How do you choose the best simulation software for your industrial automation project?

When choosing simulation software for your industrial automation project, consider the following factors: ?Features: Look for essential functionalities, such as real-time simulation, 3D visualisation, and support for various robot models. ?User Experience: Assess the user interface and ease of use, especially for team members with varying skill levels. ?Scalability: Choose software that can grow with your project, accommodating future upgrades and additional features. ?Community and Support: Opt for software with a strong user community and reliable customer support for troubleshooting and guidance.

Selecting the right simulation software in manufacturing is like picking the ideal blueprint for a skyscraper. First, architects (engineers) must clarify the skyscraper's purpose—whether it's an office tower, residential complex, or mixed-use development. Similarly, manufacturers must determine their automation project's goals: be it optimizing production lines, reducing defects, or streamlining logistics. This clarity enables them to choose simulation software tailored to their specific needs, much like architects selecting blueprints tailored to a building's purpose, ensuring a successful and efficient automation project.

This is like choosing the right tool for the job. Consider the intricate dance of components, devices, and processes in your system. How smoothly do they interact and communicate? Is your system a well-choreographed ballet or a dynamic, ever-changing performance? The more intricate the steps, the more advanced and robust your simulation software needs to be. In essence, for complex system, opt for simulation software that can match the scale, diversity, and unpredictability of your industrial dance. Accuracy and speed shouldn't be compromised; they're the harmony that keeps your operations in tune.

Simulation software varies based on project goals and system complexity. Discrete-event simulation analyzes system throughput, utilization, and efficiency by simulating events over time. Continuous simulation models dynamic systems like temperature or pressure changes. Agent-based simulation focuses on the behavior and interactions of individual agents, helping analyze emergent system properties. Hybrid simulation integrates multiple methods for a comprehensive analysis of complex systems, allowing for holistic performance evaluations.

For Indusrial Robotics RoboDk is he best and for Mobile robotics with generative ai, NVIDIA Issac sim works well. Open softwares like ROS, Gazebo is the favorites of Startups.

In my experience, selecting the right simulation tool for the project has a lot to do with your current system setup. As an automation engineer, I have used many excel macro based tools for DCS simulation during testing of the code. The major issue I faced was the software compatibility. Sometimes, the tool might be great but may not be compatible with your system software and hardware. Thus, before finalizing the simulation tool, one should ensure that it is working fine not only on your personal system but also on the simulated plant environment where the tool might be deployed.

In my experience, there are multiple ways to perform co-simulation or exchange models, other than using baked-in, vendor-specific solutions. Though, typically, you'd be adding complexity to your setup. You could, for example, use an OPC UA server that a PLC simulator and a simulation tool could both connect to (for *real-time* simulation). If you have legacy code, or if you can generate C code from one tool, you could use that code in another tool. You could also use the Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) for both co-simulation and model exchange.

I believe that the selection of simulation software plays a role in the success of any project. Before choosing the software, it is more important to understand and outline the system's objectives and end goal. Are you looking to optimize efficiency, reduce costs, or improve safety? It is also essential to understand the complexity of your system. The more components, devices, and processes involved, the more robust the simulation software must be. The ability to handle scale, variability, and uncertainty is crucial. Ensure you don't sacrifice accuracy or speed; instead, aim for a balance that returns reliable results. -How does your system perform under different conditions? -What extreme scenarios could impact its functionality?

Pues primero uno debe preguntarse, qué quiero simular? Una lógica? Un SCADA? Una red?... No se pueden usar cualquier simulador, de preferencia debe ser de la misma marca del sistema que ya está funcionando, de forma que los cambios que se hagan en base a la simulación se realice de forma rápida y segura. Hoy en día, se debe aprovechar los recursos de los gemelos digitales, pues normalmente las simulaciones no son tan exactas y suelen estar muy sujetas a cambios cuando se prueba en el sistema funcional.

Comúnmente los fabricantes de PLC's/DCS's desarrollan también sus simuladores, que permiten depurar el código antes de implementarlo, no obstante existen aplicaciones como los lazos de control donde se usa software como LabVIEW, que tiene librerías para control y permite simular la respuesta a determinadas funciones de transferencia, sin mencionar la facilidad de su lenguaje de programación gráfico, el cual permite ahorrar tiempo respecto a otros software como Matlab.