W-02
Vanderlande
Graduation Intern Mechatronics
Same company, different question. Vanderlande’s controls run on classic PLC hardware. New platforms promise to run control as software on normal IT infrastructure.
My graduation project: is that a good idea for them? I compared a Siemens platform that unifies control types against vendor-independent options, and tested what moving control from OT hardware to IT (Docker containers) does to deterministic behaviour.
- Feasibility study
- IEC 61131-3 ST
- Siemens vs vendor-independent
- Determinism on IT hardware
Fig. 1 — How it fits together
02What I actually did
01 · The question
Can a unified Siemens platform replace the traditional PLC architecture, and how does it compare to vendor-independent options?
02 · Build the test platform
Built the evaluation platform myself, in IEC 61131-3 Structured Text.
03 · Measure determinism
Ran the validation test plan: what happens to timing when control moves off dedicated hardware and into containers.
04 · Write it up
Results and a recommendation in the graduation report. Final grade for the degree: 8/10.
IEC 61131-3 STTIA PortalDockerDeterminism testing