【正文】 gh the hardware costs of PLCs are dropping continuously, reducing the scan time of the ladder logic is still an issue in industry so that lowcost PLCs can be used. In general, the productivity in generating PLC is far behind pared to other domains, for instance, VLSI design, where efficient puter aided design tools are in practice. Existent software engineering methodologies are not necessarily applicable to the PLC based software design because PLCprogramming requires a simultaneous consideration of hardware and software. The software design bees, thereby, more and more the major cost driver. In many industrial design projects, more than SO0/a of the manpower allocated for the control system design and installation is scheduled for testing and debugging PLC programs [Rockwell, 1999]. In addition, current PLC based control systems are not properly designed to support the growing demand for flexibility and reconfigurability of manufacturing systems. A further problem, impelling the need for a systematic design methodology, is the increasing software plexity in largescale projects. Objective and Significance of the Thesis The objective of this thesis is to develop a systematic software design methodology for PLC operated automation systems. The design methodology involves highlevel description based on state transition models that treat automation control systems as discrete event systems, a stepwise design process, and set of design rules providing guidance and measurements to achieve a successful design. The tangible oute of this research is to find a way to reduce the uncertainty in managing the control software development process, that is, reducing programming and debugging time and their variation, increasing flexibility of the automation systems, and enabling software reusability through modularity. The goal is to overe shortings of current programming strategies that are based on the experience of the individual software developer. A systematic approach to designing PLC software can overe deficiencies in the traditional way of programming manufacturing control systems, and can have wide ramifications in several industrial applications. Automation control systems are modeled by formal languages or, equivalently, by state machines. Formal representations provide a highlevel description of the behavior of the system to be controlled. State machines can be analytically evaluated as to whether or not they meet the desired goals. Secondly, a state machine description provides a structured representation to convey the logical requirements and constraints such as detailed safety rules. Thirdly, welldefined control systems design outes are conducive to automatic code generation An ability to produce control software executable on mercial distinct logic controllers can reduce programming leadtime and labor cost. In particular, the thesis is relevant with respect to the following aspects. CustomerDriven Manufacturing In modern manufacturing, systems are characterized by product and process innovation, bee customerdriven and thus have to respond quickly to changing system requirements. A major challenge is therefore to provide enabling technologies that can economically reconfigure automation control systems in response to changing needs and new opportunities. Design and operational knowledge can be reused in realtime, therefore, giving a significant petitive edge in industrial practice. Higher Degree of Design Automation and Software Quality Studies have shown that programming methodologies in automation systems have not been able to match rapid increase in use of puting resources. For instance, the programming of PLCs still relies on a conventional programming style with ladder logic diagrams. As a result, the delays and resources in programming are a major stumbling stone for the progress of manufacturing industry. Testing and debugging may consume over 50% of the manpower allocated for the PLC program design. Standards [IEC 60848, 1999。 Second， programming visual, simple。s PLCs don39。s being automated doesn’ t justify DCS[distributed control systems].With the starting price tags of those products being relatively high, a programmable controller makes sense for small, low loop count applications. The seconds where you have to integrate the loop closely with the sequential logic. Batch controller sere prime examples, where the sequence and maintaining the process variable are intertwined so closely that the benefits of having a programmable controller to do the sequential logic outweighs some of the disadvantages of not having a distributed control system.” Bill Barkovtz, president of Triconex, predicts that all future controllers that e out in the process control system business will embrace a lot more PLC technology and a lot more PLC functionality than they ever did before.” Communications and MAP Communications are vital to an individual automation cell and to the automated factory as a whole. We39。 software redesign and maintenanceessential in modern automation systemsbees nearly impossible. Particularly, PLC programs have evolved from a couple lines of code 25 years ago to thousands of lines of code with a similar number of 1/O points. Increased safety, for instance new policies on fire protection, and the flexibility of modern automation systems add plexity to the program design process. Consequently, the lifecycle cost of software is a permanently growing fraction of the total cost. 8090% of these costs are going into software maintenance, debugging, adaptation and expansion to meet changing needs [Simmons et al., 1998]. 3 PLC 英文資料 Design Theory Development Today, the primary focus of most design research is based on mechanical or electrical products. One of the byproducts of this proposed research