A GRAPHICAL TOOL FOR DESIGN PORTABLE AUTOMATION SOFTWARE

UniSim is a graphical tool which can be used to avoid the choice of a specific commercial platform when teaching the IEC 61131-3 standard for programmable logic controllers. UniSim allows to develop automation software which is fully compliant with the standard, and to validate it via simulation. It can also be used to fast prototyping automation systems using a desktop equipped with low-cost commercial I/O boards. This prototype can be interfaced with a plant simulator to perform hardware-in-the-loop validation of the control system.