Storage media can be replaced before time if one can detect the signs of impending failure.
B&R’s real-time operating system, Automation Runtime, automatically logs data about storage media’s health to provide machine operators and service personnel early warnings of impending failures. Detecting early failures helps replace storage media eliminating loss of data and expensive downtime. B&R is among the first to bring this commercial-grade feature to industrial embedded runtime systems.
Varad Darji, Product Manager, B&R, said: “Failure of a storage device can be devastating. Even with a backup, a certain amount of recently changed data and settings are lost. It can even bring down the entire machine, resulting in expensive lost productivity until an engineer replaces the drive and restores the settings.”
Without any additional programming, Storage Health Data can be viewed in B&R’s web-based System Diagnostics Manager tool, allowing service personnel to recommend storage media replacement during scheduled downtime proactively. It is also possible to program HMI functions that notify operators directly on their HMI screen when a drive reaches a defined threshold, such as 80% of its lifespan.
