FBxDesigner                                                                                                   Product Data Sheet 
                D301861X012                                                                                                                   July 2021 
                 
                FBxDesigner™ 
                Emerson’s FBxDesigner™ software provides a fully                          FBxDesigner includes an extensive library of more than 300 
                compliant IEC 61131-3 programming environment that                        basic IEC 61131-3 functions and function blocks common to 
                enables you to configure both continuous and discrete                     many IEC 61131-3 based products. These include:  
                control applications for FB3000 Series RTUs. The advantages 
                of IEC 61131-3 have made it the international standard                    ▪    Flip-flops, counters, and timers  
                programming environment currently employed by most                        ▪    Ladder diagram functions (such as coils and contacts)  
                PLC manufacturers. Because of its standardization and                     ▪    Numerical, arithmetic, and Boolean functions (such as 
                widespread acceptance, IEC 61131-3 enables you to choose                       sine, cosine, add, subtract, square root, and, and or)  
                the most appropriate controller hardware system without                   ▪    Selection and comparison (such as Min, Max, Greater 
                being required to learn a new programming language for                         than, Equal, and Less than)  
                each platform. Further, the flexibility of IEC 61131-3 allows             ▪    Type conversions (such as Integer-to-Real and 
                each manufacturer to augment the basic set of functions                        Boolean-to-Word)  
                with product-specific higher-level functions to take 
                maximum advantage of each product’s distinguishing                        FBxRTU Function Block Library  
                capabilities, yet strictly adhere to the IEC 61131-3 
                standards.                                                                In addition to the basic functions and function blocks, 
                                                                                          FBxDesigner brings the benefit of over 20 years of SCADA 
                                             ®           ® 
                Operating from a Microsoft  Windows platform,                             and plant control experience in Emerson’s FBxRTU function 
                FBxDesigner offers standard functionality (zooming,                       block library. The library includes over 60 function blocks 
                scrolling, customizable toolbars, drag & drop operations, 
                shortcut manager, and dockable windows), enabling you to                   
                create, edit, compile, debug, document, and print both 
                simple and complex process control applications. 
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                               FBxDesigner 
                 
                 
                Remote Automation Solutions 
                 FBxDesigner                                                                                                                             July 2021 
                  
                 applicable for use in oil and gas, water and wastewater, and 
                 process measurement and control applications. Further, the 
                 FBxRTU library is designed to take full advantage of the 
                 significant features Emerson’s FB3000 RTU offers. This 
                 library includes function blocks for: 
                 ▪    PID & Lead/Lag  
                 ▪    Alarm and Event Log Management  
                 ▪    File handling  
                 ▪    System Database Interaction 
                 Even without previous programming experience, your 
                 engineers can appreciate the ability of the FBxRTU function                                                                                      
                 blocks to perform the most common process measurement                                                 Function Block Diagram  
                 and control applications. 
                                                                                                 Function Block Diagram programs also allow the use of 
                 Language Support                                                                Ladder Logic in the same program. With FBxDesigner, you 
                                                                                                 can even define Ladder objects as inputs to function block 
                 While many IEC 61131-3 programming tools offer only                             objects and as outputs from function block objects. You can 
                 Ladder Diagram or a limited set of languages, FBxDesigner                       also add user-defined function blocks to FBD programs.   
                 supports all five languages available in the IEC 61131-3                        Sequential Function Chart (SFC) allows you to program 
                 standard. The first three languages (Ladder Diagram,                            sequential operations graphically, as might occur in a flow 
                 Function Block Diagram, and Sequential Function Chart) are                      chart. The steps represent the actions, which can be 
                 graphical programming languages, and the remaining two                          performed either in sequence or in parallel, and the 
                 (Structured Text and Instruction List) are text-based                           transitions represent the conditions that must be completed 
                 languages. You can use any one, two, or all five languages to                   to advance to the next step. 
                 implement a process control scheme. 
                 Ladder Diagram (LD) employs the elements common to 
                 traditional PLCs, such as normally open & normally closed 
                 contacts and coils. Ladder is typically used for sequential 
                 logic, interlocks, and on/off control applications. 
                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                     Sequential Function Chart  
                                                                                                 Structured Text (ST) is a high-level text-based language 
                                                                                                 containing all the elements of a modern programming 
                                           Ladder Diagram                                        language. In addition to providing a convenient method of 
                 Function Block Diagram (FBD) is a graphical programming                         including the library of function blocks and creating custom 
                 language that resembles the P&I drawings or circuit                             function blocks, it allows IF-THEN-ELSE and other 
                 diagrams commonly found in process control applications.                        conditional branching statements. 
                 The graphical representation makes analog control loops 
                 visually easy to understand and auto-documents the control 
                 scheme.
                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                           Structured Text  
                  
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                 July 2021                                                                                                                   FBxDesigner 
                  
