We are in the process of migrating one process units worth of controls operator interface from a "application enabler" to a Foxboro system. The existing controls are AB PLC5 based, and will stay that way for this migration. There are some fairly simple PID loops in this unit which are controlled by PID instructions in the PLC's. The existing operator interface for this has an "input field", and a "read back field" for each of the analog values for these loops that can be set by the operator (SP and CV). In addition it has some "increment/decrement" buttons, but they are implemented by sending a bit down to the PLC's and doing the actual change of value there. This part of the existing interface design does not work particularly well, and we plan on changing it to use the more tradition Foxboro "look and feel". That is having the buttons increment and decrement a variable in the Foxboro itself. In addition we plan on implementing a field located CRT operator station, which will communicate directly with he PLC's. This station should also be able to modify the analog values, and of course there is always the possibility of changing them from the PLC programming system. The problem we are having with this design is that we see problems with timing races here. The Foxboro needs to track, say the CV, as it is changed within the PLC, but yet the Foxboro needs to be able to read the current value, increment, or decrement it, and write it back to the PLC. As you can see this is fraught with timing issues. I thought I would seek the collective wisdom of this group, and see if anyone else had implemented something similar to this? If so how did you do it, and how well has it worked out? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. -- "They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin _______________________________________________________________________ This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html foxboro mailing list: //www.freelists.org/list/foxboro to subscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join to unsubscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave