COPA-DATA presents its HMI/SCADA software zenon at the SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2011, for the first time with comprehensive Multi-touch support. The operating of touch panels with several fingers simultaneously offers numerous advantages for the user: usability is improved, thus making daily use more efficient. At the same time, the Multi-touch technology allows for maximum security in industrial applications.
Multi-touch control concepts are making strong advances into industry and manufacturing. More and more machine and plant engineers require Multi-touch solutions from both hardware and software suppliers. The consumerization of IT, and Multi-touch support in Windows 7, are pushing this development and increasing the demand further still. COPA-DATA is one of the first suppliers able to comprehensively implement this technology in a HMI/SCADA solution. It is presenting its software zenon with full Multi-touch support at this years` SPS/IPC/DRIVES trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany.
“With the increased use of smartphones and tablet-PCs, Multi-touch has already become a trusted form of technology and can also offer many advantages outside of IT. We have intensively addressed and redefined the technology so that Multi-touch is also perfectly suitable for machine operation in industrial applications”, explains Thomas Punzenberger, COPA-DATA’s CEO. “First inquiries from machine manufacturers in this area confirm our thoughts. Usability is an important success factor for our customers and a modern, intuitive control concept is an essential part of this. We recognized this demand early on and have already integrated Multi-touch functions in zenon.”
The HMI/SCADA solution, zenon, can fully recognize and process touch movements involving various contact points. Among these standard touch gestures are tap, swipe and zoom movements. These can be used directly in zenon. With this, zenon allows the user to comfortably page through function overviews, lists, directories and documentation. Users can also very easily navigate in display pages as well as overview and process screens. Screens can be easily moved, and display screens enlarged or reduced as needed. Thanks to the open interfaces it is also possible to define individual touch gestures which then trigger predefined actions. Hence, the user can, for example, place a tick on the screen to acknowledge an alarm and with that confirm the action. With the input of an S, for example, they are brought directly back to the start screen.
Thanks to Multi-touch the navigation structure within projects is easier to manage by replacing menus and submenus with so called docks. This is achieved by a toolbar which evenly arranges the central symbols of a project enabling speedy access to the most important screens or applications. The symbols can be arranged as required within a dock using the drag and drop capabilities of Multi-touch. The user can achieve a simple overview across the entire dock by scrolling. The objective function can be reached more quickly than before, thus reducing search time.
The drag and drop capabilities can also be used in process and overview screens. The user can put them together on the HMI according to their individual requirements. It is therefore possible to bring a standard process screen out of a menu and to position it at a particular point on another screen. This configuration can also be saved: enabling the user to find his personal, individual work space at their next login.
Users of the Multi-touch technology profit from better usability, an optimum overview on the HMI and intuitive handling. Efficiency in the handling of the machines and plants is greatly improved. Professionals – as well as new or inexperienced employees – can work with zenon quickly, easily and with little training work with zenon, thanks to the Multi-touch technology.
Particularly important in industrial applications: users must use an additional button for unlocking commands when making safety critical actions. Thanks to this two-handed operation it is ensured that unwanted touches don’t result in an operation to switch or change values. In addition, the login process is simplified as users can authenticate and register via a gesture-based login.
