With the rapid improvement of industrial automation and the widespread application of computers in the industrial field, people's requirements for industrial automation are becoming increasingly higher. The application of a wide variety of control equipment and process monitoring devices in the industrial field has made traditional industrial control software unable to meet the diverse needs of users. When developing traditional industrial control software, if the controlled industrial object changes, the source code of its control system must be modified, resulting in a long development cycle. Furthermore, the reusability of successfully developed industrial control software is very low due to the differences between each control project, making it very expensive. Modifying the source code of industrial control software is even more difficult if the original programmer leaves due to job changes, requiring the collaboration of other personnel or novices. The emergence of general-purpose industrial automation configuration software provides a new method for solving these practical engineering problems. It can effectively solve the various problems existing in traditional industrial control software, allowing users to arbitrarily configure according to their controlled objects and control objectives to complete the final automation control project. New industrial automatic control systems are replacing traditional closed systems with integrated systems composed of standard industrial computer hardware and software platforms. These systems offer significant advantages such as strong adaptability, good openness, ease of expansion, cost-effectiveness, and short development cycles. Such systems are typically divided into three hierarchical structures: control layer, monitoring layer, and management layer. The monitoring layer connects to the control layer below and the management layer above. It not only enables real-time monitoring and control of the field but also plays a crucial role in data transmission and configuration development within the automatic control system. The hardware of the monitoring layer primarily consists of industrial-grade microcomputers and workstations, with a current trend towards industrial microcomputers. Configuration software is generally abbreviated in three ways: HMI, MMI, and SCADA, which stand for Human and Machine Interface, Man and Machine Interface, and Scan Control Alarm Database. Configuration software refers to specialized software for data acquisition and process control. These are software platforms and development environments at the monitoring layer of automatic control systems. They provide a user-friendly interface and simple operation through flexible configuration methods (rather than programming). Their pre-configured software modules can easily implement and complete various functions at the monitoring layer, and simultaneously support computers and I/O products from various hardware manufacturers. Combined with highly reliable industrial control computers and network systems, they can provide complete software and hardware interfaces to the control and management layers for system integration. Currently, many professional manufacturers worldwide, including specialized software companies and hardware/system manufacturers, produce and provide various configuration software products. I. Characteristics of Configuration Software The most prominent feature of configuration software is real-time multitasking. Multiple tasks such as data input/output, data processing, display, storage, and management need to run synchronously and rapidly within the same system. The users of configuration software are automation engineers, and the purpose of configuration software is to enable users to quickly develop application systems suitable for their needs. Therefore, configuration software generally has the following characteristics: 1. Simple to use; users only need to write a small amount of control algorithm code, or even none at all. 2. 1. Reliable operation: Application systems developed by users on the configuration software platform can run continuously and reliably for extended periods, requiring no maintenance during operation. 2. Provides drivers for data acquisition devices to collect data from the control field into the computer and send the calculated control results back to the actuators in the control field. 3. Provides components of general-purpose monitoring software required for automation application systems. 4. Powerful graphical design tools. II. Background of Configuration Software The concept of "configuration" only became widely known among process automation technicians with the emergence of Distributed Control Systems (DCS). In the continuous development and application of industrial control technology, the advantages of PCs (including industrial PCs) compared to previous dedicated systems have become increasingly apparent. These advantages are mainly reflected in: PC technology has maintained a rapid development speed, and various related technologies have matured; industrial control systems built on PCs have relatively low ownership costs; PCs have abundant software and hardware resources, and strong interoperability between software; PC-based control systems are easy to learn and use, and can easily obtain technical support. In the penetration of PC technology into the field of industrial control, configuration software occupies a very special and important position. Configuration software refers to specialized software for data acquisition and process control. It serves as a software platform and development environment at the monitoring level of automatic control systems. Using flexible configuration methods, it provides users with a general-purpose software tool for quickly building monitoring functions for industrial automatic control systems. Configuration software should support various industrial control devices and common communication protocols, and typically provide distributed data management and networking capabilities. Corresponding to the traditional concept of HMI (Human Machine Interface), configuration software should be a software tool or development environment that enables users to quickly build their own HMIs. Before the advent of configuration software, users in the industrial control field either manually or by outsourcing the development of HMI applications, resulting in long development times, low efficiency, and