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Stepping into the future

You don’t have to be a software engineer to understand the complexity of integrating functions. You only need to reach for your smartphone to conduct a simple test by installing an app with a camera function such as QR reader, photo TAN software or Messenger. It takes a matter of minutes.

Now imagine how long that process would take if you wanted to integrate a camera function into a PLC program for an automation system, program the interface and forward the data in a legible form. It would take several hours.

Reducing man-hours into minutes

These days, that needn’t be the case. Thanks to our new automation platform, ctrlX AUTOMATION, a completely new software architecture does all the work for you. Machine manufacturers can integrate functions easily, using app technology, then customize their solutions with minimal effort.

Efficiency with smartphone simplicity

Standardized PLC languages remain efficient solutions for classic automation tasks. But as soon as you want to integrate other functions, for connectivity or visualization for example, these run-time systems are no longer efficient. Reprogramming functions that already exist in IT languages into PLC languages is uneconomical and delays development because there’s a shortage of programmers. This is where ctrlX AUTOMATION comes in.

Our new control system, ctrlX CORE, transcends the boundaries between device platforms. As a plug-in card, it can be used in IPC, in embedded control systems and in drive systems. It offers much more computing power than existing platforms without the need for more space. As a result, machine manufacturers can integrate numerous tasks, which, in the past, needed to be installed on additional hardware.

Based on the world’s most stable and secure real-time capable operating system Linux, ctrlX CORE allows far more freedom when adapting and managing control functions. Via the intuitive web-based engineering, developers have access to a wide range of apps from the ctrlX WORKS software toolkit. Consequently, they can manage and expand control and function apps and, if necessary, complement them with any open source software.

App-solute ease

Adding or removing individual apps has no effect on the overall system, as each app forms a separate software container. Manufacturers only need to install apps that their customers want. The apps can provide and read data both in real time or non-real time.  

Updatable and future-ready

In consultation with the end user, machine builders can modify individual apps at any time without changing the initial planning. This reduces the complexity of updates and makes automation an option in the future for forthcoming communication standards and innovative functions.

ctrlX AUTOMATION re-writes the automation rule book, thanks to a new software architecture. It allows machine builders to integrate, combine and update functions easily, openly and securely. The apps reduce the engineering outlay and open the door to a new, more flexible world of automation.

 

If you have any questions or require further information regarding ctrlX AUTOMATION, please contact us:

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Portrait view of Sebastian Krauskopf, Game Changer Software

Sebastian Krauskopf

Game Changer
Software

 

Cover ctrlX AUTOMATION Whitepaper

New freedom in engineering

Find out how ctrlX AUTOMATION helps you to put individual solutions into operation much faster and to program functions easily and flexibly in any language.

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