Using Automation Connect with the interactive dashboard as HMI

Using the Interactive dashboard is not currently supported using a unique Simcenter Amesim model. It is nevertheless possible to use an auxiliary model for this purpose, following the steps below. Note that this technique requires the Generic Co-simulation license:

Procedure

1. Create your main Simcenter Amesim "plant" model with an Automation Connect interface block, as usual.

2. In Sketch mode, look for the COSIM SHARED MEMORY icon in the Generic Co-simulation Library. Place it on the sketch by using your desired number of interactive inputs as number of ports at right and your desired number of monitored variables as number of ports at left. At least one interactive input needs to be specified; if it is not useful for you, just connect it to a signal sink.

3. Connect block inputs (on the left) to signals coming from the sensor components that will be used to monitor variables via the dashboard.

4. Connect block outputs (on the right) to the actuators that will allow interacting with your model during the simulation.

5. Set the mode parameter of the COSIM SHARED MEMORY block (DYNCOSIMSHM01 submodel) to master.

6. Create and save a second Simcenter Amesim model for the Human-Machine Interface (HMI).

7. Insert a COSIM SHARED MEMORY block to this HMI model with as many inputs (ports at left) as your desired number of interactive user inputs (if not useful, place a constant source on it; it will be sent to a sink in the main "plant" model anyway, see step 2) and with as many outputs (ports at right) as your desired number of monitored variables.

8. Connect as many externinput components from the Simulation Library as required to the shared memory block's inputs. Alternatively, you can also use sources from the Signal, Control library that contain tunable parameters. These components will be used for interacting with the main model. See the Dashboard manual for more details on this topic.

9. Connect signal sinks to the shared memory block's outputs (monitored variables).

10. Create your dashboard HMI by associating the interactive inputs to available controls primitives (e.g. sliders, on/off buttons...) and the monitored variables to specific display primitives (gauges, progress bars...). See the Dashboard manual for a complete reference.

11. In this second HMI model, set the mode parameter of the shared memory block to slave and go to simulation mode.

12. Within Automation Connect, load the Simcenter Amesim DLL corresponding to the main model as usual, establish your connections if not already done then click the Start button located in the Simcenter Amesim tab. The DLL is loaded, it creates the shared memory space to which the HMI model will connect and waits for the HMI model to start (the HMI model is a slave to the main model and is in a blocking wait state).

13. Actually start the simulation from within the HMI model, monitor and interact with the main model using the dashboard.

Note that the run parameters used for the complete simulation (especially the final time) will be those of this second HMI model.

14. You can stop the simulation from the HMI model directly or from the Automation Connect GUI.

Results

Note

The above steps can be executed also for the animation, except that no interaction with the model is possible (only variable monitoring). Animation can be used as a cost-effective alternative to NX Mechatronic Concept Designer for creating a simplified 3D scene representing the machine's operation, especially in cases where the complete CAD of the machine is not available.