In the automation industry, there is no single universal platform for creating software. Now we’re choosing between two powerful platforms from Siemens – one of the top manufacturers of ACS equipment and software, namely Simatic PCS 7 and TIA Portal. The difference between these two platforms every year becomes less obvious. Alexander Shapovalov, Vice Head of the Automation Systems Department at INFOCOM Ltd, talks about trends and practical experience in applying these software platforms.
The challenge for the INFOCOM LTD development team was the choice of platform. At the start of a new project to automate a manufacturing enterprise, the customer was still at the design stage and did not have strict requirements for the software. At the same time, the company has strong competencies in both SIMATIC PCS 7 and TIA Portal , so the decision on which ecosystem to build the architecture on required a balanced approach.
“A few years ago, PCS 7 had undeniable advantages — redundancy, ready-made libraries, convenient tools for quick design . But today, TIA Portal is practically catching up with it in terms of functionality,” notes Oleksandr.
In the last few years, the TIA Portal platform from Siemens has received additional functionality for working with yellow logic (safety logic – more stringent protocols, increased security requirements), redundant systems, and therefore can compete with such a long-known product from the same Siemens – PCS 7.
When to choose PCS 7
PCS 7 is a SIMATIC Process software and hardware complex Control System 7 from Siemens, which is used for complex automation and control of technological processes in industry. The system allows you to integrate the management of various enterprise processes into a single system, using ready-made libraries and standard SIMATIC software and hardware components.
INFOCOM Ltd, as a system integrator with significant experience working with the PCS 7 system (the first projects were completed in 2006 for the project at AzovElectroStal), unequivocally chose and recommended PCS 7 for managing complex processes and installations, system redundancy requirements, systems requiring the use of equipment and special program construction logic for the safe passage of all technological processes.
PCS 7 remains a powerful tool for classic industrial control systems processes where high development speed is required and “smart” field equipment with HART protocol support is used (the ability to transmit, in addition to measurement parameters, additional parameters for diagnostics, parameters for configuration).
In such projects, PCS 7 allows you to automate most actions — creating objects, control functions, graphical interfaces — conditionally “with one click of a button”. This reduces design time by 40–50% compared to TIA Portal , but requires significant license costs, because licensing here is quite complicated.
Strengths of TIA Portal
TIA Portal is an integrated software platform from Siemens for designing industrial automation systems, which combines tools for programming controllers ( SIMATIC STEP 7 Professional ), operator interface systems ( SIMATIC WinCC Professional This allows you to automate processes from controllers to networks, providing comprehensive automation
“In TIA Portal, you don’t need to license each element separately. You buy a controller and you work within its memory. In addition, we have our own library, which we can adapt to any object,” the expert explains.
New versions of TIA Portal and S7-1500 controllers already support features that were previously only available in PCS 7, including redundancy (including optical), yellow logic and advanced diagnostics. Siemens is also developing a new PCS Neo platform for process automation, using a similar integrated engineering concept and common design principles with TIA Portal , which may indicate the company’s gradual move towards a more unified environment.
What to choose for your own project?
Based on the experience of INFOCOM Ltd specialists – if the automation object contains a large number of specific mechanisms or requires individual libraries and the implementation of proprietary protocols – the use of TIA Portal will provide greater flexibility during project implementation .
PCS 7 is appropriate where all equipment is more standard and there is a strict time limit for launching the system without wasting time on manual configuration.
“We see that PCS 7 and TIA Portal are already almost equal in functionality to what our customers need. For most new international projects, customers are already choosing the TIA Portal platform to implement automation . It is not only a question of cost, but also of the evolution of the platform itself,” concludes Alexander Shapovalov.
The automation market is moving towards unified digital environments , where TIA Portal has every chance to become the basis for future generations of control systems. INFOCOM Ltd is actively implementing this approach, creating its own libraries and standards to provide customers with modern, scalable and cost-effective solutions.