poor reliability; or they purchased dedicated industrial control systems, which were usually closed systems with limited options, often failing to meet their needs, making data interaction with the outside world difficult, and severely restricting upgrades and functional additions. The emergence of configuration software liberates users from these predicaments, allowing them to utilize its functions to build an application system best suited to their needs. With its rapid development, real-time databases, real-time control, SCADA, communication and networking, open data interfaces, and extensive support for I/O devices have become its main features. As technology advances, monitoring configuration software will continue to be enriched with new content. III. System Composition of Configuration Software In configuration software, a target application project generated through configuration occupies a unique physical space (logical space) on the computer hard drive and can be identified by a unique name, which is called an application. Multiple applications can be stored on the same computer. Configuration software accesses its configuration content by application name, opens its configuration content for modification, or loads the application into computer memory for real-time execution. There are various standards for the structural division of configuration software. Here, we discuss its architecture based on two standards: the working stage of the software and the composition of the software system members. Configuration software structural division ① Based on the working stage of the software, or according to the system environment, generally speaking, configuration software consists of two main parts: System development environment: This is the working environment that automation engineering design engineers must rely on to implement their control schemes and generate application systems with the support of configuration software. By creating a series of user data files, the final graphical target application system is generated for use in the system runtime environment. The system development environment consists of several configuration programs, such as graphical interface configuration programs and real-time database configuration programs. System runtime environment: In the system runtime environment, the target application is loaded into computer memory and put into real-time operation. The system runtime environment consists of several runtime programs, such as graphical interface runtime programs and real-time database runtime programs. The configuration software supports online configuration technology, that is, without exiting the system runtime environment, one can directly enter the configuration environment and modify the configuration, making the modified configuration take effect immediately. Automation engineering design engineers will first encounter the system development environment. Through a certain amount of system configuration and debugging, the target application is finally put into real-time operation in the system runtime environment to complete an engineering project. ② Classification by component composition: Because of its powerful functions, and the relative independence of each function, the configuration software is composed of an integrated software platform consisting of several program components. The essential typical components include: · Application Manager: The application manager is a dedicated management tool that provides functions such as application search, backup, decompression, and creation of new applications. When automation engineering design engineers use configuration software for engineering design, they often encounter the following problems: frequent backups of configuration data; frequent reference to configuration results (such as screens) from previously successful application projects; and frequent need to quickly understand which application projects are stored on the computer. Although these requirements can be met manually, it is inefficient and prone to errors. With the support of an application manager, these operations become very simple. • A graphical interface development program is the development environment that automation engineering design engineers rely on to generate graphical systems with the support of graphical editing tools to implement their control schemes. By creating a series of user data files, the final graphical target application system is generated for use by the graphical runtime environment. • The graphical interface runtime program loads the graphical target application system into computer memory and puts it into real-time operation within the system runtime environment. • Some configuration software only adds simple data management functions to the graphical development environment and therefore does not have a complete real-time database system. Currently, more advanced configuration software (such as ForceControl) has independent real-time database components to improve the system's real-time performance and enhance processing capabilities. The real-time database system configuration program is a tool for establishing real-time databases. It can define the structure, data sources, data connections, data types, and various related parameters of the real-time database. The real-time database system runtime program loads the target real-time database and its application system into computer memory and executes various predetermined data calculations and processing tasks within the system runtime environment. Historical data queries, retrieval, and alarm management are all completed within the real-time database system runtime program. I/O drivers are an essential component of the configuration software, used to communicate with I/O devices and exchange data. DDE and OPC Client are two common standard I/O drivers used to communicate with I/O devices that support the DDE and OPC standards, respectively. In many configuration software programs, the DDE driver is integrated into the real-time database system or graphics system, while the OPC Client usually exists independently. Extended optional components include: • **ODBC Interface Configuration Program:** This program connects the real-time database of the configuration software to a general-purpose database (such as Oracle, Sybase, Foxpro, DB2, Informix, SQL Server, etc.), enabling bidirectional data exchange. The general-purpose database