A Quick Overview of Automation Objects in Application Server

A project in Application Server consist of the configuration and assembly of automation objects. I will estimate that 99% of a Galaxy (that's how we call the projects) consist of these automation objects.

So let's take a quick look at the automation objects you get out of the box with Application Server (you can get more objects with other Wonderware products… or build your own with our toolkit).

Automation objects allow you to model pretty much anything related to your system in the project itself: computers, PLCs, equipment, etc..  Things like, in which computers the project is running, how alarms are distributed, and the relationship between the different pieces of equipment, is represented by either the configuration of the individual objects or the relationship between them in the Galaxy (project… try to keep up with the program).

For this, Application Server provides objects in three different categories:

• System Objects: These are what I like to call infrastructure objects. They represent the computers that are part of your system, how fast your project runs (different parts can run at different speeds), and the layout of your plant and distribution of alarms.
• Device Integration Objects: These objects represent the PLCs in your system; they are the means on how your Galaxy gets access to I/O from the field.
• Application Objects: Simply put: everything else. These objects represent from all the equipment you have in the plant floor to any specific runtime calculation(s) and connections to external systems (other than field devices).

All these objects are highly customizable and can leverage the power of the Microsoft .NET Framework through scripting for advance operations (if you're up to the game).

You can also build new Applications Objects (almost) from scratch by using our ArchestrA Object Toolkit.

Stay tuned for details on each one of these categories.