General thoughts: 1) Speed of calculation - PLCs tend to be slow at floating point (traditionally) and DCSs tend to be slower doing ladder (traditionally) 2) Speed of response - PLCs typically support event triggered actions using interrupts. DCSs tend to support logging of events at 1ms in their I/O, but the control cycle tends to be 100ms to 500ms. 3) Comprehensive solution - PLCs tended to lack all of the pieces for a complete system - HMI, alarm management, etc. and that had to be purchased from a third-party (Wonderware, Intellution, etc.). DCSs tended to be more comprehensive including all necessary parts. 4) Scaleability - PLCs traditionally did not scale well (on a single, integrated problem obviously you can buy lots of them) due to lack of peer-to-peer; DCSs generally scale to large integrated systems. 5) Control algorithm suite - PLCs were generally limited to LL (digital emulation of discrete relay control) and that is best suited for certain types of problems; DCSs typically focussed on control blocks (digital emulation of analog control) that best suits other problems. A corresponding question: Why did we move away from single-loop integrity in control? I believe it was because networks were expensive - each Linkport port in SPECTRUM was 2500 in 1981 and that's like 7500 today and the port only allowed 60 loops. The cost of networking stations is basically zero now and you are starting to see a move back to single loop integrity in FF's C-I-F. Regards, Alex Johnson Invensys Systems, Inc. 10707 Haddington Houston, TX 77043 713.722.2859 (voice) 713.722.2700 (operator) 713.932.0222 (fax) ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx For the latest information on ArchestrA, go to http://www.invensys.com/Archestra.html. -----Original Message----- From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ajay.Tathgir@xxxxxxx Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 11:52 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [foxboro] A Non I/A Query Hi! All I got a ludicrous question here folks. Though it has nothing to do with I/A, but this forum has some of the best brains around to put the answer to a query like this one, in right words. - Today we all know that any PLC can do PID control, any DCS can do ladder, - But still we all know that there are applications where we won't use DCS, and there are applications where we won't use PLC. Why ??? I will summarize... Thanks & Regards Ajay Tathgir Reliance Industries Limited Mumbai - India _______________________________________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________________________________ 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