Computers have greatly changed our lives in the last few decades. In the industry, the computer also obtained the corresponding application, this is the industrial computer, also called the industrial computer. So-called industrial computer, simple, is the computer application in the industry, however, the development of industrial computer to now have not only in the industrial field, along with the electric power, metallurgy, petrochemical, environmental protection, transportation, construction and other industries, the rapid development of the digital home use set-top boxes, digital TV, to the bank teller machines, highway toll system, gas station management, manufacturing production line control, finance, government, defense industry such as increasing demand information, is a big demand for industrial control, industrial computer market development prospect is very broad. At present, China's industrial PC market size is about 20 billion yuan.

Qifei technology for many years engaged in the research and development of industrial computer production, industrial computer industry is also a well-known brand enterprise, in this brief analysis of the difference between industrial computer and ordinary computer and characteristics.

Different functional USES

Industrial computers are not used, it is mainly used for industrial control, testing and other aspects. A typical application of an industrial computer is to obtain external data through the standard serial port (rs232/485 and other serial ports), through the computer internal microprocessor calculation, finally through the display screen or through the serial port output, in this way, on the industrial computer, we achieve a process of calculation. Obviously, this is completely different from the entertainment, office and programming applications of ordinary computers.

In addition, industrial computers have different components. The different working situations of industrial computers inevitably lead to the different components and general computers. For example, industrial computer can have no display screen, can have a number of serial ports, its CPU is a special industrial control CPU, the system board area used is very small. All of these features reflect the differences in the composition of the two computers. Due to the harsh environment of industrial control, special components are often needed to form industrial control computers. For example, in some cases a wide range of operating temperatures is required, and many industrial computers are capable of operating at temperatures ranging from -20c to -80c. Other cases require more stable devices, such as those that resist strong interference. These characteristics are closely related to the use of industrial computers. Also be because of function multifarious, different industry computer also has different interface, commonality is poorer than common computer.

The software systems of industrial computers are different from ordinary computers. Industrial computer software system is relatively single, mainly to achieve a specific function, and because the industrial computer usually USES the speed is not very fast processor, making the programming requirements are relatively high. Industrial computers usually use simulation environment to develop programs and run offline. The average computer, on the other hand, has a large number of general-purpose applications, very fast processors, and software development systems that are completely on the machine, requiring no support from other environments.

Industrial computer interface

There are two sides to everything. Industrial computers still have more similar characteristics to ordinary computers. For example, although they use different cpus, these cpus are still the same product family with the same internal structure; The bus structure of the two kinds of computers is basically the same. Many industrial computers are simplified versions of general computers. And many industrial computers have the same or compatible interfaces as regular computers.

Below we take a data acquisition system as an example to illustrate the practical process of developing an industrial computer. First, we investigate the target we need to develop. Through this target, we select a typical structure of industrial computer, select CPU, peripheral circuit and so on used by industrial controller. Then select the simulator, debugger, PC developed the main control program. In the process of program development, it is necessary to design the program of signal acquisition, signal analysis and storage. Finally, we write the completed program into the ROM on the industrial computer, and then remove the peripheral simulator and debugging tools, so that a complete industrial computer can be put into use.

Now, the industrial computer has become one of the indispensable devices in industrial applications, it has the characteristics of the computer, also has the practicability of industrial equipment, will play an irreplaceable role in the future automation process.