As a web-based platform, this means that WinCC Unified’s runtime environment can be accessed via any web browser, and clients do not need any special software. Additionally, the runtime environment can run on any system, from a simple machine control panel to a fully featured PC based solution. 

Consequently, it provides a modern approach to machine visualization and will eventually replace many of Siemens existing HMI/SCADA solutions.

DMC is excited to have completed several projects utilizing WinCC Unified. This blog is the first of several to come, and it will outline tips and tricks from our recent experiences to serve as a “Getting Started” guide for WinCC Unified development. 

The instructions below were generated using WinCC Unified V17 on a Windows 10 machine. There may be slight differences with different versions.

Hardware Configuration

After installing Unified and creating your project, the first step will be to add the relevant devices to your hardware configuration. This example uses a SIMATIC PC Station running Unified PC, which is communicating with a Siemens S7-1516 CPU over Profinet.

Screens and Navigation

WinCC Unified facilitates the use of nested screen windows, enabling the user to create individual screen components and to reuse them in various arrangements. 

For this example, we’ll use a basic layout including a header, navigation, and content panes. This can be adapted depending on the requirements of a given system. 

To define the window structure, we create a base screen. This screen includes the individual Screen Window objects for the Header, Navigation, and Content sections of the page. Each Screen Window object is then linked to a separate content screen as shown in the figure below:
 

Buttons on the navigation pane are then used to update the active content screen. This provides the basic framework for the project.

WinCC Unified Configuration

Before deploying and testing your project for the first time, WinCC Unified requires a few configurations. These steps should be similar whether you’re deploying locally for testing or on your final runtime environment. First, run the WinCC Unified Configuration tool. If required, create a new certificate. 

 
Unless you’re using an external UMC server, select the option to use the configuration downloaded via TIA portal. 
 

For most applications, the remaining settings can be left as defaults. Although we do recommend that you activate secure download and assign a password before applying the settings.

User Management

If you followed the steps above to define the user management configuration in TIA Portal, you’ll need to create at least one user before deploying. First, double-check the runtime settings on the Panel to ensure it’s configured to use local user management in the project.
 

Then, navigate to the project security settings and create a new local user with your preferred credentials. At least one user must have the ‘HMI Administrator’ role selected. These settings will be deployed to the runtime environment after downloading the project.

Downloading Project

When you’re ready to test, download to the runtime environment from TIA Portal. On the initial download, uncheck the selection to keep the current user administration. This will ensure the new user data is transferred.
  

After the download, the new project should appear in the project list in SIMATIC Runtime Manager. This tool is used to start and stop projects on the Runtime Server and can also be used to access various administrative settings, including auto-starting a particular project after a power cycle.

Accessing Runtime

After the project is downloaded and running, it can be accessed via web browser. Open a browser and navigate to the associated server address. In this case, the server is running on my local host. The project can be accessed via the home screen or by navigating directly to “server/WebRH.”

Log in using the credentials you defined in the previous step, and make sure you test that your project is functioning as desired. Congratulations, you did it!

 
Troubleshooting

If you’re having issues accessing the runtime environment following deployment after completing the steps outlined above, here are a few additional troubleshooting tips.

Enable Windows Features

WinCC Unified runtime utilizes several dependencies, which should be installed as part of the installation process. Check that the relevant features are enabled by following this Siemens support note.

Certificate Installation

A root certificate is used to allow users to establish a secure connection to the WinCC Unified runtime environment. To enable connections, this certificate needs to be installed and configured as a trusted authority. The specific steps vary, depending on the browser being utilized, and Siemens provides some additional details in the runtime manual. 

DMC has been recognized as a Siemens WinCC Specialist. Learn more about our WinCC expertise and contact us for your next project. 
 

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The following guide outlines the steps required for establishing a secure connection to an email server and using the TMAIL_C function block to send messages.

This configuration requires a 1500 PLC with minimum firmware V2.0. If you are using a PLC which does not meet these requirements, you may need an additional communication module to establish a connection to the server. These steps also assume that your PLC is connected to the internet via a router.

