December 11, 2012 - KW-Software releases Safeprog 3.00 software for the programming of safety controls. Safeprog 3.00 now enables use of the IEC 61131 programming language Structured Text (ST).
So far, graphical programming languages have been state-of-the-art for programming safety applications. However, complex safety functions and numerical calculations in the field of mechanical engineering and process technology can be implemented much more clearly and efficiently with textual programming languages.
For the usage of Structured Text in safety technology, the language and functional scope supported by Safeprog 3.00 was reduced. This results in ST being deemed a so-called Limited Variability Language (LVL) according to relevant sector standards. This means users can implement safety applications with ST without having to go out of the sector standards, thus drastically reducing development and certification efforts.
The editor for entering the ST source text meets the requirements of modern programming environments. It includes amongst others auto completion or the display of formal parameter names of function blocks already during entry. A syntactic and semantic analysis during editing detects programming errors immediately and displays them.
The consistent and diversified architecture was strictly continued for Safeprog 3.00. The code creation for ST is also based on two diversified compilers. These create native runtime code for the safe runtime system Safeos, which can be processed with high performance on different CPU architectures.
Safeprog 3.00 as well as the parameterization editor Safegrid included therein are certified in compliance with the IEC 61508:2010 (Second Edition) up to SIL 3. Certification was performed by the Institute for Arbeitsschutz (IFA, institute for protection of health and safety standards at work) as well as TÜV Rheinland (technical inspection authority).
About KW-Software, GmbH
Based in Lemgo, Germany, KW-Software is a leading international provider in the field of software development for automation. As leading supplier in the industry, we have been developing software technologies for the global players in automation for more than 30 years. Our core technologies IEC 61131, Safety and PROFINET are being used successfully by our customers worldwide. KW-Software is a PHOENIX CONTACT company.