Structured design and verification of logic control software for industrial dcs

To properly deal with the increasing complexity of industrial distributed control systems, the use of methods and tools that support the designer in the definition, verification and implementation of logic control software is more and more necessary. Nowadays, many different concepts, methodologies and standards are available to face the considered problem in a structured and systematic way. Nevertheless, whenever a real size DCS has to be developed, computer tools that support the structured design and verification of logic control code are needed. As a consequence, critical decisions have to be undertaken to select the most appropriate tools to use, by considering their limits as concerns the provided functionalities, the compliancy with existing standards, and the openness towards not proprietary software tools. In the present work a methodological approach to the structured design, and simulation based verification, of manufacturing plants logic control systems is discussed. The methods and tools used during the different phases of the design are illustrated with reference to an application example in the shoe manufacturing sector, with particular attention to the analysis of the software tools used to support the design, the simulation, the graphic animation and the automatic code generation.