ENG_755245.XML
P_PCS7_XX_00375
The operator system of the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system allows easy and safe control of the process by the operating personnel. The operator can observe the process sequence by means of various views and intervene to control the system when necessary.
The operator system architecture is extremely variable and can be flexibly adapted to different plant architectures and customer requirements.
The basis is perfectly coordinated operator stations for single-user systems (OS Single Stations) and for multi-user systems with client/server architecture.
The system software of the operator stations can be expanded by cumulative SIMATIC PCS 7 OS Runtime licenses for 100, 1 000 and 5 000 process objects (PO) up to the following configuration limits:
- 8 500 POs per OS Single Station
- 12 000 POs per OS Server (with client/server architecture)
ENG_755247.XML
All Operator Stations are based on modern SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstations optimized for use as OS Single Station, OS Client or OS Server. The SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstations are suitable for use in harsh industrial environments and are characterized by powerful industrial PC technology combined with a Windows Desktop operating system (Windows 10 LTSC 2019) or a Windows Server operating system (Windows Server 2019) from Microsoft. Standard components and interfaces from the PC world offer generous scope for system-, customer- or sector-specific options and expansions.
The operating system and the following ES/OS software of the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system are pre-installed:
- Single station: PCS 7 Engineering Software for AS/OS including OS Runtime software
- Server: PCS 7 OS Software Server
- Client: PCS 7 OS Software Client
You only need the corresponding software licenses in order to use the pre-installed SIMATIC PCS 7 software.
Depending on the customer's particular requirements, you can equip an OS Single Station, OS Server or OS Client with optional hardware components, such as:
- Hardware and software components for redundant operation
- Signal module for audible and visual signaling of messages
- Smart card reader for access protection
- Multi-monitor graphics card for operation of up to 4 process monitors
- Process monitors for office and industrial environments
See section "Industrial Workstation/IPC" for ordering data and detailed information on the scope of delivery and technology of the SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstations as well as available options/expansions.
Single-user system (OS Single Station)
In a single station system architecture, all operation and monitoring functions for a complete project (plant/unit) are concentrated in one station.
This OS Single Station can be operated on the plant bus together with other single-user systems or parallel to a multi-user system. Redundant operation of two OS Single Stations (SIMATIC PCS 7 Single Station Redundancy) and their expansion with reference stations into a flat system configuration with up to 8 OS Single Stations is also possible.
G_PCS7_XX_00343
Example of a flat system architecture
Depending on the version (IE or BCE), the OS Single Station can be connected to the Industrial Ethernet plant bus via one of the following network components:
- IE: CP 1623 communications module (pre-installed in SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstation) for communication with max. 64 automation systems
- BCE: Standard Ethernet network card (10/100/1 000 Mbps) and Basic Communication Ethernet for communication with up to 8 automation systems (no redundancy stations)
Two 10/100/1 000 Mbps Ethernet RJ45 ports are always integrated onboard for use as desired.
The OS engineering is located as standard in a separate engineering system.
Multi-user system with client/server architecture
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Example of multi-user system
A multi-user system consists of operator stations (OS Clients) which receive data (project data, process values, archive data, alarms and messages) from one or more OS Servers over a terminal bus. The terminal bus can share the transmission medium with the plant bus or it can be designed as a separate bus (Industrial Ethernet with TCP/IP).
In this architecture, redundant OS Servers may be set up to meet higher availability requirements. Critical applications running on the OS Server are monitored by Health Check for software faults that may trigger redundancy failover. Synchronization of the redundant OS Servers takes place automatically and at high speed.
OS Clients can access the data of not only one OS Server/server pair, but from several OS Servers/pairs of servers simultaneously (multi-client mode). This makes it possible to divide a plant into technological units and to distribute the data accordingly to several OS Servers/pairs of servers. In addition to scalability, the advantage of distributed systems is the ability to decouple plant units from each other, which results in higher availability.
The OS Servers are designed in addition with client functions which permit them to access the data (archives, messages, tags, variables) from the other OS Servers of the multi-user system. This means that process displays on one OS Server can also be linked with variables on other OS Servers (area-independent displays).
Like the OS Single Stations, the OS Servers can be connected to the Industrial Ethernet plant bus using one of the following network components:
- IE: CP 1623 communications module (pre-installed in SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstation) for communication with max. 64 automation systems
- BCE: Standard Ethernet network card (10/100/1 000 Mbps) and Basic Communication Ethernet for communication with up to 8 automation systems (no redundancy stations)
Two 10/100/1 000 Mbps Ethernet RJ45 ports onboard can be used to connect to the terminal bus.
Data archiving
The OS Single Stations and OS Servers already include a high-performance archiving system, configurable in runtime, based on Microsoft SQL Server with cyclic archives for short-term archiving of process values (typically for 1 to 4 weeks) and messages/events (typically for 2 months). This may be combined with an external data archiving system for long-term data storage. The Process Historian offered in the section "Process data archiving and reporting" is available for this purpose.
The archive data can be saved on all memory media supported by the operating system, for example on a NAS drive.