can read both real-time and historical data; conversely, the real-time database can read data from the general-purpose database in real time. The ODBC interface configuration environment specifies the database structure, field names and attributes, time range, sampling period, and the correspondence between fields and real-time database data for the general-purpose database to be exchanged. • **ODBC Interface Runtime Program:** The configured general-purpose database connection is loaded into computer memory and, according to the pre-specified sampling period, establishes a data connection between the general-purpose database and the real-time database for the specified time range based on the configured database structure. • **Policy (Control Scheme) Editing Configuration Program:** This policy editing/generation component is the core software for low-cost monitoring centered on a PC. It possesses strong logical and arithmetic operation capabilities and rich control algorithms. The strategy editing/generation component provides users with a standard programming environment based on the IEC-1131-3 standard, offering four programming methods: ladder diagrams, structured programming languages, instruction mnemonics, and modular function blocks. Users are generally accustomed to using modular function blocks, configuring according to the control scheme. After completion, the system saves the configuration content and performs syntax checks and compilation. The compiled target strategy code can run on the same computer as the graphical interface or be downloaded to target devices (such as PC/104, Windows CE systems, and other PC-based devices) for execution. The strategy execution program loads the configured strategy target system into computer memory and executes various predetermined data calculations and processing tasks, while simultaneously exchanging data with the real-time database. The utility communication program component greatly enhances the functionality of the configuration software, enabling data exchange with third-party programs and representing one of the main aspects of the configuration software's value. The communication utility program has the following functions: It can achieve dual-machine redundancy hot standby for operator stations; it enables remote data access and transmission; the communication utility program can use various communication media or networks such as Ethernet, RS485, RS232, and PSTN to implement its functions. The utility communication program components can be divided into two types: Server and Client. The Server is the data provider, and the Client is the data accessor. Once the Server and Client establish a connection, bidirectional data transmission can be achieved between them. IV. Functional Analysis of Configuration Software 1. Rich Screen Display Configuration functions The configuration software should provide users with abundant and convenient drawing tools. Because large and medium-sized control systems require a large number of graphical screens, and these graphical screens are time-consuming and labor-intensive for developers, the configuration software should provide a large number of commonly used industrial equipment symbols, instrument symbols, etc., as well as trend charts, historical curves, etc. 2. Communication Functions and Good Openness The configuration software should be able to communicate downwards with the data acquisition hardware and upwards with the high-level management network. Openness means that the configuration software can interconnect with multiple communication protocols and support multiple hardware devices. Configuration software must be universally applicable across various industries such as metallurgy, power, and machinery, and must meet the diverse requirements of different measurement points. It must be adaptable to various measurement and control hardware devices. 3. Configuration software should be comprehensive and feature-rich. It should provide an industrial standard mathematical model library and control function library to meet the user's measurement and control requirements, rather than imposing fixed patterns on the user. The software should record, store, display, calculate, analyze, and print measurement and control information. The interface should be flexible and convenient, and data security should be considered, such as password protection. 4. With the widespread adoption of the graphical Windows operating system, Windows-based configuration software has emerged, greatly enriching the display screen of monitoring systems. However, there is a conflict between real-time performance, reliability, and multitasking. Systems that prioritize monitoring should choose the Windows environment. While DOS-based configuration software has weaker graphical functions, it offers better real-time performance and reliability. 5. Localization and hardware execution speed. Currently, most operators in Chinese enterprises require software with a Chinese interface that is easy to understand and use. With the improvement of hardware performance and the decline in prices... Developers should choose higher-end computers and large-capacity memory to adapt to the Windows environment and meet the process requirements of the control system for trend charts, historical curves, etc. 6. Scale of Control Points and Performance-Price Ratio: The number of control points to manage is an important parameter for evaluating configuration software. Large-scale control point systems require powerful graphical tools, rich menu commands, and comprehensive control point management. Large-scale configuration software is expensive for small and medium-sized systems, and small- and medium-sized configuration software cannot meet the performance requirements of multiple control points. V. Development and Current Status of Configuration Software In the late 1980s, due to the popularization of personal computers, PCs began to appear on the historical stage of industrial monitoring. At the same time, various data I/O cards based on the PC bus began to emerge. Coupled with the rapid development of the software industry, people began to research and develop general-purpose PC monitoring software—configuration software. The world's first professional software company to develop and sell configuration software as a commercial product was Wonderware in the United States, which launched the first commercial monitoring configuration