SIMATIC iMap connects software components that are managed in libraries.

• Each technological machine/plant module is represented by a "software component" in the SIMATIC iMap engineering tool. This is represented graphically in the form of one or more software functions and a corresponding intelligent device.
• A "software component" and therefore a technology module is uniquely described with the inputs and outputs (component interfaces) and can be used in SIMATIC iMap more than once (reuse of library elements).
• The machine/plant can be structured hierarchically to any depth using subdiagrams.

Mode of operation

The procedure for creating and starting up a project using SIMATIC iMap is as follows:

• Creating "software components" for every machine/plant module
• Connection of the technological software components in the connection editor
• Configuration of the associated devices in the network topology
• Downloading the program and communication data into the devices

Creation of the software components

Each machine/plant module contains a separate user program that contains all technology functions of the module. From this, a "software component" is created that describes the module.

The "software components" are generated in accordance with the PROFINET standard in the device-specific programming environment of the device manufacturer (e.g. in STEP 7 in the case of SIMATIC). The result is an XML file that describes in full a "software component" and the associated data storage (including device dependencies).

Generation of components in STEP 7

The manufacturer of a technological software component will be able to program the PLC functions for a technology module in the same manner as before. The programmer writes the PLC programs using STEP 7 languages (STL, LAD, etc.) and only has to specify the technological interfaces of the software components using a data block (interface data block). A software component is then created in an interactive screen form in STEP 7 Manager. The data storage for the created software component is an XML file whose structure is defined by the PROFINET standard. The software component can then be imported into the library of SIMATIC iMap.

Configuring the communication using SIMATIC iMap

SIMATIC iMap is used to graphically configure the data exchange between the separate machine/plant modules.

The project engineer connects the software components together, configures the associated devices in the network topology and then the project is finished.

The engineer can test and monitor the communication between the devices in online mode. From the technical viewpoint, SIMATIC iMap offers the user the following advantages:

• Communication between the "software components" and therefore between the technology modules is defined in SIMATIC iMap by means of graphical connection. Programming knowledge is not required.
• Consistent data are generated for the communication from the engineering information and downloaded to the devices. Downloading of the communications relationship of the devices is performed over Ethernet and, in contrast to program downloading, does not require installation of the device-specific programming tools.
• All variables which are required for general data accesses, e.g. by the visualization or from the MES level, are generated automatically from the engineering information (OPC tag file).
• The entire communication of the machine/plant can be directly tested in SIMATIC iMap and diagnosed. SIMATIC iMap provides an overview of the network topology in graphical form for this purpose. The devices associated with the software components are shown here.

HMI integration

The user can access the data of the separate PROFINET devices simply by browsing from any OPC client application. For this purpose, SIMATIC SOFTNET S7 for Industrial Ethernet (containing the S7 OPC server) as well as the OPC server for PROFINET CBA (SIMATIC NET PN CBA OPC server) are required.