DMC Hosts Webinar Comparing Competing Controller Platforms

Last month DMC’s Nick Shea presented a webinar in conjunction with Siemens Industry, Inc.  The topic, An Unbiased Comparison of the Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 and AB (Allen-Bradley) MicroLogix, drew an audience of over 400 registrants.

Nick’s presentation focused on providing an independent analysis of both platforms from both a technological and benefits-oriented perspective.  Its aim is to help customers weigh the tradeoffs of the platforms based on their specific needs, which can prove a daunting task in relation to electronic system architectures in industrial systems.

The presentation starts with a brief hardware comparison of the two platforms and then explores in more depth the development software and some common programming tasks for each platform.  Throughout, the webinar’s primary emphasis compared three aspects of these platforms: data memory management, the organization of programming routines, and connectivity of the controllers. While an independent analysis can be hard to come by, it is important for engineers and designers to analyze many factors in making informed decisions in choosing architecture and suppliers.

The concept for this webinar grew out of the recent emergence of the Siemens S7-1200 controller onto the micro-PLC market alongside the established MicroLogix platform.

“It’s impossible to be completely unbiased, but the process of creating this webinar instilled an appreciation for the capabilities of both platforms," stated Shea.  "In researching less common features, I learned about functionality of which I was not originally aware.  While these are ultimately two different platforms, they do many of the same things and feature common functionality by approaching it in different ways.”

Other topics covered include:

• Brief discussion on class of controllers, and models of controller hardware and software being analyzed
• GUI layout of each programming software and benefits
• Initial online connection strategies
• Hardware configuration and I/O configuration techniques as well as auto-detection capabilities
• Basic programming, including the organization of programming routines
• Management of data memory
• HMI integration/connection to other devices and other advanced features

To view the archived webinar presentation on-demand, please click here.

For related reading check out the article featured by Totally Integrated Automation as well as Nick's previous blog, Siemens vs. Allen-Bradley Function Blocks.