A New Breed of Remote I/O Server for PC-Based Automation Water Management System Looking Ahead to Windows CE

Key Features

• Actively transmit I/O data in real-time
• Automatically control output channel status based on input conditions
• Report-by-exception via Email, TCP/UDP, SNMP trap
• Easy-to-configure Click&Go™ logic (patent pending)
• Supports SNMP I/O & Modbus/TCP
• PLC-quality I/O design

The Active Remote I/O concept is the first on the market to provide real-time I/O data transmission over an open network using easily-configured local logic control. Designed specifically for an Ethernet environment, Active Remote I/O uses Modbus/TCP and SNMP protocols for easy integration into both industrial automation and IT environments.

In traditional remote I/O architecture, the remote I/O server and attached sensors are passive. A host is required to poll the remote I/O server in order to obtain I/O status information, and the repeated request-and-respond communication over the network results in a slow response time. For clients looking to improve the operational efficiency of their DA&C systems, the need for active I/O messaging and a fast I/O response time cannot be met with the traditional remote I/O structure.

How Does Active Remote I/O Work?
Moxa's Active Remote I/O products give system integrators a new option that relies on conditionally triggered I/O status notification with customizable output messages and simultaneous local output control. Rather than simply waiting for a request for information, the Active Remote I/O server intelligently transmits data over the network only when certain customizable I/O conditions are met. Network and host resources are not expended continually polling the server when I/O conditions remain within the customizable threshold. Network communication between the host computer and remote I/O server is thus concise and efficient, and data transmission is 20 times faster than with traditional SCADA systems (50 ms compared to 1 sec).



A key component of Active Remote I/O is the patent-pending Click&Go™ logic control, which is used to configure the remote I/O server’s local intelligence. Rather than laboriously programming in C or PLC-Ladder-Logic, the intuitive “If-Then” structure of Click&Go™ allows users to easily notify the server of what I/O conditions to watch for and what actions or events to trigger.

Benefits

• Improved system efficiency using real-time data acquisition
• Reduced Ethernet bandwidth consumption
• Increased timeliness and accuracy of I/O data
• Local logic control with no programming required
• Reduced overhead for host computer
• SCADA-compatibility

Target Applications

• Material handling
• Security applications
• Facility management
• Server room management
• Process/factory automation

Success Stories
RFID Tracking System Gives Airport Baggage Handling a Boost

• MOXA Products: ioLogik E2210 / EDS-205 / UC-7420
• Country: Hong Kong, China
• Company: Leading supplier of RFID solutions

The rapid development of China's domestic economy has led to an increase in the number of visitors and travelers to China. In the interest of maintaining a quick and precise logistics system for passengers, much emphasis has been placed on developing a high speed process system for their baggage. In recent years, RFID has become the most popular solution for material handling systems. Hong Kong Airport is the busiest airport in the world, and airport administrators wanted to set up an entirely new solution that combines RFID and bar codes.



System Description
This project used the ioLogik E2210 as the main device for data acquisition, and used the EDS-205 entry level industrial Ethernet switch as the main communications medium. The control system is run by Moxa's UC-7420 embedded computer, which can connect the RFID reader and barcode reader. The ioLogik E2210 represents a new category of product in the remote I/O field. We call this new category "Active Remote I/O." The name was chosen to emphasize that ioLogik E2210 can send the I/O status automatically without polling. Moreover, the real-time I/O information can be sent in under 50 ms. Hong Kong Airport must process ten thousand bags per hour, so timing is extremely critical.

Modern networking products help automate the management and control of floodgates

Traditionally, floodgates were monitored onsite by one or more persons hired specifically for that task. The fact that the cost of employing fulltime employees can be staggering is a major incentive in looking for ways to automate the monitoring process. MOXA's products can help you reduce the cost. MOXA offers several solutions for floodgate monitoring that include remote I/O servers, industrial video servers, front-end embedded computers, and high availability industrial Ethernet switches.

ioLogik 2000 (E2240)
ioLogik 2000 Series Easy View Ethernet I/O Server

EDS-508-SS-SC-T
8-port Managed Redundant Ethernet Switch

ioLogik 4000 (NA-4010)
Remote I/O for Data Acquisition & Control

VPort 3310
1-ch MPEG Industrial Video Server

UC-7420
8-port Ready-to-Run Embedded Computer

Using Embedded Linux as the operating system for MOXA's UC series of embedded computers was the first step in providing software developers with a well-rounded choice of programming environments. To complete the choice, MOXA plans to release Windows CE versions of Moxa's popular UC-7400 series of ready-to-run embedded computers in April of 2006.

MOXA keeps abreast of the requirements of Windows® developers to provide Windows® CE solutions for MOXA's UC-7400 series of ready-to-run embedded computers. The UC-7400 series includes UC-7420, UC-7410, and UC-7408. MOXA's professional kernel development experience with embedded, small footprint communication devices provides the technological skills required for porting the Windows® CE 5.0 kernel.

Windows CE 5.0 is an open, scalable, 32-bit operating system that allows software developers to build a wide range of innovative, small footprint devices. The typical Windows CE based device is designed for a specific use, and often runs disconnected from other computers, or as part of a cluster of distributed front-end computers that communicate with a centralized host. Examples include enterprise tools (industrial controllers, communications hubs, and point-of-sale terminals) and display devices (HMI, advertisement appliances, and interactive panels).

The UC-7400-CE series, which includes UC-7420-CE, UC-7410-CE, and UC-7408-CE, will provide the standard Win-CE development environment consisting of the Windows C library, COM/DCOM, and MFC. In addition, the following development tools will also be provided:

Application Development Environment

• Moxa WinCE 5.0 SDK
• C Libraries and Run-times
• Component Services (COM and DCOM)
• Microsoft® Foundation Classes (MFC)
• Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework
• XML, including DOM, XQL, XPATH, XSLT, SAX2
• SOAP Toolkit
• Winsock 2.2

For network-centric, embedded applications, UC-7400-CE not only provides powerful communication hardware interfaces, including dual Ethernet and 3-in-1 serial ports, but also supports the networking and communications capabilities that are built into the WinCE 5.0 OS. The main features that are supported are as follows:

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): Monitors remote connections to the network.
• Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP): Client provides support for synchronizing the device's system time with an SNTP server, and supports Daylight Savings Time.
• Serial Communications: In addition to the 16550 UART driver bound to a debug port and the console port, a special driver for 8 additional Moxa home-made serial ports is also included.
• Network Utilities (IpConfig, Ping, Route): Utilities for troubleshooting various network problems are provided.
• TCP/IP: Includes IP, Address Resolution (ARP), Internet Control Message (ICMP), Internet Group Membership (IGMP), Transmission Control (TCP), User Datagram (UDP), name resolution and registration, and DHCP.

In addition to communication capabilities, UC-7400-CE embeds the following services and daemons. These common and easy-to-use application servers help users migrate the industrial communication applications to the UC-7400-CE embedded computer very easily and conveniently.

Supporting Services and Daemons

• Telnet Server: Allows remote administration through a standard Telnet client.
• FTP Server: Used for transferring files to and from remote computer systems over a network using TCP/IP.
• Web Server (httpd): WinCE IIS, offering ASP, ISAPI Secure Socket Layer support, SSL 2, SSL 3, and Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL 3.1) public key-based protocols, and Web Administration ISAPI Extensions.
• Dial up Networking Service: Consists of RAS client API and the Point to Point Protocol (PPP). RAS and PPP support Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) and RAS scripting.