software, Intouch, in the late 1980s. Since then, configuration software has developed rapidly. Currently, there are dozens of configuration software programs worldwide. Internationally renowned monitoring configuration software includes Fix, Intouch, Wince, LadView, and Citech. In the current field of industrial automation, monitoring software is a hot topic. Statistics show that in China alone, there are dozens of companies engaged in configuration software development, employing over two thousand people. Moreover, these companies are experiencing rapid growth and expansion. The industrial control configuration software industry is truly a vibrant and diverse field. VI. Development of Configuration Software in China Configuration software products emerged in the early 1980s and entered China in the late 1980s. However, before the mid-1990s, the application of configuration software in China was not widespread. The reasons for this can be summarized as follows: ① Domestic users lacked understanding of configuration software. Projects often lacked the budget for configuration software, or they preferred to invest resources in lengthy and cumbersome host computer programming development for specific projects rather than using configuration software. ② For a long time, domestic users' software awareness was weak. Faced with expensive imported software (early configuration software was mostly developed by foreign manufacturers), few users were willing to purchase genuine copies. ③ At that time, the level of industrial automation and information technology application in China was not high. Configuration software provided the ability to collect, monitor, and process large-scale applications and large amounts of data, and to generate management data from the processed results. These needs were not yet fully realized. With the deepening application of industrial control systems, when facing larger-scale and more complex control systems, people gradually realized the importance of the original host computer programming development method. For projects, this is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and not worthwhile. Meanwhile, the widespread application of MIS (Management Information System) and CIMS (Computer Integrated Manufacturing System) demands that industrial sites provide more detailed and in-depth data for enterprise production, operation, and decision-making to optimize various aspects of enterprise production and operation. Therefore, after 1995, the application of configuration software gradually became widespread in China. VII. Functional Characteristics and Development Direction of Configuration Software Currently, all configuration software can perform similar functions: for example, almost all configuration software running on the 32-bit Windows platform adopts a window structure similar to a resource browser and configures and edits various resources (equipment, tag quantities, screens, etc.) in the industrial control system; they all provide multiple data drivers; they all use scripting languages ​​to provide secondary development functions, and so on. However, technically speaking, the methods by which various configuration software provide these functions differ. From these differences, and the trend of PC technology development, we can see the future development direction of configuration software. 1. Data Acquisition Methods: Most configuration software provides multiple data acquisition programs that users can configure. However, in this case, the driver can only be provided by the configuration software developer or written by the user according to a certain configuration software interface specification, which places excessive demands on the user. The OPC specification, proposed by the OPC Foundation, is based on Microsoft's OLE/DCOM technology and provides a complete solution for software component interaction and data sharing in distributed systems. In OPC-supported systems, the data provider acts as the server, and the data requester acts as the client. The server and client communicate through the DCOM interface without needing to know the internal implementation details of the other. Because COM technology is implemented at the binary code level, the server and client can be provided by different vendors. In practical applications, the data acquisition program acting as the server is often provided by the hardware manufacturer with the hardware, allowing it to utilize the full performance of the hardware. The configuration software acting as the client can seamlessly connect with drivers from various manufacturers through OPC, thus fundamentally solving the problem of proprietary driver formats always lagging behind hardware updates. Simultaneously, the configuration software can also act as a server to provide data to other application systems (such as MIS). OPC is now supported by well-known international manufacturers including Interactive, Siemens, GE, and ABB. With the increasing prevalence of OPC-enabled configuration software and hardware, using OPC for data acquisition will inevitably become a more reasonable choice in configuration. 2. Script Functionality Scripting languages ​​are an important means of expanding the functionality of configuration systems. Therefore, most configuration software provides scripting language support. Specific implementation methods can be divided into three types: first, built-in C/Basic-like languages; second, the use of Microsoft's VBA programming language; and third, a few configuration software programs use object-oriented scripting languages. C/Basic-like languages ​​require users to write scripts using statements similar to high-level languages, using system-provided function calls to complete various system functions. It should be noted that most domestic configuration software using this approach does not have perfect script support; many configuration software programs only provide IF…THEN…ELSE statement structures and do not provide loop control statements, which brings certain difficulties to writing script programs. Microsoft's VBA is a relatively complete development environment. Configuration software using VBA typically utilizes the Microsoft VBA environment and component technology to implement objects in the configuration system as components, allowing VBA programs to access these objects. Because Visual Basic is interpreted, some syntax errors in VBA programs may only be discovered at runtime. Object-oriented scripting languages, on the other hand, provide object access mechanisms, allowing access to objects in the system through their properties and methods. They are easier to learn, master, and extend, but implementation is more complex. 