Historical background of monitoring configuration software development

Monitoring configuration software is developed with the rapid development of computer technology. In the 1960s, although computers began to set foot in industrial process control, the popularization of computer industrial process systems in various industries was slow due to the lack of knowledge of factory instruments and industrial processes. In the early 1970s, the appearance of microprocessor promoted the maturity of computer control. First of all, on the basis of improving the computing power, the microprocessor greatly reduces the hardware cost of the computer and reduces the size of the computer. Many companies engaged in control instruments and industrial control computers have successively introduced new control systems. The representative of this historical period is 1975, the first set of DCS TDC-2000 introduced by Honeywell Company in the United States, and in the following 20 years, DCS and its computer control technology have become increasingly mature and widely used. At this time, DCS has a wealth of software, including computer system software (operating system), configuration software, control software, operating station software and other auxiliary software (such as communication software).

At present, although the technology and market of DCS are developing rapidly, the software is still dedicated and closed. In addition to the continuous strengthening of functions, the software cost has been high, which leads to the high unit cost of DCS in small and medium-sized projects, forcing some small and medium-sized application projects to give up using DCS. In the middle and late 1980s, with the popularity of personal computers and the popularization of the concept of open system, monitoring systems based on personal computers began to enter the market and developed. As an important part of pc monitoring system, configuration software has a broader development space than PC monitoring hardware system. This is because, firstly, many DCS and PLC manufacturers voluntarily disclose communication protocols and join the camp of "PC monitoring". At present, almost all PLC and more than half DCS use PC as the operating station. Secondly, because PC monitoring greatly reduces the system cost, the market space has been expanded, from unattended remote monitoring (such as burglar alarm, river flood monitoring, environmental monitoring, telecom line monitoring, traffic control and monitoring, mine alarm, etc. ), data collection and measurement (such as automatic meter reading of residential water and electricity meters, railway signal collection and recording, etc.). ), data analysis (such as vehicle/locomotive automatic test, unit/equipment parameter test, etc.). Thirdly, all kinds of intelligent instruments, regulators and PC-based equipment can use configuration software to build a complete low-cost automation system, which has a broad market space. Fourthly, the sudden emergence of various embedded systems and field buses has pushed configuration software to the position of the main force of automation systems, and configuration software has increasingly become the soul of industrial automation systems.

Both users and DCS manufacturers recognize the configuration software for the following reasons:

1. Personal computer operating system is becoming more and more stable and reliable, with enhanced real-time processing capability and low price.

2. The rich software and development tools of personal computers make the configuration software powerful, shorten the development cycle accordingly, and facilitate the software upgrade and maintenance.

At present, most configuration software is gradually matured under Windows 3. 1 or 3.2 operating system, and a few foreign configuration software can run under OS/2 or Unix environment. At present, most configuration software runs in Windows98/NT environment. The ideal environment is WindowsNT or Windows2000 operating system, because its kernel is a variant of the original VMS, and its reliability and real-time performance are better than Windows98.

The development tool of configuration software is mainly C++, and a few developers use Delphi or C++Builder. Generally speaking, the products developed by C++ have higher running efficiency, shorter program code and faster running speed, but the development cycle is longer, which is contrary to other development tools.