Rockwell Automation Industrial Automation Solutions Rely on Windows Embedded

Windows Embedded Drives Productivity and Performance The information-based factory of the future is becoming a reality today. Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information, is teaming with Microsoft to develop information solutions that help make production lines smarter and more efficient. The Windows Embedded family of operating systems provides Rockwell Automation with a rock-solid, high-performance software platform for running a broad range of connected, smart devices and applications. Together, Rockwell Automation and Microsoft are helping manufacturers compete in the global economy with more productive operations.

“Our industrial automation customers ‘tasted the sugar’ of Windows Embedded and decided they wanted the best of both worlds – high performance computers with protected operating systems, long term support commitments, and low IT support costs.”Shoshana Wodzisz, business manager, Industrial Computers and Monitors, Rockwell Automation

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Industrial Automation

Customer ProfileRockwell Automation is the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information.

Business SituationManufacturing plants require smart devices with excellent reliability, industry-leading performance, and end-to-end enterprise connectivity.

SolutionRockwell Automation uses Windows Embedded operating systems to run a wide variety of industrial automation devices and applications.

Benefits Stability and reliability Real-time performance Factory floor to datacenter

connectivity Product innovation

PanelView Plus 1250 Operator Interface - Bulletin 2711P

SituationWith 2009 annual sales of $4.3 billion, Rockwell Automation is a global leader in industrial automation power, control and information solutions. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs about 19,000 people and serves customers in more than 80 countries.

Many Rockwell Automation products are designed to support Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications and systems. These devices include Allen-Bradley® PanelView™ Plus Electronic Operator Interface terminals and Rockwell Automation Industrial Computers, which are typically deployed in factory floor environments that may potentially have high heat, humidity, contamination, or vibration. Rockwell Automation Industrial Computers are also deployed in air-conditioned factory control rooms with less extreme environments.

Rockwell Automation has a common set of technical requirements across all of these industrial automation solutions.

“Reliability is the number one issue for our customers,” says Shoshana Wodzisz, business manager, Industrial Computers and Monitors, Rockwell Automation. “Production line downtime is extremely costly for manufacturers, so every component of our product is rock-solid, from the hardware to the operating system to the applications.”

Performance is another key issue. Some applications require stable real-time support for X86 and RISC microprocessors, while other devices require fast performance with a locked-down operating system.

On the backend, Rockwell Automation industrial solutions must connect to the customer’s enterprise IT infrastructure, which requires the latest built-in networking and security technologies.

“Our customers want end-to-end connectivity—from the data collecting sensors, data concentrators, and other smart devices on factory floors, to the server-based business intelligence applications in IT datacenters like Enterprise

Resource Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning,” says Wodzisz.

SolutionTo meet the business and technical requirements of its industrial automation solutions, Rockwell Automation has selected two platforms from the Windows Embedded family, a full line of embedded operating systems (OS), which includes Windows Embedded CE and Windows Embedded Standard.

Allen-Bradley PanelView Component, PanelView Plus and PanelView Plus CE are a family of HMI products that use Windows Embedded CE.

Windows Embedded CE is a componentized OS, allowing Rockwell Automation developers to tailor the OS image from the ground up, including only the specific features required to run an application. The minimized OS footprint is well-suited for memory-limited platforms, and helps to ease security and maintenance concerns.

“Our engineering group has been developing on Windows Embedded CE since the late 1990’s,” says Joe Fedorczak, senior project embedded software engineer, Rockwell Automation. “Back then customers wanted to run our popular Win32 HMI desktop applications on industrial terminals. So, we partnered with a design shop to develop a RISC-based Windows Embedded CE platform that facilitated a port of the PC-based Windows application.”

“Ultimately, we embraced Windows Embedded CE for the entire Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus product family and brought all development in-house,” says Fedorczak. “You cannot

“Reliability is the number one issue for our customers. Production line downtime is extremely costly for manufacturers, so every component of our product is rock-solid, from the hardware to the operating system to the applications.”Shoshana Wodzisz, business manager, Industrial Computers and Monitors, Rockwell Automation

find better tools in the industry, and the Win32 API provides a consistent and widely-known model for application development.”

Rockwell Automation is currently upgrading its PanelView Plus X86 to Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 to help gain more addressable memory space, increase performance, offer the ability to add new printer drivers after installation, provide additional file viewers, and allow for multi-language switching.

“HMI operators on the plant floor frequently need access to schematics, datasheets, manuals, and other text and graphics based documents,” says Fedorczak. “Windows Embedded CE is a very rich operating system with a wide range of file viewers as well as a media player for viewing training or repair videos. Using any other embedded operating system would require lots of complex third-party viewer integrations, making it more complicated and costly to implement.”

In addition to running Windows Embedded CE, the Rockwell Automation family of Integrated Display Computers and Compact Non-Display Computers all run on Windows Embedded Standard 2009.

