Rockwell Automation and its sister company Rockwell Collins are part of an impressive legacy, including the space shuttle program, the Apollo moon landings, P-51 mustang, the Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and the supersonic B-1 Lancer. Today, it is a global provider of industrial automation, power, control, and information solutions under the brands Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software. Rockwell Automation products are extremely popular in the North American market and there are references to it being used in almost every industry vertical.
RSLogix 5000 is a user-friendly, IEC61131-3-compliant interface for programming the current generation of Rockwell Automation PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). IEC61131-3-compliant means that it complies with the International Open Standard for PLC programming languages, including:
Ladder Diagram (LD)
Function Block Diagram (FBD)
Structured Text (ST)
Sequential Function Chart (SFC)
More information on RSLogix 5000 IEC compliance can be found in the Rockwell publication Logix5000 Controllers IEC 61131-3 Compliance available at http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/pm/1756-pm018_-en-p.pdf.
The RSLogix 5000 platform is compatible with the new generation of Allen-Bradley controllers, including ControlLogix, CompactLogix, FlexLogix, SoftLogix, RSLogix Emulate 5000, and GuardLogix.
RSLogix 5000 is one of several PLC programming environments from Allen-Bradley, so it is critical to work with Rockwell Automation sales and support staff to ensure that you are using compatible software, firmware, and hardware. Throughout the book, we have used RSLogix 5000 Version 19; however, the same principles apply to older and newer versions (Version 20) of the software.