First Technology Transfer

Standard and Advanced Technical Training, Consultancy and Mentoring

Industrial Embedded System Programming Courses

This part of the FTT web site is devoted to courses covering the use of inexpensive, high quality, open source systems in industrial applications. Additionally it contains a course covering the standard bus technologies used in embedded industrial and data acquisition applications.

Originally Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) were expensive devices realised using proprietary hardware and software. Ladder Logic Diagrams were converted into proprietary code running on proprietary firmware on controllers from companies such as Siemens, Mitsubishi and Allen Bradley. As PLCs were required to control ever more complex plant so it became necessary to develop higher level structured programming approaches to develop distributed industrial and manufacturing control systems. From these beginnings the IEC 61131-3 standard evolved. The aim was that code developed using this standard could be deployed on a wide range of controllers from different manufacturers.

More recently Ladder Logic programming tools have become available that can produce code that will run on relatively open source platforms such as Arduino and RaspberryPi platforms. Many companies are exploring the prototyping and development of testing systems as well as manufacturing, control and transportation system elements using boards such as the RaspberryPi and, also, Arduino boards. Furthermore industrial control components based on the Arduino and the RaspberryPi are starting to become available.

In response to customer inquiries for tailored systems and software development courses in this area FTT has put together a number of “industrial programming” courses covering PLC Ladder Logic programming and PLC Codesys programming