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PLCs AND HMIs
What can HMIs learn
from the iPhone?
What are latest trends in HMIs and what should you look
for when choosing one? Dirk Hartmann, marketing
manager for Beijer Electronics, outlines some key trends.
HMIs are in a state of flux. Industrial
user interfaces are taking inspiration
from consumer products such as
mobile phones and MP3 players, with
advanced 3D-style graphics and icon-based
navigation and controls, resulting in friendly
and intuitive user interfaces. Leading-edge
HMIs support this with embedded graphics
and functions, providing intuitive user
interfaces based on modern software
technologies and open architectures.
Trend 1: Enhancing the user experience
The significance of user interfaces has
become increasingly clear in recent years.
For example, Apple’s iPod and iPhone are
iconic examples of how appealing and
intuitive user interfaces have changed the
perception of some types of product. The
success of these products and other
consumer-oriented merchandise shows that
a common look-and-feel among the
products, graphics and environments
contributes to brand distinction and to
consistent customer experiences.
Many industrial corporations have
reached the same conclusion and are
focussing increasingly on their products’
user interfaces. In many ways, the HMI is
the front of a machine or process. The
higher the level of functionality and
interaction embedded in an HMI, the more
the user interface reflects the essential
experience of a machine or process.
Tomorrow’s HMIs will elevate the HMI from
being a functional add-on, to becoming an
integral part of a user experience.
Design features will include the use of
WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
objects, scalable to any size without losing
picture quality, and the use of Microsoft
.Net objects found or bought on the
Internet. The use of templates and object
styles will facilitate efficient ways to ensure
consistent, re-usable designs. Embedding
functional objects, including Windows
media objects, in the screen design will
further enhance the user experience.
In addition to the competitive advantages
for machine-builders, there are solid
arguments for end-users to justify investing
in well-designed, intuitive user interfaces.
The added value of tomorrow’s HMIs will
be reflected in ease of use, higher efficiency
and productivity, reduced time to complete
tasks, improved user satisfaction, trust in
the systems, and fewer user errors.
Trend 2: Innovation based on modern
software technologies
The evolution of HMIs is being driven by
continuous software development, backed
by robust, high-performance hardware.
Today, the panel is considered as a vehicle
for the HMI software platform, allowing
OEM design engineers to add value to their
products with various functions and design
options. The software platform is therefore
a crucial element.
HMI software development is costly and
complex. Innovative HMI manufacturers
need to base their software platforms on
widely-used modern technologies to access
a broad variety of tools and functions.
For example, the resources behind the
.Net technology are enormous, and this will
be reflected in the continuous development
of new HMI functions. Dependence on
proprietary technologies or technologies
from smaller vendors is a risky strategy.
HMIs based on .Net or similar
technologies are likely to deliver innovative,
future-proof tools with continuous updates
and service support, appreciated by OEMs
with long-term strategies for their own
products and external suppliers.
Trend 3: Open platform architectures
Essentially, HMIs integrate the operation of
a machine or a process with feedback to or
from the operator. A key aspect is the
openness of the HMI system. How easy is it
to exchange essential information with
different systems or controllers? Is the
application code locked for customisation
of functions or objects? Will runtime
software be able to operate on different
hardware platforms? Increasingly, HMI
vendors are discussing these issues with
their customers.
The open platform architecture of
tomorrow’s HMIs will offer opportunities
for OEMs to enhance the look, functions
and connectivity of applications to produce
unique products. HMIs, from compact
operator panels to industrial PCs, will
become less proprietary and will offer
increased freedom of choice.
It will be possible to create a scalable
master project, which can be applied to
different controller brands and panel
resolutions, thus needing to maintain only
one project. Engineers will demand
opportunities to use scripting tools, such as
C++ script, to customise the look or
functions of objects. Design tools will offer
the possibility of importing third-party
objects and .Net controls.
Freedom in terms of connections and
communications is the hallmark of truly
open HMIs and covers options from simple
real-time exchange of data between
controllers, up to SQL and OPC
communications with other equipment and
IT systems.
User interfaces do not need advanced
graphics. Simplicity and consistency often
beat complexity and overly artistic systems.
However, the design process often benefits
from co-operation between graphic
designers and application engineers.
D&C
44 November/December 2010 www.drives.co.uk