1996 and 1997 at three Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons facilities (Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Oak Ridge, and the Savannah River Site) to evaluate whether current and former construction workers are at significant risk for occupational illnesses. The focus of this report is pneumoconiosis associated with exposures to asbestos and silica among workers enrolled in the screening programs through September 30, 2001. Workers provided a detailed work and exposure history and underwent a respiratory examination, which included a respiratory history and symptom questionnaire, a posterior-anterior (P-A) chest radiograph, and spirometry. Both stratified and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to explore the risk of disease by duration of DOE employment and frequency of exposure, while controlling for potential confounders such as age, race, sex, and other work in the construction and building trades. Of the 2602 workers, 25.2% showed one or more chest X-ray changes by ILO criteria and 42.7% demonstrated one or more pulmonary function defects. The overall prevalence of parenchymal changes by ILO criteria (profusion 1/0 or greater) was 5.4%. In the logistic regression models, the odds ratio for parenchymal disease was 2.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-6.6) for workers employed 6 to 20 years at Hanford or Savannah River and increased to 3.6 (95% CI = 1.1-11.6) for workers employed more than 35 years, with additional incremental risks for workers reporting routine exposures to asbestos or silica. Continued surveillance of workers is important given their increased risk of disease progression and their risk for asbestos related malignancies. Smoking cessation programs should also be high priority and continued abstinence for former smokers reinforced. Although the observed respiratory disease patterns are largely reflective of past exposures, these findings suggest that DOE needs to continue to review industrial hygiene control programs for work tasks involving maintenance, repair, renovation, and demolition.

Automated verification of function block-based industrial control systems

The international standard IEC 61131-3, which supports Brad Cox’ concept of “Software-ICs” for industrial control programming, is increasingly being used in safety-related application domains. They include safety-instrumented functions, such as burner management, emergency shutdown and gas leak detection, but also complex automation processes controlling, e.g., chemical production plants. For such highly dependable applications, code inspection and testing, the predominant quality assurance techniques used in practice today, are, in general, not sufficient to demonstrate the functional correctness and safety of an application. This paper presents a theorem prover-based verification technique as a supplementary validation measure. The verification task is separated into the a priori verification of reusable function blocks, which are usually maintained in domain-specific libraries, and a separate compositional proof of individual application programs. Core concepts of the standardized languages, their semantic embedding into higher order logic, and the verification approach are illustrated with a small example. Some design ideas for a verification tool usable by automation engineers and safety licensing authorities conclude the contribution.

Modular Verification of Function Block Based Industrial Control Systems

IEC 61131-3, the world-wide standard for industrial control programming, is increasingly being used in safety-related control applications. Control loops are built from components taken from domain-specific function block libraries. Code inspection and testing are the two predominant quality assurance techniques. For highly dependable control applications, however, these techniques are not sufficient, in general.This paper suggests to augment testing with compositional, theorem-prover supported verification. The approach is based on a representation of IEC 61131-3 function blocks in higher-order logic. The verification task is separated into the a priori verification of library components and a separate proof of individual application programs.

Automated Verification of Function Block Based Industrial Control Systems

IEC 61131-3, the world-wide standard for industrial control programming, is increasingly being used in embadded control applications. The standard supports the concept of reusable “software ICs” through the concept of function blocks. can be hierarchically grouped and horizontally “wired” to Complex control loops are typically built from elementary components taken from domain-specific libraries. Code inspection and testing are the two predominant quality assurance techniques in practice, today. For highly dependable control applications, however, these techniques are not sufficient, in general.This paper suggests to augment testing with compositional, theorem-prover supported verification. The approach is based on a representation of IEC 61131-3 function blocks in higher-order logic. The verification task is separated into the a priori verification of library components and a separate proof of individual application programs. The latter relies on proven properties of the library components used. We sketch the semantic embedding of three most used languages of the IEC standard and illustrate our verification approach with a simple example. We conclude with a wish list for a verification tool that is usable by application and licensing engineers.

Treatment of Strong Fermentation Wastes by Activated Sludge

This paper reports a comprehensive wastewater pollution abatement program implemented at a plant producing pharmaceutical products by fermentation. The production is mainly devoted to tetracycline, oxytetracycline derivatives and to gentamicin sulfate, using different agricultural sources. The studies were undertaken in a context that covered all the principal components necessary for an industrial control program: wastewater characterization and pollution profile, treatability evaluation, description of the most suitable technology. Extensive studies were carried out to assess the treatability characteristics of process wastes as well as waste combinations. Pertinent kinetic constants were determined in lab-scale experiments. The availability of air regularly discharged from the processing plant made an aerobic process an economically attractive treatment system.A fraction of the cooling discharges was mixed with process wastes in the planning and design of the treatment flow scheme (a) to lower the BOD concentration below 2000 mgl−1, and (b) to provide an equalization and buffering capacity for hydraulic and toxic shocks.

Industrial Hypertension Control Program in a Rural State

Many problems remain in attempting to improve the detection and management of hypertension in the United States. This study applied a previously established model community hypertension program to a wide geographic area in a rural state. In 47 industries in 18 communities, 15,689 subjects were screened for the presence of hypertension. Eight hundred five subjects were found to have an elevated blood pressure on three separate occasions and were classified for further management. Follow-up showed that 76% visited their physicians within six months, and of these 81% were being observed. Sixty-seven percent of the subjects who saw their physicians were receiving antihypertensive drug therapy. The cost of finding each subject with an elevated blood pressure was $80 and of identifying a subject who received drug therapy, $160.

Industrial hypertension control program in a rural state

Industrial hypertension control program in a rural state