Inductive Automation Releases Update for Platform with New HMI and SCADA Capabilities

Inductive Automation’s flagship software, Ignition, is used for systems monitoring and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) over various components and operations on the factory floor.

One of the main features of this platform is its flexibility. While traditional SCADA requires third-party applications to view hard-to-read interfaces, Ignition software can be viewed on any device through a secure, web-based network.

 

Ignition Software Contonus Monitoring Features

Ignition software is designed for clients to access factory data through mobile or desktop apps. Ignition can be set up over cloud-based or local servers for continuous monitoring of industrial automation procedures and remote control by authorized users on a single platform. 

 

The interface of the Ignition 8.1 software. Image courtesy of Inductive Automation. 

 

Ignition software can be paired with equipment, components like pumps, valves, motors, and PLCs not partial to any brands for full-fledged diagnostics of a plant’s automated processes.

Ignition processes high volumes of information from databases and SQL and compartmentalizes it into health monitors designed by the factory’s diagnostics specialists. Ignition is capable of real-time data streaming so that industry operators can receive alerts on their phones and potentially reduce downtime in the factory.

Ignition integrates visual programming and drag-and-drop virtual modeling of industrial machines so that even minimally trained personnel can kickstart their monitoring programs. 

Ignition has a built-in library for specifications on virtual machine parts, including sensors, valves, and pumps. For more experienced professionals, Ignition modules can be created or modified with scripting in languages ranging from Python to C.

The platform’s presentation of continuous and discrete data through modular widgets on a single platform makes it simple for users. Widgets designed through Ignition can supply data monitoring from ad-hoc sensors and programmers can set alarms if oil levels become low in hydraulic equipment or if a pipe experiences a high-pressure rating. Overall, Ignition allows remote control by clients, operators, and plant managers.  

 

Ignition’s Latest Update Provides Industry Control from Any Work Station 

Now, Inductive Automation releases the latest version of its software, Ignition 8.1, for heightened scalability and improvements to its web-based security. The software’s long-term support release viability for up to five years. 

The version’s new features include a Perspective Workspace, known for its improvements to visualization and integration across all platforms and interfaces. 

 

Perspective work station capabilities. Image courtesy of Inductive Automation. 

 

Last year, Inductive Automation released Perspective features for responsive programming on mobile screens. The new 8.1 version has Perspective capabilities to deploy native applications to mobile, multi-monitor, and HMI screens. Ignition interfaces can also be deployed for viewing on any web browser.  

 

Digital Twin Capabilities

Ignition 8.1 also supports intuitive programming for remote monitoring and control of industrial machines through configurable digital twins. The new Prospective Symbols on Ignition 8.1 display pumps, valves, transmission lines, and other components as icons that can be dragged and dropped to their appropriate locations on a build screen. 

These are attached in a schematic through transmission lines to simulate real machines. The methods or functionality for these virtual components are built into Ignition’s intuitive programming library. The viable options for a machine component are accessed through drop-down menus on the programmer’s browser. 

Prospective Symbols can be animated so that a pump will move like a pump, a valve will move like a valve, and so on, on a digital twin. Industry leaders who already use Ignition will be excited to see which new features Ignition 8.1 brings to SCADA. Industry leaders who do not use Ignition can try a free trial and hire someone to show them the ropes.

Ignition makes data accessible through a variety of operating systems, including all versions of Windows and Macintosh.

Ignition is a unique platform for industrial designers to send continuous streams of real-time, organized data to their clients about their factory health and status. Users can set it up all in one platform. This may be useful for designers looking for an out-of-the-box solution to manage factory operations and reduce multi-sourced plant diagnostics costs.