The basic tasks are outlined below:

• Configure email server
• Obtain encryption certificate
• Import certificate into TIA Portal
• Update the PLC hardware configuration
• Configure the TMAIL_C function block
• Use the TMAIL_C function block

I used TIA Portal V15.1 for this walkthrough. The procedure may differ slightly for different versions.

Configuring Email Server

For this example, we created a dedicated Gmail account to act as an email server. This server communicates with the PLC via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and transmits emails to the final recipient. For most providers, the default settings will need to be changed to enable the sending of messages via an external program. If you’re using a Gmail account, turn off two-step verification and enable less secure app access in your account settings. Without this access, the PLC connection to the server will be rejected.

Obtaining Encryption Certificate

The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is used to encrypt the SMTP communications between the PLC client and the email server to ensure a secure connection. Consequently, the PLC needs the certificate associated with the email service provider to sign and encrypt messages.

In Internet Explorer, the name of the relevant certificate can be obtained by navigating to your service providers webpage and opening the security report. When I created this walkthrough, Gmail used the Google Trusted Services – GlobalSign Root CA-R2 certificate.

After determining the correct name, locate the certificate in your computer’s certificate manager and export it as a *.cer file in the DER encoded binary format. In the next step, we will import this certificate into TIA Portal before adding it to the PLC hardware configuration. This allows the PLC to communicate with the email server using the additional security provided by the TLS protocol.

Importing Certificate into TIA Portal

After configuring the email server and obtaining the correct certification file, the remaining configuration is performed in TIA Portal. First, a project administrator must be specified, providing access to the additional security features of the project. These features allow us to add a third party certificate to the project.

To create an administrator, navigate to the security settings for the project and define the necessary credentials. Note, these credentials will be required to access the project in the future.

After defining a security administrator, the security settings of the project should include additional security features, including the certificate manager. To import the certificate file, navigate to the certificate authority, and right-click to import the file. After importing, the certificate containing the public key required for the SMTP connection should appear in the manager.

Note the expiration date of the certificate, as it may need updating in the future. Furthermore, ensure that the PLC time is set correctly, as the factory default may fall outside of the certificate’s valid range.

Updating PLC Hardware Configuration

After importing the certificate into the project, the hardware configuration of the PLC must be updated to establish a connection to the email server. This process involves adding the certificate to the device and configuring the DNS server settings.

First, navigate to the certificate manager in the Protection & Security settings of the device configuration. Enable the use of the global security settings to provide full functionality. Then, add the certificate as a partner device. Note that if the certificate manager settings tab does not appear, then your hardware likely does not support this configuration. In this case, you may need to use an external communication module to use the TMAIL_C function block.

After adding the certificate to the hardware configuration, we need to verify the DNS server settings of the PLC. A Domain Name System (DNS) server is required to associate domain names with the IP addresses needed for routing information between the PLC and the email server.

For this application, the router connecting the PLC to the internet will act as the DNS server. Consequently, the router address must match the DNS server address in the hardware configuration. After verifying the router address in the PLC’s PROFINET interface, navigate to the DNS configuration and add it to the list of DNS server addresses.

If you are unsure the proper address, you can use the ipconfig command on a PC networked to the PLC to determine the default gateway of your local network.

Configuring the TMAIL_C Function Block

After the hardware configuration for the PLC is complete, the final task involves setting up the TMAIL_C function block to send messages. This block can be found under Communication in the Instruction Window.

The MAIL_ADDR_PARAM input is used to define the connection details. For an S7-1500 CPU, the TMail_V4_SEC system data type should be used to establish a secure connection using IPv4. Note, Siemens provides several additional data types for communicating with a server using different protocols.

The parameters of the TMail_V4_SEC data type need to be defined as follows:

• InterfaceId: The hardware identifier of the PROFINET interface being used to communicate with the email server. This value is found in the system constants list located in the device configuration.
  

