TITLE:
IEC 61499 vs. 61131: A Comparison Based on Misperceptions
AUTHORS:
Kleanthis Thramboulidis
KEYWORDS:
Industrial Automation Systems; Industrial Automation Standards; IEC 61499; IEC 61131; Function Block Diagram
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Software Engineering and Applications,
Vol.6 No.8,
July
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: The IEC 61131 standard has been widely
accepted in the industrial automation domain. However, it is claimed that the
standard does not address today the new requirements of complex industrial
systems, which include among others, portability, interoperability, increased
reusability and distribution. To address these restrictions, the IEC has
initiated the task of developing the IEC 61499, which is presented as a mature
technology to enable intelligent automation in various domains. This standard
was not accepted by industry even though it is highly promoted by the academic
community. In this paper, it is argued that IEC 61499 has been promoted by
academy based on unsubstantiated claims on its main features, i.e., reusability, portability, interoperability, event-driven
execution. A number of misperceptions are presented and discussed in this paper
to show that the comparison, which appears in the literature, between IEC 61499
and 61131 is not substantiated.