RDE: custom HMI development and virtual SCADA systems in a single environment

The evolution of automation architectures requires development tools capable of combining design simplicity, scalability, and integration with machine and plant infrastructure. RDE fits into this context as the Robox Motion Control development environment designed to create HMI applications and supervision systems starting from a single project base.

Within RDE, RDT (Robox Display Tool) is available as the module dedicated to the design of human-machine interfaces, enabling the development of customized operator panels that can be adapted to different application requirements. The environment provides a complete set of graphic objects, including:

• configurable action buttons,
• combo boxes,
• list boxes,
• static and dynamic images,
• text fields (static, dynamic, editable),
• slider,
• trend,
• container
• prefab
• …

as well as advanced features such as macros, user management with passwords, recipes, alarm history, contextual help, and multilingual support.

The developed interfaces can communicate with field devices via TCP/IP and serial connections, directly linking graphic objects to automation variables. The same project can be run both on RHMI operator panels, fanless embedded terminals based on ARM architecture, and on the RIG-8 handheld terminal, also based on an ARM processor.

Thanks to the RTM runtime, applications can also be run on Windows and Linux PCs, turning the HMI project into a software-based supervision system without requiring any changes to the application code. This approach makes it easy to extend the operator interface toward virtual SCADA configurations, while maintaining a single development environment and simplifying management of the entire application lifecycle.