The IEC 61499 Function Block Standard: Software Tools and Runtime Platforms

"The IEC 61499 Function Block Standard: Software Tools and Runtime Platforms"

A paper by:

• JAMES H. CHRISTENSEN Holobloc Inc, Cleveland Heights, OH USA
• THOMAS STRASSER AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna AT
• ANTONIO VALENTINI O3neida Europe, Padova IT
• VALERIY VYATKIN University of Auckland, NZ
• ALOIS ZOITL Technical University of Vienna, AT

Paper available at:

• http://www.holobloc.com/papers/iec61499/61499_SWT_RTP.pdf

KEYWORDS: IEC 61499, function blocks, technology adoption, O 3neida, software tools, runtime platforms

After a short description of the most relevant attributes and requirements for a IEC 61499 compliant tool, the paper describes some known tool  and software platforms available at the date, namely:

• FBDK
• ISaGRAF Workbench
• 4DIAC­-IDE
• nxtSTUDIO
• FBRT
• ISaGRAF Runtime
• FORTE
• nxtRT61499F

A set of tables compares the tools in terms of reciprocal Portability, Configurability, Interoperability.

A final note illustrates the requirements for future development of IEC 61499 compliant open systems.