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Although traditional programmable-logic-controller (PLC) programming techniques, such as ladder logic, work well for existing industrial-control applications, a growing number of systems call for more advanced algorithms to boost manufacturing efficiencies. These also need both network and field-bus connections, so that a number of control systems can work together and react to changing conditions without manual intervention. The demand for quality also means that image inspection is becoming an integral part of many control applications, ensuring that products that fall outside tolerance ranges are rejected and appropriate measures are taken to restore the system to within specified limits.
Embedded industrial PCs can be used to provide these features, but they often prove too big and expensive to deploy. What is required is a platform that offers the flexibility of an industrial PC without the high memory and diskdrive costs of Windows.
The use of standard components is key to the success of the PC in the desktop market. Building on this, a new standard, EBX (Embedded Board Expandable), has been developed for industrial applications. It provides many of the features to which industrial PC users have become accustomed, but in a more compact form and with more flexibility over the choice of processor and I/O.
Some control applications, such as semiconductor materials handling and precision machining, call for precise positioning with little room for error. At the same time, these applications may need high processor performance to handle the complex motion-control profiles that they typically demand. Although...