Windows Embedded Standard is a fully componentized version of Windows. It helps Rockwell Automation developers to build advanced industrial automation devices to run thousands of existing Windows applications and drivers. Windows Embedded Standard includes Silverlight, .NET Framework 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, RDP 6.1 and Network Access Protection.

“Our industrial automation customers ‘tasted the sugar’ of Windows Embedded and decided they wanted the best of both worlds – high performance computers with protected operating systems, long term support commitments, and low IT support costs,” says Wodzisz.

BenefitsWindows Embedded technology delivers important benefits to Rockwell Automation. These benefits include reliability, interoperability, innovation, confidence in and familiarity with Windows, and Microsoft’s long-term commitments to Windows Embedded products and support.

Mission-critical Reliability Rockwell Automation product managers singled out Enhanced Write Filter (EWF) and Hibernate Once Resume Many (HORM) capabilities as key technologies in Windows Embedded Standard.

“EWF/HORM allows for a rapid reboot and return to the same hibernated image over and over again, which has major benefits for our customers,” says Chris Mason, hardware engineer, Rockwell Automation. “It protects the flash drive from physical wear and reboots the system quickly to a known state. EWF/HORM can sometimes reduce costs by eliminating an Uninterruptible Power Supply. It also lowers support costs because the computer can simply be rebooted if an image gets corrupted, instead of IT personnel needing to re-install system software.”

Wodzisz elaborates on the value of these technologies for Rockwell Automation customers: “Windows Embedded Standard utilities like EWF and HORM provide real value to users. These benefits include lower IT costs, added protection to solid state drives, and quick machine start-up times.”

Connectivity and InteroperabilityIndustrial automation information systems are part of the larger enterprise infrastructure, so connectivity and interoperability are critical to Rockwell Automation customers. From a customer perspective, Windows Embedded CE and Windows Embedded Standard work seamlessly together.

“Windows Embedded CE is a very rich operating system with a wide range of file viewers as well as a media player for viewing training or repair videos. Using any other embedded operating system would require lots of complex third-party viewer integrations, making it far more complicated and costly to implement.” Joe Fedorczak, senior project embedded software engineer, Rockwell Automation

The Windows Embedded product family supports a vast range of connectivity technologies, such as Remote NDIS (RNDIS), a driver framework designed to help support a wide variety of networking devices across USB and IEEE 1394.

“Windows also helps us keep up with the challenges of connectivity at the device level with plug-and-play,” Wodzisz says. “The ease of sourcing and installing drivers makes it possible to add on new peripherals and expand systems, which is important to customers who want to extend the life of equipment and connect to new devices on the market.”

Security Patching Industrial automation systems have strict control rules. “Helping customers meet regulations is part of our mission,” says Wodzisz. “All security patches and service pack updates are pre-tested by Rockwell Automation before they go to customer sites and then customers patch the locked-down OS images. “

Familiar User FriendlinessAll of the Rockwell products feature the user friendliness and familiarity of the Windows desktop, a significant benefit for its customers.

“Windows is everywhere and Windows-platform skill sets are ubiquitous,” says Wodzisz. “The look and feel of our products is based on the usability that Windows brings. Plus, our customers’ application development resources are already experienced in tools such as Visual Studio.”

Innovation

By providing a solid foundation, Windows Embedded supports the Rockwell Automation development of innovative devices. Rockwell Automation can focus on creating devices with differentiated features that help meet their customers’ needs.

“Windows Embedded CE supports X86 and RISC processors, which gives us the flexibility to leverage a common platform design over multiple products for different price-performance levels.” says Fedorczak. In another example, National Language Support (NLS) is a Windows Embedded CE component for internationalizing products for global markets.

Fedorczak says, “NLS ensures that information displays according to local conventions for time, date, currency, and how numbers are presented with separators and commas.”

Rockwell Automation Industrial Computer product managers are looking forward to future innovations based on Windows Embedded Standard 7.

“We plan to explore the potential benefits of Windows Embedded Standard 7 as demand evolves among our industrial automation customers,” says Wodzisz.

Keywords: Automation Devices; Control/Automation

Windows EmbeddedWindows Embedded is a high-performance and highly reliable platform used by innovative OEMs to deliver devices that stand out through rich user experiences and seamless connections to the world of Windows. The Windows Embedded family of products includes Windows Embedded CE, Windows Embedded Standard, Windows Embedded Enterprise, Windows Embedded POSReady, Windows Embedded Server and Windows Embedded Automotive.

For more information visit:www.microsoft.com/embedded

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Rockwell Automation products and services visit the Web site at: www.rockwellautomation.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published April 2010

Software and Services Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Windows Embedded Standard

2009

Hardware Rockwell Automation Industrial

Computers – 6181F, 6155F PanelView Plus, PanelView Plus CE PanelView Component