The project objective was to develop an innovative learning platform for PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) programmers. For that, we built a generic visual simulator of devices, systems, and industrial plants. The simulator is independent of PLC vendors. The developed platform consists of a conventional PLC, a special l/O-Adapter, and a PC. The visual system simulator contains a PC-software part and offers a number of training tasks. Major focus areas in this project were: a realistic simulation of devices and their physical characteristics, realistic behavior and the reaction of the simulator on the real control signals, as well as correct visual representation of real-time events and modulated low latency signals. Additionally, we provide special features like the possibility to induce simultaneous multiple failures and other plant malfunctions.
The SimuBridge project was granted by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) under the Central Innovation Program (ZlM) in cooperation with the company FELTRON Elektronik-ZEISSLER & Co. GmbH.