What is the point of developing an intelligently designed human-machine interface (HMI) if it does not show? This was the challenge behind the sleek, elegant appearance of the EXTER series of operator terminals from Beijer Electronics. The obvious qualities of user-friendliness and functionality were enhanced, but also to illustrate the company's ambition to build a completely new generation of HMIs.
Beijer Electronics believes that it has fulfilled this goal, and that is that the elegant appearance of its HMI is not an empty promise.
The EXTER operator terminals, in five different models, represent a bold step forward in high-performance technology. Both the hardware and the software are new, resulting in more flexibility than before. This internal improvement is reflected in the attractive, cutting-edge exterior design of the terminal. "For users, the emphasis will certainly be on the improved function and capacity," says Bengt-Åke Levinsson, hardware manager at Beijer Electronics, "but the new looks will also draw attention to the product."
Enhanced communication between human and machine
As a tool, an HMI involves a lot of tricky problems, all involved with its function that the 'I' in the abbreviation suggests. 'I' as in interface, 'I' as in in-between. The ideal HMI works as a mediator, something that provides a smooth connection to enhance communication between the system's machines and human operators. At the same time an HMI must offer a range of options of its own. As these capabilities improve, the product becomes more complex and demands more attention from the operator to achieve optimum performance.
This is the inspiration for the new generation of operator terminals, the EXTER series, from Beijer Electronics. A new concept, Intelligent Design, was created to deal with a new set of challenges, to provide guidance for a comprehensive redesign of the operator terminal.
All aspects of product development, from identifying the latest available technologies to incorporating vital requirements for user-friendliness and ergonomics, have been part of this structured design process. The designers have also been included in the communication, which helped them understand the product and its capabilities in depth.
"The dialogue with the people from Beijer Electronics has been very constructive," says Mårten Rittfelt, project manager of the design team from Zenit Design Group, one of the leading Swedish industrial design consultants. "A good dialogue plays an important role in achieving excellent, well thought out design solutions."
The time has come for a Windows solution
The predecessor, an embedded platform used in the CIMREX series, was developed within Beijer Electronics exclusively for these terminals. This ensured reliability, but also gave an opening for further improvement in compatibility and general flexibility.
The choice for the new generation of terminals is a Windows CE platform. Not news in itself, but a CE platform that is truly ready to meet industry demands for safety and performance is something new. To perfect the chosen HMI platform, the best of several technologies was selected.
Stable and reliable platform
"We have regularly monitored the companies in this field and their progress and now we feel that the time has come for a Windows solution. In CE.NET, Version 4.2, we see a very stable and reliable platform, one which has proven its resilience in a host of industrial products," explains Tommy Håkansson, technical manager at Beijer Electronics. In addition, with the new Intel XScale PXA270, the EXTER series has a powerful processor suitable for running CE. It also gives this HMI the capability for a totally safe file system by using Intel's persistent storage manager (PSM).
"This is a strong combination that really meets the demands of our customers," adds Håkansson. "We find this a logical choice for our new HMI platform."
User-friendly and flexible software tool
Beijer Electronics introduced 'Information Designer' - new configuration software for the EXTER terminals. This user-friendly and flexible software tool can be used for all the Beijer Electronics operator terminals, including the popular earlier CIMREX series models. Clever features of the software make the configuration easy to handle. User's applications can be running in minutes. In the Information Designer software, developers can also choose between six different menu languages, and can set up several languages for an application, making it ideal for international operations.
Fully Web-enabled
As with CIMREX, the new operator terminals are fully Web-enabled. All EXTER series models can act as both server and client in a network. Even the controller system is accessible via the operator terminal for maintenance, monitoring, or remote operation. Access is safely protected by security levels defined in the application.
For the designers, the challenge has been to capture the overall vision behind this new generation of operator terminal, to give visual expression to the new technologies and, above all, to reflect the comprehensive analysis behind the technical design process that made this HMI possible. This is an interface that has a personality of its own without losing its capacity to respond smoothly to the user's requirements; in short, its visual identity expresses both high performance and intelligence.
Sleek one-piece look
Not surprisingly, this has also had an effect on the choice of production technology for this new generation of operator terminals. The casings of earlier series have been milled out of sheet aluminium, a traditional mechanical approach with a low, but constant, per-piece cost. The EXTER series cases, in contrast, are die-cast aluminium. This method involves higher initial costs, but becomes more economical as more units are produced. The designers have used this improvement in production engineering to achieve a sleek one-piece look for the casing. This is another illustration of how this kind of HMI has stepped into a new era. The intended look (left) is almost identical to the end result (right).
Touch screen and keypad models
The five models of the EXTER series come in three touch display versions and two keypad versions. The keypad versions also show another visual innovation. On the printed surfaces of the keyboard membranes the designers have marked the keys with subtle shading, resulting in a slight 3-D effect. This discreet visual enhancement distinguishes these keypads from the current flat, two-dimensional ones and makes them a little easier for the user to read and operate.
What you see is what you get
The elegant, slim design of the terminals offers a mounting depth of less than 60 mm for all models. Beijer Electronics believes that the product lives up to its appearance and is no empty promise, the EXTER series is as smart as it looks.
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