Introduction

The modern automation systems complexity and wide spread of their tasks once created a demand for adequate programming technologies for engineers.

These technologies had to have nothing in common with low-level programming languages like C, Pascal or Assembler, because an expert in production cycle is rarely an expert in stuff like pointers and dynamically linked libraries.

The best choice – make programming similar to drawing electronic circuits, where every ‘device’, or block has definite function, and the complex function of whole program is achieved by linking the blocks together. Such a technology was developed, named Functional Block Diagram (FBD) programming language, and adopted as IEC-61131-3 standard.

For decades FBD visual programming is considered a most advanced and useful technology, as it allows creating a control algorithm in a way of drawing a graph, which is considerably easy-to-understand. First arriving on powerful (and expensive) controllers, used for controlling sophisticated production processes on plants, it is now successfully migrating towards considerably small networked controllers, used for small production and building automation.

Still, known for long time, the technology was brought to building automation market only by few large hardware manufacturers, implemented on their proprietary controller designs, and programmable with their proprietary development software tools. Probably, that this situation is a consequence of a complexity and, therefore, high development costs for such kind of computer tools and runtime software.

But nowadays, when ‘chips become cheaper’, while increasing their capacity, when they often are sold already with embedded network protocol stack onboard, more and more small hi-tech companies decide to start production of their own controller products line.

This has become especially easy after Echelon Corporation introduced the Lonworks technology, providing a perfect combination of inexpensive chip (Neuron Chip) with embedded protocol stack (Lontalk), a network operating system for Windows (LNS) and a set of tools for low-level device development (Nodebuilder) and network integration (Lonmaker).

But after being very close to a problem of programming low-end hardware for enough time, we have figured out that the creation of a building automation system will be never efficient, if controllers are programmed by means of low-level programming languages. This programming consumes too much time, can not guarantee that there are no bugs in the code, and requires highly professional (paid) programmers, who know control systems as good as the low-level programming.

Encouraged by the fact, we started our initiative in 2005 to serve a growing market of the development and runtime FBD systems for low-end automation controllers. Our purpose is to make a chip not just loosely configurable, but flexibly programmable by the user. Our developments are - highly efficient FBD runtime and PC Development Environment for low-end controller devices.

Benefits

Just imagine that never in a history of lonworks fieldbus technology the nodes based on Neuron Chip could be programmed so flexibly and so easily. The number of nodes installed and being installed is tremendous, and most part of that number are Neuron Chip - based nodes.

In fact, the FBD is so easy, that the end-user or integrator can do the programming himself, as he did with much more sophisticated and expensive controllers with their extremely expensive PC software.

To develop a program you do not need a compiler, licensed from Echelon, the environment translates a program, developed with the help of handy visual tool right into the executable code. So, the end-user licensing and pricing is totally up to you.

No C programming, no hidden bugs, that are very hard to find, because the runtime, being an execution supervisor, will not allow critical results. The only mistake you can do is wrong-formulated control loop. Forget about watchdogging nodes. Forever.

The offered technology is an interpreter, that has a very modest requirements for CPU resources. You have never estimated the real capabilities of a Neuron Chip.

The technology is offered to every participant of the market.