Soft Devices: Control apps
In order to introduce the term Soft-Device, we need to begin with a bit of history and look at the way that input/output or I/O systems have been built for the past 50 years or so.
Soft-Devices are a game changer, but to understand them, we need to first look back at the old way. We have become accustomed to buying a computer peripheral and then installing a software driver that knows how to handle your new peripheral. Without drivers, printers would be much less capable. With an old-style I/O system or a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC or PAC), there is no concept of device.
Traditional PLC Wiring
When you want to hook up a common three-wire proximity sensor to your PLC, you really only hook up one wire to the PLC, the output of the sensor which is an input to the PLC. Or course, you have to make sure that you buy the right sensor (sourcing or sinking) and the right input module (sourcing or sinking). You hook up power to the sensor from somewhere on your panel and then hook up the one wire to your PLC. You then hook up a wire from your PLC to the power supply to reference the PLC to your power supply. All your PLC knows is that there is some input. The input could be from anything.
Soft-I/O Wiring
Soft-I/O is a very different product. First, Soft-I/O can be configured for sourcing or sinking circuits. There is no other hardware version to buy and stock as for a PLC or I/O card. Second, Soft-I/O provides the power for your device. The combination of these two capabilities makes it natural for Soft-I/O to now handle more of the device. For example, if you configure Soft-I/O for a dry contact switch rather than a proximity switch, Soft-I/O will give you the opportunity to de-bounce the switch. What’s that? Mechanical switches “bounce” when they close. Because Soft-I/O is such a fast input device, it will see the bounces as multiple transitions of the switch. You can put in 20msec as a de-bounce time, and Soft-I/O will “see” one transition.
Soft-Devices
So, Soft-I/O uses the concept of <strong>“Soft-Device”</strong> to handle physical sensors and actuators. What about actuator Soft-Devices? When you create a light bulb Soft-Device, Soft-I/O knows that you may want to flash the light bulb, so you automatically have those controls available.
A natural extension of the Soft-Device for physical sensors and actuators is to create Soft-Devices for non-physical devices, such as temperature controllers or integrators or even light towers. When you create a temperature controller Soft-Device, you are led through a very simple process or setting up the temperature sensor, testing it and then setting up and testing the heater. Once they are ready, you are led through the controller configuration.
Please check out our Data Logger Soft-Device. Our Data Logger has more features than most data loggers, and it is perfectly integrated with the other Soft-Devices. So, if you are sampling a thermocouple, you get the data file sampled in degrees C or F or K at your choice. The Data Logger “knows” about the other Soft-Devices. Looking forward, you will see an increasing number of applications on our website. We call them Soft-Devices. Others may call them apps. Whatever you call them, it’s the most powerful new model in the controls world since the PLC was invented more than 50 years ago. And it’s all made possible by the absolutely unique patented configurable input/output module, Soft-I/O!
You can find more examples over at our ever growing Soft-I/O Soft Devices.
