Data exchange between electrical wiring and control software

The ability to ensure a seamless flow of information between different systems is also a key driver in the digital transformation of manufacturing on the journey to Industry 4.0.

Consistency of information throughout the engineering, integration, maintenance and ongoing lifecycle management phases of a project improve quality and reduce costs. Frequently, the exchange of information between various engineering disciplines is carried out manually, which is both time consuming and introduces the possibility of errors.

Implementing a universal interface for the automatic exchange of data between software environments ensures consistency of information throughout the lifecycle of a project and fulfils today’s requirements to shorten time to market.

As an example, with an integrated AutomationML interface in Mitsubishi Electric’s iQ Works software suite, data can be seamlessly exchanged bidirectionally with ECAD tools that also have an AutomationML interface. The implementation has been built on the AutomationML document 'Application Recommendations: Automation Project Configuration.'

Showing this in practice, Mitsubishi Electric has worked with e‑F@ctory Alliance partner Eplan to implement data exchange of hardware configurations, I/O tags and network configurations between iQ Works and Eplan Electric P8 using the open standard. This interface ensures interoperability all the way from first design, through engineering processes and commissioning and on through the whole lifecycle management of the automation system.

Mitsubishi Electric is one of the first automation solution providers that has implemented the AutomationML interface with ECAD tools in a commercial product. Furthermore, as an active member of the AutomationML Association, Mitsubishi Electric is contributing to the further development of this open data format.