                 Instruction List (IL) is also a text-based language similar to              zipped project source can be automatically downloaded 
                 assembly. It consists of a series of instructions, where each               along with the application executable to ensure 
                 instruction (depending on type) may be augmented with                       synchronization between the source and the executing 
                 modifiers and operands. This is particularly suitable for small             application program.  
                 and straightforward programs.  
                                                                                             Online Program Debug Tools 
                                                                                             Regardless of your level of expertise, there is always a need 
                                                                                             for powerful software debug tools. FBxDesigner offers a 
                                                                                             comprehensive set of online tools to help you test, analyze, 
                                                                                             and troubleshoot your application program. The program 
                                                                                             can display real-time data values and program execution for 
                                                                                             all five languages. 
                                                                                             The Variables Cross Reference list contains all variables, 
                                                                                             function blocks, actions, transitions, steps, jumps, labels, 
                                                                                             and connectors which are used within the current project. It 
                                                                                             is a helpful tool for debugging and fault isolation. 
                                                                                             The Logic Analyzer is a powerful tool for recording values of 
                                          Instruction List                                   variables over a certain time interval. They are displayed 
                 User Defined Function Blocks –                                              graphically in the Logic Analyzer window. All recorded 
                                                                                             values and settings of the Logic Analyzer are stored 
                 Reusable Applications                                                       automatically with the project. 
                 With FBxDesigner, once you create and test a program                        The Watch Window can be used to collect variables from 
                 containing one or more functions or function blocks, you                    different worksheets to gain an understanding about how 
                 can save it to a user-defined function block library. You can               these variables work together. In addition you can use the 
                 then reuse this new user-defined function block (object) as                 watch window to force and overwrite variables.  
                 often as necessary and even transport it to other projects.                 Breakpoint, Single Step and Single Cycle program execution 
                 The user-defined function blocks have re-assignable inputs                  provides a step-and-trace function that is extremely useful 
                 and outputs, allowing each instance of the function block to                for program debugging. These functions allow you to 
                 have different variables attached to the terminals. Each new                continue the program execution line-by-line after reaching a 
                 project can draw on previous development to significantly                   breakpoint.  
                 reduce implementation time. This object-oriented 
                 programming concept is an extremely valuable tool in                        Specifications 
                 application development. 
                 Multitasking Operation                                                      ▪    CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 or similar (Minimum) 
                                                                                             ▪    Operating System:  Windows 7, Windows 10  
                 FBxDesigner runs in a multitasking environment in which                     ▪    RAM: 8 GB 
                 you can schedule and prioritize program execution. While                    ▪    Disk Space: 1 GB free space 
                 FBxDesigner scan times are extremely fast, multitasking                     ▪    Comm: 10/100 MHz Ethernet 
                 capability gives you greater control over critical task                     ▪    Display: 1280 x 800 or better resolution 
                 execution.                                                                   
                 Program Security                                                             
                 For program security, you can zip the entire program (with 
                 all associated variables and graphics) into a single project 
                 file. You can then download this project file, store it in 
                 FB3000 memory, and later upload it for recovery or 
                 modification by the FBxDesigner software. All variable 
                 names, graphics, comments, and page layouts are uploaded 
                 with the application program so that the uploaded project is 
                 identical to the original downloaded file. In addition, the 
                  
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              FBxDesigner                                                                                                           July 2021 
               
              FBxRTU Function Blocks 
                 Function Block                      Description 
                 Differentiator                      Calculates the rate of change for an analog signal.   
                 FileClose                           Closes a file stream previously opened with FileOpen.   
                 FileDelete                          Deletes a file on the flash file system. 
                 FileMkDir                           Makes a new directory on the flash file system. 
                 FileOpen                            Opens a file stream.   
                 FileRead                            Reads binary data from a file previously opened with FileOpen.   
                 FileReadStr                         Reads text from a file previously opened with FileOpen.   
                 FileWrite                           Writes binary data to a file previously opened with FileOpen.   
                 FileWriteStr                        Writes text to a file previously opened with FileOpen.   
                 GetByTag_DINT                       Reads parameters from the database of type double signed integer (32 bit). 
                 GetByTag_INT                        Reads parameters from the database of type signed integer (16 bit). 
                 GetByTag_LINT                       Reads parameters from the database of type long signed integer (64 bit). 
                 GetByTag_LREAL                      Reads parameters from the database of type double precision floating point (64 bit). 
                 GetByTag_REAL                       Reads parameters from the database of type floating point (32 bit). 
                 GetByTag_SINT                       Reads parameters from the database of type signed small integer (8 bit). 
                 GetByTag_STRING                     Reads parameters from the database of type string. 
                 GetByTag_UDINT                      Reads parameters from the database of type double unsigned integer (32 bit). 
                 GetByTag_UINT                       Reads parameters from the database of type unsigned integer (16 bit). 
                 GetByTag_ULINT                      Reads parameters from the database of type long long unsigned integer (64 bit). 
                 GetByTag_USINT                      Reads parameters from the database of type unsigned small integer (8 bit). 
                 GetInstance                         Retrieves all parameters from a database object group at once. 
                 GetNumInstances                     Retrieves the number of instances of an existing user-defined object. 
                 GetParamAttributes                  Retrieves the various attributes of an individual parameter in the database.   
                 GetParamDataType                    Reads the data type of a parameter in the database.  
                 GetParamsByTag                      Allows for reading of multiple database parameters at once. 
                 GetTime                             Reads the time of the device as a value in seconds since January 1, 2000.   
                 IsNaN_REAL                          Detects if a 32-bit floating point number is not a number (NaN). 
                 IsNaN_LREAL                         Detects if a 64-bit double precision floating point number is not a number (NaN). 
                 IsUserObject                        Determines if an object reference is for an application or firmware. 
                 IsUserParam                         Determines if a parameter reference is for an application or firmware. 
                 LeadLag                             Adds controlled delay effects to an analog signal.  
                 LicenseCheckIn                      Checks a license previously checked out back into the system. 
                 LicenseCheckOut                     Checks out a license to an application.     
                 LicenseGetAssigned                  Determines the number of licenses that have been checked out to the application. 
                 LicenseGetAvailable                 Determines the total number of licenses for an application available to be checked out.   
                 LogEvent                            Writes an event to the event log.    
                 LogTextAlarm                        Writes an alarm to the alarm log.    
                 LogValueAlarm                       Writes an alarm to the alarm log, indicating that alarm’s value and/or associated 
               
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