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The Operator Panel enables interaction between humans and machines and makes the Human Machine Interface (HMI).
The panels usually include LCD display with an attached touch display, which replaces old fashioned HMIs with bulky push-buttons, levers, analog indicators, etc.
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Operator panels play an important role in the field of industrial automation and can be found on every factory floor. Besides the industrial automation, the operator panels can be found in other industrial sectors as well. they are gaining popularity in building automation and are inescapable parts of diverse vending machines, information kiosks, etc.
Design Challenges
Every market has its own specifics and poses special requirements on electronic equipment that must be satisfied by developers and manufacturers. One of the most distinguished requirements in the industrial market is a very long products' life time. Consequently, electronic components used in such products must be available through a long time.
Companies fought the silicon obsolescence problem in different ways. Some may choose to fill the stock with spare silicon parts that can easily remain unused. Others choose a development of custom made ASSPs that provide higher level of independence from silicon suppliers, but demands even higher investments than the overloaded component stocks. Some companies turn their eyes towards PC based industrial panels, etc.
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The graphics controller silicon is naturally a critical component in every graphics based operator panel. The selection of the graphics controller strongly influences the system's design at the hardware level, but its influences at the software level are even more important. Software level incompatible graphics controller replacing the obsolete part may be a worse choice than the full system redesign.
Programmable nature of AMD FPGAs and the concept of reusable IP cores make an excellent solution for the obsolescence problem. AMD, as the global FPGA leader, is a reliable source of the silicon. Xylon offers the
logicBRICKS IP library that allows for design of graphics controllers perfectly matched with industrial applications. The configurability of Xylon
logicBRICKS IP cores enables definition of exact graphics controllers' features set at the hardware level.
FPGA designs based on the
logicBRICKS IP cores are easily portable among different AMD FPGA families. It assures an easy migration path even to the future FPGA products, and significantly prolongs the life time of the graphics controllers based on the AMD FPGA and Xylon
logicBRICKS IP cores. Furthermore, software level compatibility between existing controllers and the future solutions can be preserved.
Operator Panel Demo Xylon logiTAP platform for embedded GUI developments comes preloaded with several GUI based demos. All demos are run by the same AMD FPGA device designed by AMD and Xylon IP cores. The demo FPGA design is open for evaluation and can be used as a base for further developments.
Read more about the logiTAP hardware platform.
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