Neutral Representation, Visualization and Verification of Logic Controllers Represented by Function Block Diagrams

A structured and meaningful data format serves as a neutral representation that can be used to generate different visualizations from a mutual data pool. The structured data in this paper is stored as extensible markup language and used to generate the following data formats: a cause & effect matrix, a control program as function block diagram and a set of finite state automata. These tasks are crucial, especially in the context of highly dependable systems. Each data format is used for different tasks during the life cycle of a logic control program, which are typically: migration, (re-)documentation and analysis. This paper provides a model solution to each task and draws conclusions on their interrelation and use.