A central problem in plant operations, as well as asset life cycle management, is the need to organize, manage, and have access to information for all different aspects of a great number of plant and process entities.
The Aspect Objects architecture is a cornerstone of the Industrial IT concept. It provides:
•A consistent, scalable concept that integrates Process Control & Automation, Substation Automation and Safety products.
•Information-centric navigation – a consistent way to instantly access all information without having to know how and by which application the information is handled.
Aspects and Objects
These entities, or real world objects, are of many different kinds. They can be physical process objects, like a valve, or more complex, like a reactor. Other examples are: products, material, batch procedures, manufacturing orders, and customer accounts.
•They are called Aspect Objects
Each of these real world objects can be described from several perspectives. Each perspective defines a piece of information and a set of functions to create, access, and manipulate this information.
Examples are: graphic, alarm, trend, report, order definition, mechanical layout etc.
•We call this an Aspect of the object.
It is necessary to be able to implement these aspects using many different applications, both existing and new, from ABB, third parties and customers. It is desirable to be able to do this without changes to the applications.
It is not reasonable to require that all these different applications be aware of each other. Still, the applications must cooperate to provide an integrated view and functionality of the object.
Examples are: Graphics Builder for graphics, Auto CAD for mechanical layout, SAP for order handling etc.
•These applications are called Aspect Systems, which implements one or several Aspect types.
Intuitive Navigation
Quick access to displays and information is provided with web browser tools. Favorites, history lists, shortcuts, and hot keys provide navigation through a process production facility quickly and accurately. Use of the right mouse button provides access to additional details via a context menu
ABB extends the automation reach by integrating information from a wide range of ABB applications, other automation systems, and business systems into System 800xA on common displays. This single window provides users a much broader view of the facility giving rise to access all necessary data from which to make an informed decision
Aspect Integrator Platform
The Aspect Integrator Platform is a software package that integrates all Industrial IT enabled products via their Aspect Objects, irrespective of where they may reside in the network.
You need only enter data once for use throughout the system, and real-time information about each object is just a “click” away.
Two main concepts are central to the Aspect Object architecture: the concept of Aspect Objects, and the concept of Afw Services.
Aspect Framework
Based on these concepts, a framework is defined, with rules and conventions for how to add functionality to the server and workplace layers, and for how to connect functions in the control layer to the server layer. This framework is known as the Aspect Framework (Afw).