Devices and Protocols

Device and Interfaces

Native Communication Drivers

Connectivity is a key FactoryStudio feature, therefore many native communication drivers to a variety of industry standard protocols and PLCs are included. New drivers are continuously added to the standard distribution of FactoryStudio.

OPC Client and Server Support

FactoryStudio is in full compliance with the OPC Server and Client specifications. For any protocol not included with the product, the OPC client provides all the necessary integration.

Remote Data Servers

Data acquisition and drivers, native or OPC, can run on remote computers, for instance to get data from RS-232 devices or to eliminate the requirement for DCOM OPC configuration.

OPC Data Server FactoryStudio Station

FactoryStudio can be deployed as a stand- alone OPC Data Server, using the native protocols and providing data to other systems though its OPC Server interface. 

Automatic Synchronization

A Tag Import Wizard and automatic definition synchronization is provided for OPC Servers, Rockwell ControlLogix L5K files, CSV files, Beckhoff TwinCAT, OSIsoftTM PI System and PI AFTM; new wizards are continuously being added.

Process Isolation and Multi-threading

Data communication runs in its own .NET domain, with a WCF layer to isolate the drivers from the main real-time database. Multiple threads are created to each protocol and device node for maximum performance.

Diagnostics Tools

Complete set of testing, deployment and diagnostics tools provides fast and reliable application development and installation.

Built-in Performance Monitoring

Statistics on system messages, success and error messages, dynamic blocks created, cycle time and execution time on each block are generated to allow the fine tuning of high performance applications.

Dynamic Addressing

Everything in the driver configuration, from the station node IP to the address and tag mapping can be changed online using the project script itself. Create standard applications capable of having the runtime setup to the specific conditions where it is being deployed. 

Reporting and Data Access

Built-in Report Designer

FactoryStudio includes a user-friendly simple Report layout editor integrated with the engineering workspace. The rich text format uses underlying XAML flow document technology from WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation; that enables the inclusion of graphics and flexible formatting.

Runtime Display Snapshots

The runtime displays can be opened in background or saved to image files, allowing you to create rich graphic snapshot reports. Current displays and layouts also can be printed or saved as an image to disk.

Report Append and Text Data Logging

The report generator ability to append files, based on the project configuration and real- time tags, can be used to create CSV and text logging files for scenarios that require the information to be created as time goes by, such as batch reports and shift reports.

Dynamic Graphical Symbols

Any symbol from the real-time displays can be included in the Report. The dynamic behavior of the symbol, such as color, text output, and rotation, are all updated using the current tag values when generating the report. User controls, like Trend and Bar charts can be added as well.

Tables and Queries

The contents of database tables and queries can be added to the reports. The queries and report generation execute in isolated processes, not interfering with the real-time processing.

Data Access Toolkit

A complete .NET Data Access library is available to create custom reporting solutions or to integrate with Microsoft Office, SQL server reporting services or other vendors tools. A COM model API is also available to be used from Excel VBA and JavaScript applications.