  

• ID: The connection identifier. This value should likely be 1.
• ConnectionType: Defines the connection type. Use 16#20 for IPv4.
• ActiveEstablished: Defines if connections are actively or passively established. Since the PLC is acting as the SMTP client, it must actively establish a connection to communicate with the server. Therefore, this value must be true.
• WatchDogTime: The duration before a communication timeout occurs
• MailServerAddress: The IP address of the configured email server. Pinging the SMTP server from any PC determines this value.
  

  

• UserName: The username for your email server account
• PassWord: The password for your email server account. Note, the PLC instance memory will store this password in plain text.
• From:
  • LocalPartPlusAt: The local part of your email address plus the "@" symbol. For a Gmail account, this will be your username followed by "@."
  • FullQualifiedDomainName: The domain name of your email service provider. For example, "gmail.com."
• Remote Port: This is the remote TCP port used for the connection. The default port for SMTP communications is 587. Some legacy systems may use alternative ports, but they are generally less secure and not recommended.
• ActivateSecureConn: This value should be true to activate the security functionality of the connection. If it is false, a non-secure connection will be established which may be rejected by the server.
• ExtTLSCapabilities: Allows for extended capabilities of the TLS handshaking protocol. This is not required for this configuration.
• TLSServerCertRef: Reference to the encryption certificate of the email server. Use the integer ID of the imported certificate.

Using the TMAIL_C Function Block

After configuring the address parameters, using the TMAIL_C block is relatively straightforward. A message’s recipient, subject, and body are defined using the FBs respective inputs. Optionally, an attachment can be defined, allowing arrays of data to be included as an attachment to the email.

A message request is triggered on the rising edge of the REQ input. The block executes asynchronously over several cycles, during which the BUSY output will remain high. If the email is sent successfully, the DONE output will pulse for a single scan. If it fails, the ERROR output will pulse, and the STATUS will update with the relevant error code.

There you have it! These steps provide the basic outlining for setting up an SMTP client on a Siemens 1500 PLC. For additional information, see the related Siemens application example in addition to the help files associated with the TMAIL_C connect block.

Feel free to contact DMC with any questions or project inquiries and learn more about our PLC Programming services and our Siemens expertise.

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In this example, I demonstrate my setup for recording part inspection data using an FP series PLC and GT series HMI. Using this setup, our client can ensure their parts are within spec while identifying trends in their data, enabling them to improve their processes.

Data logging is configured using Panasonic's GTWIN software. The interface for configuring the logging is located in the system settings menu. As shown below, this HMI is configured to log to three different files based on job number. A maximum of sixteen different files can be created.

A single data point is recorded on the rising edge of the trigger configured for each log file. The record can be triggered cyclically, at a specific time, or from a PLC tag, as demonstrated below for Job 1.

In this example, data is captured every time a measurement is taken, as indicated by the R141 tag configured in the PLC code. After the capture is complete, the HMI writes to R200 to indicate to the PLC that the capture is complete.

During operation, the HMI saves log data in RAM until one thousand records have been recorded, at which point the data is written to the SD card. Additionally, this transfer can be requested directly from the PLC by configuring the 'Save Setting' of the device shown below. Here, the PLC can request a RAM transfer using the R151 address.

Furthermore, according to the configured settings, data will be overwritten after 60 files have been recorded. This limit is important to keep in mind when considering how frequently the data will be moved from the SD card to a more permanent storage device.

Up to this point, we have yet to configure the data which will compose each record. By default, each record will include the date/time when the trigger occurred. Here, our record is composed of two measurements used for part verification. A maximum of 128 data points can be used for each record.

The settings for each data point can be defined individually to determine the structure of the data that will be stored. Here, our measurements are float values located at the address DT110 in the PLC.

Using this setup, basic data logging can be configured for a system with minimal effort and with no additional hardware/software. If you require a more sophisticated data storage/retrieval system, consider reaching out to DMC for help designing your solution.

Learn more about DMC's Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence Services.

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