TL;DR:
- Siemens introduces virtual PLCs (vPLCs) for industrial equipment, paving the way for operational technology (OT) integration into the cloud.
- The vPLCs run on a private cloud within factories, enabling low-latency, resilient connections to industrial equipment.
- This approach extends the utility of digital twins, allowing for advanced testing and configuration of vPLCs for improved product quality and equipment lifespan.
- Siemens achieves a remarkable 1-millisecond cycle time, enhancing the speed and responsiveness of vPLCs.
- The vPLCs complement existing hardware PLCs and offer benefits such as flexible production, simplified backup solutions, and centralized management of virtualized applications.
- The concept of an industrial app store could emerge, enabling the download and deployment of domain-specific applications for manufacturing processes.
- The virtualization of PLCs and infrastructure accelerates processes, enhances data collection, and enables predictive maintenance, thereby improving operational performance.
Main AI News:
The advent of virtual machines (VMs) revolutionized the IT industry, enabling efficient operations and paving the way for cloud computing and modern IT services. Now, Siemens, a prominent player in providing brains to industrial equipment, is introducing a groundbreaking VM for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), the key components of industrial machinery.
While virtual PLCs (vPLCs) are not entirely new, Siemens is taking the lead in this domain, currently supplying the brains for approximately one-third of PLCs in factories, power plants, and other industries. Siemens recently unveiled the first vPLC capable of functioning in production equipment, demonstrating its integration into the Siemens industrial cloud ecosystem, known as the Xcelerator portfolio.
This advancement will facilitate the convergence of operational technology (OT) with cloud infrastructure and enable seamless connectivity with IT systems. Furthermore, it will bring the agility and innovation of cloud-based software development processes to the realm of industrial equipment.
It is essential to note that plant equipment will not be directly operated from the cloud. Safety-critical and expensive machinery cannot tolerate the delays experienced in accessing platforms like Slack or Zoom. Instead, Siemens is developing a strategy to deploy vPLCs on a private cloud within factories or adjacent facilities. These clouds will be connected to industrial equipment via low-latency, resilient networks, ensuring optimal performance.
An additional benefit of this approach is the enhanced utility and testability of digital twins for equipment. In addition to designing physical devices, testers will now have the capability to run various configurations of vPLCs on these devices, allowing them to identify and resolve issues earlier in the development cycle. Moreover, they can virtually explore the impact of different control algorithms, enhancing product quality, output and extending the lifespan of the underlying equipment.
The Evolution of Soft PLCs
For over two decades, CODESYS has been offering hardware-independent virtualized logic controllers (VLCs), promising cost savings in hardware acquisition, increased flexibility, and improved security updates. The company allows enterprises to transform any modern system into an industrial control platform, supporting Windows, Linux, and ARM computers.
Last year, Software Defined Automation (SDA) partnered with VMware to enable the deployment of virtual PLCs on any x86 server with a cycle time of under 10 milliseconds. SDA introduced a DevOps workflow for operational technology, facilitating cloud-based management of existing PLCs. They also developed a Git-based versioning and collaboration tool and an edge server for running PLCs.
The Need for Speed
Leveraging its close integration with its own industrial ecosystem, Siemens has successfully reduced the cycle time to an impressive one millisecond, further expanding the range of applications. The new vPLCs operate on virtual edge devices, which can be hosted on virtual machines like EXSI servers and vSphere. In the future, they will also be compatible with Kubernetes.
Bernd Raithel, Director of Product Management & Marketing in the Factory Automation business unit of Siemens Digital Industries, explains, “Over the years, the real-time features in CPUs and virtualization environments have improved significantly, enabling the virtualized operation of PLCs with response times as low as 1ms. With the increasing workload in manufacturing processes, such as quality control, track & trace, and predictive maintenance, running PLCs and other applications in virtualized environments offers centralized management and deployment capabilities, providing the flexibility needed to adapt manufacturing operations swiftly.”
Complementing Existing Infrastructure
It is important to note that the new virtualization technology will complement rather than replace existing hardware PLCs, just as VMs did not render bare metal servers obsolete for high-performance applications. Hardware controllers are renowned for their robustness, reliability, and extensive track record of successful implementation. Initially, the vPLCs will deliver maximum value to companies seeking greater production flexibility. These virtualized solutions will simplify the scalability and fine-tuning of automation applications without dependence on specific hardware.
Moreover, vPLCs will enable seamless switching to backup controllers in the event of a problem with the primary controller. Although safety-critical industrial equipment may require parallel backup systems, this approach will provide resilience similar to RAID technology, where a single system can offer fault tolerance for multiple primary systems.
The Rise of the Industrial App Store
The advent of vPLCs may also lead to the expansion of app stores within the industrial equipment landscape. For instance, domain experts in various manufacturing processes could encode their expertise into vetted golden images, similar to current practices in the IT sector. Enterprises could then download these images for specific processes, version them, and deploy them across multiple machines. If any issues arise, rolling back to the last working version becomes a seamless process.
As Raithel points out, “Virtualized applications, including vPLCs, empower companies to respond quickly to changing market conditions and production requirements. Operators can add or remove applications on-demand, depending on their immediate production needs. By virtualizing the entire environment, the real and digital worlds converge, allowing companies to run their PLCs (vPLCs) and digital twins on the same platform, leveraging digital twins during production as executable digital twins (xDT). This approach provides additional input to the PLCs for precise control of the production process.”
Enhanced Feedback Mechanisms
A significant additional advantage of vPLCs is the improved data collection from equipment, enabling enhanced predictive maintenance and operational performance. Raithel highlights the potential: “These new offerings enable customers to gather more data from their automation equipment, such as SINAMICS drives, and seamlessly integrate it with ERP and other IT data on a vPLC/Virtual Edge device.
This fusion allows for the development of more sophisticated algorithms for predictive maintenance, reducing downtime and enabling precise maintenance schedules tailored to each machine’s requirements. The abundance of data also leads to greater insights into production processes, which can be fed back into digital twins of machines and production processes, thereby optimizing factory operations.” Centralized management of virtual workloads enhances the ability to respond swiftly to changing production requirements, reducing the need for on-site PLC technicians—a valuable advantage considering shifting workforce demographics.
Virtualizing PLCs and Beyond
The innovation in deploying and managing virtual machines has been the driving force behind major IT advancements in recent decades. The current development of virtualized PLCs by Siemens has the potential to generate a similar impact on the industrial equipment landscape. One critical aspect where this technology holds immense value is security. Industrial control systems traditionally rely on obscurity for protection, as hackers familiar with IT equipment may not possess the necessary expertise to navigate OT systems. The robustness of vPLCs will simplify the identification and resolution of vulnerabilities, ensuring the security of the critical infrastructure.
Furthermore, the deployment of vPLCs will facilitate the virtualization of additional infrastructure elements, enabling faster and more reliable scaling of processes across multiple facilities. When combined with advanced digital twin technology for representing physical equipment, this approach extends the concept of infrastructure as code to industrial automation.
Conclusion:
Siemens’ development of virtual machines for industrial equipment signifies a significant breakthrough in the market. The integration of virtual PLCs and cloud technology opens doors for seamless connectivity, improved flexibility, and efficient management of production processes. This advancement allows for more agile and responsive manufacturing operations, enhanced data-driven decision-making, and heightened resilience in the face of disruptions. As the industry moves towards digital transformation, Siemens’ virtualization efforts position them as a key player driving innovation and productivity in the industrial automation market.
