Creating reusable, hardware independent motion control applications via IEC 61131-3 and PLCopen Motion Control Profile

Motion integration issues have come to the forefront, along with maintainability and connectivity to automation solutions. For this standards are needed. PLCopen has generated such a standard. A standard in programming languages, to harmonize the access of motion control functionality across platforms. In this way, the generated application program is much more hardware independent, and re-usable across platforms. The provided standard, the PLCopen Motion Control Profile, is based on IEC 61131-3 Function Blocks. With the standardization of the interfaces and the functionality, and implementation on multiple platforms, it provides a programming standard that is widely supported by the industry. The stated goals of this standardization are simplicity, efficiency, consistency, universality, flexibility and completeness. Due to the data hiding and encapsulation, it is usable on different architectures, for instance ranging from centralized to distributed control. It is also important to say that it is not specifically designed for a certain range of applications e.g. packaging industry but it will serve as a basic layer for ongoing definitions in these areas. As such it is open to existing and future technologies.