Microsoft Windows NT Embedded

Woodward Industrial Controls

Solution Overview Industry In building its MicroNet and Atlas industrial control systems Industrial controls Architecture on Microsoft® Windows NT® Embedded and VenturCom Woodward’s MicroNet and Atlas RTX, Woodward is able to provide its customers with a products are Windows NT®-based control systems that run on a Pentium- much richer product, faster, at no extra cost. The shorter based CPU and include TCP/IP time to market and increased flexibility enables the connectivity. company to quickly customize its product for each Software Used Microsoft® Windows NT Embedded customer’s specific requirements. Microsoft Windows NT Workstation VenturCom RTX Services Used With facilities around the globe, Woodward Industrial Controls is one of the world’s VenturCom Inc. leading providers of control systems, components, and related services for large industrial prime movers, such as steam turbines, gas turbines, and reciprocating engines. Woodward produces comprehensive microprocessor-based systems that automatically control critical speed, load, pressure, temperature, and environmental emissions as well as operations and maintenance data.

“Our controls are high powered programmable logic controls (PLC) specifically designed to control prime movers,” explains Woodward software engineer Dave Peterson. “The specialized inputs and outputs, as well as the graphical programming environment are all tailored to the unique needs of our markets. We can define any control laws and sequential logic necessary for each application and run it on these controls.”

In the past, Woodward built its own CPU modules for scheduling and task switching that ran a proprietary, scaled-down version of UNIX, called XINU. “We wanted to get out of making CPU modules ourselves,” explains Woodward software engineer Mike Fanning. “We need to focus our strengths. Our circuit board manufacturing and stuffing capabilities can’t compete price-wise with high volume manufacturers. Pentium–based CPUs are available from several vendors and they’re a lot more economical for us. That value gets passed along to our customers.”

The first product to use the new platform was the existing MicroNet control. It is a VME-based system consisting of one or more VME chassis with a variety of I/O modules. The original MicroNet CPU design used Woodward’s proprietary XINU architecture for several years with great market acceptance. However, new feature requirements and the complexity of controlling low emission gas turbines forced a new CPU strategy for the MicroNet control.

After deciding to use a Pentium-based CPU, the Woodward team needed to choose an operating system. They evaluated several choices, including WindRiver, QNX, and Microsoft Windows NT Embedded operating systems, and chose the latter primarily for its built-in connectivity features. “The COM and the TCP/IP all came with the Windows NT Embedded operating system,” Fanning notes. “We used to have to write all this functionality ourselves. Microsoft Windows NT Embedded

“The COM and the TCP/IP all That’s one less thing we have to do now. of Windows NT are retained, including came with the Windows NT However, if a customer needs some the ability to run third-party applications. Embedded operating system. We other kind of networking protocol, we can used to have to write all this “We took the skeleton of the scheduler add that to the footprint. It allows us to functionality ourselves. That’s from our old system and remapped it make a variety of state-of-the art features one less thing we have to do. onto Windows NT Embedded with RTX to available to our customers,” Fanning However, if a customer needs give us the same functionality as a base some other kind of networking notes. from which to grow,” Peterson explains. protocol, we can add that to the The open development environment was footprint. It allows us to make a To mesh these two capabilities, another plus, according to Peterson. “We variety of state-of-the-art developers divided the application into functionality available to our can write our applications and do our two sections—a Win32® side and a real- customers.” debugging on desktop PCs running time side. “Anything that is required to Windows NT Workstation and get things Mike Fanning update in a fixed time is on the real time Software Engineer working, and then test it on our control side, which includes updates that must Woodward Industrial Controls system,” he says. run within 5 milliseconds,” Fanning says. Another big reason for choosing Examples of real-time operations include Windows NT Embedded was that they adjusting the fuel/air ratios and controlling could keep the entire software footprint— every aspect of engine operation. applications and operating system under “Everything else, any kind of the 72 MB that was available on the communications, anything that’s non- module’s disk on chip. deterministic, anything that’s user time “We were shooting for a footprint of about frame, is all on the Win32 side.” 30 MB for the operating system,” says Information that is gathered from the real- Fanning. “We discovered through time part of the application is made VenturCom that this idea of scaling available to other applications on the Windows NT was viable.” Win32 side, such as trending, monitoring, Another requirement for the applications maintenance, and operator applications. that Woodward produces is deterministic real time response—the ability of the Easy transition from old to new. system to make a dec ision or respond to In creating the Windows NT Embedded- an event in real time. They evaluated a based version of the MicroNet control, couple of products to work in tandem with developers were able to port over much Windows NT Embedded before choosing of the functionality of the old XINU VenturCom’s Real Time Extensions operating system. (RTX) for Windows NT. Once the porting was complete, VenturCom’s RTX adds real-time Woodward software engineer Dave scheduling to Windows NT, shortening Rubenthaler created a working footprint the determinism time resolution from the of the operating system in about three 5-millisecond or more range to 30 weeks so that he could start testing. Then microseconds. This ensures predictable, he and Fanning used the Target reliable behavior in systems with time- Designer tool to create a Windows NT critical response and enhances the ability Embedded runtime operating system that of Windows NT Embedded to do high- met their size requirements. speed data acquisition, motion control, and plant equipment automation applications. All the generic capabilities