3. Scalability of the Configuration Environment: Scalability provides users with the ability to add new functions to the system without changing the original system. These added functions may come from configuration software developers, third-party software providers, or the user themselves. The most common way to add functions is through the application of ActiveX components. Currently, only a few configuration software programs provide complete ActiveX component import functionality and the ability to access imported objects in scripting languages. 4. Openness of Configuration Software: With the popularization of management information systems and computer-integrated manufacturing systems, the application of production site data is no longer limited to data acquisition and monitoring. In the manufacturing process, a large amount of on-site data is needed for process analysis and control to adjust and optimize the production process. Existing configuration software can only provide most of these requirements in the form of reports or export data to external databases via ODBC for use by other business systems. In most cases, further development is still required. With the increasing information demands of production decision-making activities, it is foreseeable that the integration of configuration software with management information systems or leadership information systems will become closer, and it is likely that configuration software will appear in the form of modules that realize data analysis and decision-making functions. 5. Internet Support: Modern enterprise production has become increasingly internationalized and distributed. The Internet will be the foundation for achieving distributed production. Whether configuration software can transition from its original LAN operation mode to support the Internet is a crucial issue facing all configuration software developers. Given the current state of domestic network infrastructure and the extent of industrial control applications, the author believes that for a considerable period, monitoring industrial sites via the Internet using a browser will remain largely confined to the surveillance stage. Actual control functions should be implemented using more stable technologies, such as dedicated remote clients, ActiveX controls provided by professional developers, or Java technology. 6. Control Functions of Configuration Software With the increasing sophistication of automatic control integration systems centered on industrial PCs and the growing proficiency of engineers in using configuration software, users' requirements for configuration software are no longer primarily focused on the interface. Instead, they are considering substantive application functions, such as software PLCs and advanced process control strategies. Software PLC products are control devices based on the open architecture of PCs. They possess the functionalities, reliability, speed, and fault finding capabilities of hardware PLCs. Using software technology, a standard industrial PC can be transformed into a full-featured PLC process controller. Soft PLCs integrate the functions of computer and PLC, including digital control, analog control, mathematical operations, numerical processing, and communication networks. Through a multi-tasking control core, they provide a powerful instruction set, fast and accurate scan cycles, reliable operation, and an open architecture that can connect to various I/O systems and networks. Therefore, it can be said that soft PLCs offer the same functionality as hardware PLCs while possessing the advantages of a PC environment. Currently, internationally influential products include: ISaGRAF software package from CJ International (France), WinPLC from PCSoft International, Paradym-31 from WizdomControlIntelligentization (USA), ProcessSuite from Moore Process Automation Solutions (USA), InControl from WonderwareControls (USA), and SoftPLC from SoftPLC. Currently, there are no domestically produced configuration software products for soft PLCs. For domestic configuration software to surpass its foreign competitors, it must innovate and launch products with similar functionality. With the increasing demands for high flexibility and efficiency from enterprises, control schemes based on classical control theory are no longer adequate. Following the emergence and successful application of advanced control strategies, such as multivariable predictive control (MPC), advanced process control (APC) has garnered widespread attention in the process industry. APC refers to a class of operational and control strategies implemented in dynamic environments, based on models and leveraging computer capabilities, to maximize the theoretical benefits for the plant. Major advanced control strategies include: dual control and valve position control, pure time delay compensation control, decoupling control, adaptive control, differential control, state feedback control, multivariable predictive control, inference control and soft sensor technology, and intelligent control (expert control, fuzzy control, and neural network control), with intelligent control becoming a hot topic in development and application. Currently, many large domestic enterprises are investing heavily in implementing advanced control in their plant automation systems. Many international control software companies and DCS vendors are also competing to develop engineering software packages for advanced and optimized control. According to reports, an ethylene plant invested $1.63 million in advanced control, with expected annual benefits of $6 million after completion. As can be seen from the above, configuration software that can embed advanced control and optimized control strategies will undoubtedly be welcomed by users. [b]VIII. Conclusion [/b] User demands drive continuous technological progress, and this trend is particularly evident in configuration software. Future configuration software will be an open system that provides more powerful configuration functions in a distributed environment, fully supports ActiveX, has strong scalability, supports industry standards such as OPC, has strong control functions, and can be accessed via the Internet.