Software

Most systems that we develop and deliver are based on the Windows operating systems - primarily Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server.

The core of our measurement and automation systems is a set of tools that we have specifically developed for real-time measurement and automation applications. The tool set is known as SFW and has standard interfaces to a wide range of automation systems and equipment using the OPC standard.

The main components of our systems are as follows:

• The graphical user interface in SFW or Delphi with options for trends and XY displays
• The processing & calculation engine using SFW with the ability to incorporate bespoke software written using COM-aware scripting tools and languages or C++
• The database - if required - in SQL Server, Oracle or Access. Simple log files are also available with options to export data to spreadsheets
• PLC-based control systems programmed with ladder logic and modern variants
• Web-based monitoring and control interfaces, for convenient remote supervision

More information about SFW here or click the icon to download a datasheet: (0.5MB Acrobat PDF)

User interfaces

Nearly all our projects provide a graphical user interface for both the configuration of the application and a runtime interface.

We use three main tools to develop interfaces: SFW, an in-house developed software toolkit (SCADA system), Delphi, the highly-respected development environment from Borland, and Flash MX, Macromedia's industry standard animation tool.

These tools enable us to prototype interfaces quickly and efficiently - often as part of our pre-sales activity so that clients can see and understand the type of system being proposed.

Fast data and real-time

Many of our projects involve dealing with data and events in real time, typically for data acquisition and control. Our software is designed to understand and deal with the time-related aspects of data, from stately one second measurements to high speed KHz data bursts.

We have extensive experience of interfacing to third party equipment. Systems frequently reconcile data from multiple sources into a real-time database, which is the basis of the application.

Database and reporting

Not all systems require a relational database back end, but for those that do we will integrate SQL Server, Access or Oracle as appropriate.

For reporting, we can export data to Excel or other third party applications or, where the requirements are known, provide a bespoke package - with configuration to provide flexibility.

Control and sequencing

Where PC-software control is inappropriate, we can supply PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) programmed using industry standard ladder logic (IEC 1131-3), for example Step 7 with Siemens equipment.

For PC-based applications we can develop control algorithms or specialist sequencers - these can be user-configurable, dependent on the requirement.