Woodward Industrial Controls Microsoft Windows NT Embedded

“In the past, we would have “It took about three months to fine-tune it Using the Target Designer, developers developed a board that would go down to the 36 MB area and to create were able to create a working footprint of onto our bus and then we would some Component Definition Files, the operating system for Atlas in about a have written all the drivers. With introducing our programs to Windows NT day. Then they spent a month and a half Windows NT Embedded all we Embedded, to get it where we needed to fine-tuning it. “Target Designer is a very had to do was purchase a Profibus card that matches our be to sell it.” nice tool,” observes Fanning. “I like the requirements, along with the idea that you can add and subtract “There are a lot of features in drivers that run on Windows NT, components with ease through the use of Windows NT which our application didn’t and within a week or two we had a high level tool.” Profibus running on our Atlas need so we were able to take them out control system.” with Windows NT Embedded,” Fanning The new Atlas product takes advantage explains. “We only added the capabilities of the null video, keyboard, and mouse Dave Peterson Software Engineer that we do need, such as TCP/IP, the drivers in Windows NT Embedded to Woodward Industrial Controls Ethernet drivers, and the drivers for the create a headless system, without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.” monitor, keyboard or mouse.

The MicroNet control also employs Meeting customer needs quickly sophisticated concepts in their solutions, Part of the benefit of porting the MicroNet like the Component Object Model (COM), control to the Windows NT platform is Distributed Component Object Model that it enables Woodward to react quickly (DCOM), and Remote Procedure Calls to a customer’s needs. (RPC) functionality, which are natively supplied in Windows NT Embedded. “It opens up an avenue for adding major functionality like communications,” Extending the product line Fanning explains. “If we have a customer Woodward is in the process of that wants to synchronize all units with a developing a second version of the real-time clock card that grabs a signal product that, like the MicroNet control, from a satellite, that’s something we can uses a Pentium CPU board. Instead of look into now. We may only have one the VME format, this product, Atlas, is customer that wants that but it’s PC104-based. Atlas has fewer inputs and something that we can actually consider outputs and is designed for smaller prime and pursue,” Fanning explains. mover applications. It is a little bigger In another example, a customer asked for than an A-4 size sheet of paper and also a Profibus implementation on one of its can be expanded to six modules controls that enables devices from increasing it from about 3 inches tall to 6 different manufacturers to communicate or 7 inches. without a special or custom interface. “In Because Woodward wanted Atlas to be the past we would have developed a compatible with the MicroNet control, it board that would go onto our bus and used all the software that was being then we would have written all the developed for the MicroNet project and drivers,” Peterson says. “With simply added a different Ethernet driver Windows NT Embedded all we had to do and modified the way that it talks through was purchase a Profibus card that meets the bus to the board. Because Atlas uses our requirements, along with the drivers compact flash memory on the Pentium that run on Windows NT, and within a CPU, it also required the minimal week or two we had Profibus running on installation of Windows NT Embedded. our Atlas control system.”

Woodward Industrial Controls Microsoft Windows NT Embedded

An obvious advantage is that “Health monitoring and predictive Windows NT Embedded can shorten time maintenance is a key issue with many to market and reduce costs. Woodward turbine and engine manufacturers. As our can buy PC boards from large volume OEM’s move into these areas, we have producers much more cost effectively the ideal platform to help them achieve than it can build the few hundred it needs their plans,” Fanning says. The system For More Information each year. could monitor critical parameters and For more information about Microsoft send e-mail to plant maintenance people products and services, call the Microsoft Going Forward Sales Information Center at (800) 426- signaling them to maintain a certain 9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Fanning expects to continue to increase system or warning them when a part is Resource Centre at (800) 563-9048. MicroNet control functionality to meet its about to fail. This could potentially give Customers who are deaf or hard-of- hearing can reach Microsoft text customers’ changing needs. “With the the operation more uptime and help to telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) flexibility and tools included in reduce the cost of maintenance. 892-5234 in the United States or (905) Windows NT Embedded we can add 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please significant functionality in a very short Achieving the objective contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To time frame,” Fanning adds. In building its MicroNet and Atlas access information over the World Wide industrial controls on Windows NT Web, go to: Once Atlas is released, Peterson expects http://www.microsoft.com/ Embedded, Woodward achieved its it to follow a similar path. ultimate business goals which were to For information on Woodward Industrial Controls go to: The flexibility of Windows NT Embedded shorten time to market, increase http://www.woodward.com/ has opened the door to considering even functionality, and lessen its dependency For information on VenturCom go to: more inventive capabilities as time goes on its own manufacturing capabilities for http://www.vci.com/ on. One idea they’re considering for PC boards. future implementations is to enable each © 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights “We’ve always been a performance reserved. unit to be a Web server that makes Web leader in our field. With PC technology, This case study is for informational pages available to maintenance we’ve widened the gap even further. With purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO personnel, showing the diagnostic status WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, Windows NT Embedded, we can respond IN THIS SUMMARY. of the system. This could also make it much more quickly to customers’ needs Microsoft, Win32, and Windows NT are possible to service units over the Web and provide them with more capabilities either registered trademarks or from a centralized location. trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the without increasing the price. As a result, United States and/or other countries. The our customers are getting a much richer names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks product at the same cost,” Fanning of their respective owners. concludes. 0100

Woodward Industrial Controls