Hard real-time control on PCs

Hard real-time efforts appeared in many forms at NMW. [See also CE, April 1998, "PC-based Control Goes Real Time," p. 54.]Radisys' (Hillsboro, Ore.) exhibited its INtime real-time solution. Alex Doumani, general manager for embedded software, says semiconductor equipment, robotics, and other factory automation manufacturers are among INtime's users.

By Staff May 1, 1998

Hard real-time efforts appeared in many forms at NMW. [See also CE , April 1998, “PC-based Control Goes Real Time,” p. 54.]

Radisys ‘ (Hillsboro, Ore.) exhibited its INtime real-time solution. Alex Doumani, general manager for embedded software, says semiconductor equipment, robotics, and other factory automation manufacturers are among INtime’s users. The 2.0 version, due this summer, will incorporate networking. Mr. Doumani adds a summer push is also expected for using INtime to create hard real-time OPC (OLE for Process Control) servers for direct deterministic control of I/O devices.

TranSys Inc. (Gilbert, Ariz.) and sister company CJ International (Grenoble, France) state that ISaGraF may be the only control software available on two hard real-time platforms for Windows NT—Radisys’ INtime or VenturCom ‘s (Cambridge, Mass.) RTX4.1. ISaGraF is also available for use on the QNX Realtime Operating System from QNX (Kanata, Ontario, Canada).

ASAP ‘s (Chagrin Falls, O.) ASIC-300 is described as “the first family of scalable, distributed control object software for Windows NT and CE environments.” ASAP uses Phar Lap Software (Cambridge, Mass.) in its real-time implementation (See also CE , April 1998, News).

Cutler-Hammer/Eaton ‘s (Cleveland, O.) NetSolver 3.5 industrial control software for Windows NT uses INtime from Radisys. The package supports diagnostics and simulation via “Wizards.” Programming via flowcharts and IEC 1131 relay ladder logic is supported.