Hi everyone,
I am an MSc student working on a dissertation project about Decentralized Autonomous Manufacturing. My goal is to create a “Fault-Resilient” factory where I have 3 separate PLCs controlling different stations. If one PLC fails, the others detect the failure and reroute the production autonomously.
I am planning to use TIA Portal for the logic and Simumatik for the physical twin. Before I start the heavy development, I wanted to double-check the best setup with this community to avoid compatibility issues later.
Could you please help me with these specific questions?
1. Recommended Software Versions I am planning to use TIA Portal V19. Which version of PLCSIM Advanced is currently the most stable for the Simumatik Gateway?
- Should I stick to PLCSIM Advanced V6.0, or does the Gateway fully support the newer V7.0/V8.0 without API errors?
2. Communication Protocol (OPC UA vs. API) I keep hearing about OPC UA.
- In simple terms, is OPC UA better for connecting TIA Portal to Simumatik for a multi-PLC setup, or should I just stick to the standard S7 / PLCSIM API connection?
- Does OPC UA add too much latency (lag) for a real-time “Self-Healing” simulation?
3. Enabling the Connection If I do use OPC UA (or the PLCSIM API), what are the exact steps to enable it?
- In TIA Portal: Do I just check “Allow PUT/GET” and “Support Simulation,” or do I need to activate a specific “OPC UA Server” license/box in the CPU settings?
- In Simumatik: How do I point the Gateway to look for 3 separate PLC IP addresses (e.g., 192.168.0.1, 0.2, 0.3) at the same time?
4. Project Feasibility Has anyone here successfully simulated 3 concurrent PLCs talking to one Simumatik system? Are there any known performance bottlenecks I should be aware of (e.g., should I increase the cycle time monitoring)?
Thanks in advance for your help!
these question are asked by me but used ai to make beter as english is not my first language