Mr. Brügger, what's new with your Spidercontrol software?

Brügger: We at Ininet have further developed our browser-based web HMI editor, which was introduced last year, into a framework for embedded web server-based applications.

What do the new features mean in practice?

Brügger: Until now, many manufacturers of automation components have supplied a PC application for programming and configuring their devices. With our framework, this is no longer necessary, as all tasks can be integrated into a web HMI with our Spidercontrol tool. This brings great advantages for both the manufacturer of the automation system and the user: for example, the installation and maintenance of PC software is no longer necessary. Users can also work with mobile devices and any operating system and benefit from simple integration into a cloud infrastructure.

What are the requirements for the tools?

Brügger: With previous HMI tools, you could draw simple masks or animated graphics without any problems, but users usually need more. For example, interfaces should be generated on the target system in a data-driven manner or users should be able to move, delete, edit or link objects. Often, data must also be able to be displayed in a suitable form in a definable coordinate system, whereby this data is generated during operation. On a PC, such applications can be implemented very well with a tool such as Visualstudio, as the freedom for programming is available. In a web-based solution, this task is divided into different layers and technologies, which in turn makes implementation more difficult. This is where the new Spidercontrol tool comes into play: all graphical components and objects that are to be used in the browser can be drawn and built using our PC-based PLC Edition editor. On the web server side, you can work with the typical embedded programming languages, such as C/C++, and program the necessary algorithms. Using Spidercontrol APIs, users can generate, move and modify the graphic objects from this code. Our web HMI editor presented at the beginning can be easily adapted to your own requirements in terms of appearance and range of functions in the same way and is very easy to integrate as part of the application.

What is the collaboration with the 'Revolution Pi platform' from Kunbus all about?

Brügger: Our web HMI editor is integrated as standard on the Revolution Pi and connected to the soft PLC from Logicals. This gives the user a fully-fledged IEC 61131 PLC including web visualization, which can be drawn directly via the web server. Visualization has never been so easy! As part of our modular philosophy, the user can also draw sophisticated HMIs with our PC-based editor, which is also available in a version adapted for Revolution Pi/Logicals. Ultimately, the Raspberry platform is suitable as a construction kit for implementing your own product ideas. This is where our technology comes into play, with which you can use a high-performance editor and visualization platform and integrate it into your own products with little effort.