featherlite ADS Interface

The ADS Interface package provides the components required to connect the execution control functionality of the featherlite core package with Beckhoff shop floor controllers using the ADS protocol on top of TCP/IP. The ADS Interface package provides all components required to connect to a Beckhoff PLC via TCP/IP, send and receive telegrams and map featherlite control events to PLC components. This component requires a Beckhoff PLC running TwinCAT version 2.9 or higher.

Benefits

• Portability - 100% pure Java guarantees platform-independence
• Ease of installation - client and server component plug-ins added to existing featherlite applications through configuration
• Ease of integration - ready-to-use user interfaces for existing featherlite applications
• Ease of development - configurable featherlite communication objects interface for shop floor integration
• Ease of configuration - configurable mapping of featherlite events to PLC components and vice versa

Content

In featherlite applications communication between execution control runtime components and shop floor controllers is handled by execution and confirmation policies. The ADS Interface server package adds execution policies and other components required to integrate the featherlite execution control flow with Beckhoff controllers. The package contains the Connection Handler with acceptors and connectors required to manage TCP/IP connections and the message exchange, converter and parser classes needed to map featherlite control events to ADS protocol-specific exchange data and protocol-specific core telegram classes. Using the ADS Interface server and client components, you are able to quickly implement applications that control complex processes on the shop floor (material flows, production schedules, and so on) using workflow modeling and featherlite execution control.

Usage

Communication between control applications and the shop floor PLC controllers is always project-specific. The ADS Interface provide a basis that allows the developer to quickly develop communication functions by focusing on the logical mapping. The execution policies shipped with the package can be extended by overriding the core execution policies and by configuring the logical mapping of control events to PLC components. On the other hand, the back-end infrastructure used to manage TCP/IP connections as well as the UI components to monitor, test and simulate can be used immediately.