The ibaLogic Soft PLC graphical control system is designed to run on Windows NT 4.0. Without using NMIs and real-time extensions, it ensures determinism up to 1ms and 25kHz per channel. The concept is based on the runtime environment in which the control monitors which processor in a multiprocessor system executes a given process. This uncouples the actual computing process from graphical and network tasks. The number of possible tasks is not limited. An individual cycle time can be assigned to each task. Within an application, the concept allows the tasks of several conventional PLCs to be combined as a Soft PLC. This permits a high-end PC to easily perform concurrently the tasks of several hardware PLCs, reducing of the time needed for cross-communication between them which often causes a bottleneck. In this case, off-task connectors perform the task-task communication. They also serve as a bi-directional communication interface to the OPC client.
NSTL
