PLC and DCS, SCADA and listed as the three pillars of industrial control field. In order to get rid of the situation of basic dependence on imports, since the reform and opening up, many domestic enterprises, universities and research units have invested in the development of these three systems. In comparison, the most effective should be DCS, represented by technology companies such as Zhonghong and Hollysys, which have led the direction of China’s DCS technology and market application, occupying a considerable part of the market share. Although chips and other basic components have to rely partly on imports, but in the software has been based on their own development, accumulated considerable experience and know-how. SCADA also has enterprises like Asia Control that continue to deepen their efforts, accumulate a considerable number of customers, and form some technical features, which are developing into an integrated platform. So, what is the status of PLC, is it very optimistic? This article tries to discuss in this aspect, may be missing everything, and sincerely hope that readers can correct and supplement.

In general, over the years, China’s PLC technology has also made great progress, in the two directions of hardware and software has rarely seen traces of imitation, independent development, self-design has become the mainstream. Especially in recent years, Loongson is committed to the application and development of domestic chips in the industrial field, helping some enterprises to walk out of the new road of independent development of PLC system; In addition, many small and medium-sized PLC enterprises have worked tirelessly, showing a number of bright spots in hardware and software. At present, the share of domestic PLC in the domestic market may not have broken through 10%, but it is entirely possible to accelerate from the trend of development.

PLC basic software in China’s development of diversified show

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IC687RCM711B

When PLC entered China in the 1980s, the international standard for PLC programming language IEC 61131-3 (then named IEC 1131-3) was still in the initial stage of development. Active in the domestic market is with the introduction of complete sets of thermal power generation equipment from the United States MODICON medium and large PLC, as well as Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric, OMRON, Fuji Electric and other manufacturers of small PLC. At that time, there was a lack of domestic developers in this area, and the software was basically copied. After the international standard for PLC programming language was officially promulgated in 1993, commercial programming software platforms based on IEC 61131-3 standards appeared in the world, and entered the domestic industrial control market around 2000. After several years of familiarity and application, domestic enterprises have found some doors, so on the basis of introduction, they began to find ways to develop themselves. After another decade or two, the country finally formed the current rather colorful situation and diversified characteristics. This road is a little long, an important reason is that this kind of application scenario is relatively specific technology is difficult to enter the national science and technology development planning, according to the development and demand of the market, each interested in this unit and personnel in their own exploration and investment.

At present, in terms of PLC basic programming software, what is presented in front of us can be summarized into 4 types:

From the self-developed PLC kernel based on international standards to a comprehensive integrated development environment IDE, but not the commercialization as the goal, only for their own control system services, or customized control system services. A typical example of this form is the CAS S system of the Yan Yi team of the School of Computer Science and Technology of Hangzhou Dianzi University, as well as Hollysys, China Control, Hangzhou Youwen, etc., to serve their own DCS products.
It is also developed from a self-developed PLC kernel based on international standards to a comprehensive integrated development environment IDE, the main feature is that it has been productized, and can provide commercial software packages for any unit in need in society. Based on a team with 15 years of IEC 61131-3 programmable system research and development experience, Beijing Otus Technology is the most representative company of this kind of commercial platform in China.
Cooperate with foreign companies to develop a comprehensive development environment suitable for the needs of the domestic industrial control market on the basis of their PLC cores, including providing a complete software environment and development path for localized embedded chips. The classic example is Shanghai Yicong Technology.
IT is a software platform based on its own development and use of the latest technology in the IT industry. Its characteristics are that it can meet the various requirements of traditional PLC programming, but also adapt to the requirements of modern PLC used in the industrial Internet environment, and easily introduce artificial intelligence. Zhejiang Qingjie Intelligent Technology is doing pioneering work in this direction, and it has achieved good results.
If we evaluate the development status of a science and technology institution from the perspective of foresight and execution, these four models can be said to have their own focus, showing the differentiation of service objects and the differentiation of technical characteristics. It can basically meet the different needs of the current domestic PLC market for software development platforms, and has different development prospects and directions in the era of digital transformation. There are appropriate solutions and implementation solutions for the data governance necessary for the future PLC system to use AI services, and how to facilitate the use of open source AI basic algorithm library.