Can a simple PC (windows 10) having TwinCAT XAR be used as a target in host computer having TwinCAT 3 XAE

Question

I want to know if I can use a system(run time pc) with Windows 10 OS which has TwinCAT XAR installed in it as a remote system. In other words can I select it as a target? Do we need any extra settings to make it work or it will work just like any other hardware controller?

Answer 1

Yes, you can select a Windows 10 PC with TwinCAT XAR installed as a remote target, however the performance may not be the same as you would get with purchasing a known hardware configuration from Beckhoff.

As noted in the Beckhoff documentation:

For a reliable, optimized and performant realtime behavior, a completely aligned system design (hardware, BIOS, OS, drivers, realtime-runtime) is mandatory. Each single component of the control system has to be checked and optimized for this type of application - that is the one and only way for an optimal, reliable and performant realtime behavior. Beckhoff IPCs are optimized in each detail for this type of operation. There is no guarantee for proper, reliable realtime behavior on third-party PCs.

To use any Windows PC as a remote target, you need to ensure that the XAR is installed and that the Windows firewall is open to ADS. See also routing through a firewall. Specifically, you should open port 48898 to incoming TCP traffic and port 48899 to incoming UDP traffic in the Windows firewall. After this, you should be able to create a route normally using the IP address of the target PC through the ADS router on your development system.

You may also want to isolate a CPU core on the target system and dedicate TwinCAT tasks to it to ensure more consistent realtime behavior.

Finally, you need to purchase a license for the PLC if you intend to use it for a purpose other than development. This requires the higher performance level >= P90 and a license dongle, see this note about TwinCAT 3 licenses for non-Beckhoff IPCs.