Mini-DCS system programming in IEC 61131-3 structured text

A prototype environment called CPDev for programming small distributedsmall-distributed control-and-measurement systems in Structured Text language of IEC 61131-3 standard is presented . The environment is open what means that the code generated by the compiler can be executed on different hardware platforms. However, such universal code must be processed by an interpreter, another words by a virtual machine,an interpreter, another words by- a virtual machine, must process such universal code similarly as programs written in Java. The CPDev environment consists of the compiler, simulator and configurer of hardware resources (i.e. communications). They are developed in C# at MS.NET Framework 2.0 platform. CPDev is open allowing the user to create function blocks and libraries. External interface procedures (drivers) can be written by hardware designers and linked with the universal code. Free selection of data types required by different applications is provided. Virtual machine written in ANSI C is dedicated for a particular processor. So far the machines for AVR, MCS-51 and PC have been developed. Programming a mini-DCS system from LUMEL Zielona Góra has been the first application of CPDev.