In these past years, the number of HTML5-based applications has been growing, and not just in the consumer and business market. This technology has become the web programming standard in the industrial sector, thanks to its benefits in terms of flexibility, mobility and efficiency.
Let’s see the benefits of HTML5-based industrial management and control interfaces. ESA’s solutions included.
HTML5 in industrial applications
In the era of Industry 4.0 and digitization, web based technologies have taken hold in the industrial space. In particular, HTML5 has become one of the go-to programming languages for industrial automation applications.
With globalization and decentralization of production, management and control, as well as predictive maintenance, most times has to be performed remotely, or even on the move. Hence, the accelerated adoption of smart devices (smartphones and tablets) in industry. For this reason, we need programming solutions capable of simplifying the development of multi-platform applications and systems.
The HTML5 standard enables such level of flexibility. In fact, applications written in HTML5 can be automatically run on any operating system (Linux, iOS, Android, and Windows). This has several benefits for automation technology suppliers, as well as for manufacturing companies:
- No need to develop specific solutions for each native platform.
- HMIs and other automation systems can more easily follow a cross-platform approach.
- Same degree of mobility and remote access that is typical of consumer or commercial applications.
ESA HTML5 Industrial Control and Management Solutions
Aware of the production benefits listed above, ESA has been moving in this direction, adopting HTML5 as a programming language for its industrial control and management solutions.
Starting from our web panel, the 4.0 evolution of the classic HMI client. This device simplifies the visualization of production data and of any HTML5 interface thanks to its built-in browser (and a true flat display up to 15 ”). Furthermore, from a multi-platform perspective, ESA has already begun to integrate new peripherals and applications on Linux.
In addition, ESA Suite is about to come out, a collection of industrial software that integrate HTML5 to launch any project on a browser. The same goes for the choice to use HTML5-based svg vector images. Compared to bitmap images, this web format can be embedded within an HTML page and has infinite definition since it is “described” and not represented by dots.
Finally, the approach that will also be followed for the HMI part, which will be based on HTML5 standards.