Zaluum : The first open source platform for industrial automation part I

Zaluum is the first open source platform end-to-end for Industrial Automation. This solution is brought up by Frederic Perez who I was honoured to work with. This disruptive idea wants to move the industry in a radical new direction: the public domain, community driven and the free automation software. For many years I have been working with endless and incompatible PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller) and DCSs (Distributed Control Systems) from proprietary vendors like Siemens, Schneider Electric, ABB, etc., and with the growth of these new and free technologies, the overview will change within a few years. Zaluum is based on Java with plug-in architecture. Despite being in an early stage of development, the design allows quick customization and implementation. This multi OS platform framework aims to create an open-source PLC alternative that runs on a standard Industrial PC RT with tools for FSM (Finite State Machine), logic (with Boxes), scripting with Groovy and Ethernet communication drivers like: modbus TCP.

This alternative will enable engineers to build control systems with a free, growing knowledge base, and to receive support from and contribute to improvements in the Open Source community. The project is hosted on Launchpad and uses bazaar as a version control software. The IDE is based on the very well known Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform) and Frederic has come up with the idea of using the power of the Object Oriented Programming in order to create a more scalable and maintainable code.

Frederic says: "This solution will have knock-on effects and will revolutionize the industrial automation world." and I totally agree with him that if this idea reaches to the right targets and spreads throughout the planet, we will change the Industrial automation world. I have seen a lot of people who doubt about the reliability of PC-based control, but they will not resist the attractiveness of Zaluum.

Frederic invites readers, vendors, and OEMs to jump in, saying that when you contribute to an open source community, parallel teamwork drives improvement and comes right back to you. "Our next steps are trying to expand our community, recruiting more developers and putting forward the idea to spread the message."

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible."

M.C. ESCHER.

Jordi Coll.

Feel free to give it a try and give feedback: http://www.zaluum.com/download or https://launchpad.net/zaluum/+download.