New in UCOS 5.0

The following new and improved features are planned for UCOS 5.0:

• Data quality flags have been around for awhile in UCOS. They identify communication failures, provide scan enable/disable status, identify point inactive states, identify points that are out of range, identify faulted RTUs, indicate inhibited alarms, indicate whether a device control is blocked, indicate chain, rack, and module faults, etc.
  
  Now all data quality flags will be accessible to such subsystems as the HMI, data historian, user-configurable calculations and logic, reports, third-party applications, etc.
• UCOS can be configured as an OPC client, server, or both. UCOS 5.0 also supports full hot-standby OPC redundancy. You can choose to deploy your redundant OPC servers or clients in the same location or across your WAN.
• UCOS allows you to tune a WAN for optimum efficiency. In UCOS 5.0, the backup network can be tuned separately if it has different data characteristics than the primary network.
• Redundancy and failover have long been a hallmark of every UCOS component. UCOS 5.0 adds a user-configurable switch that allows you to choose either manual or automatic fail back for an Operator Workstation (HMI) once a failed LAN is restored. A button allows you to manually switch between LANs when fail back is in manual mode.
• In the Tag Definition dialog, you can now apply a filter with an adjustable gain value to individual real-time analog inputs.
• Operators can now insert notes into logs. A report containing these notes can be generated.
• A new local tag indicates whether the UCOS Process Historical Archiver is online or offline.
• UCOS has always supported extensive customization of alarm annunciation. Now developers can associate an audio WAV file with each of the 16 alarm priority levels.
  
  The WAV file can be configured to activate once for each alarm or continuously while the alarm is active. An adjustable time delay will help prevent the WAV file from being triggered for each new occurrence of the same alarm.
  
  In addition, operators can now silence an active, audible alarm separate from acknowledging it.
• The UCOS Trend utility has always allowed you to view real-time or historical trends. Now the trend display will automatically display historical data when the scroll bar moves past the real-time starting point. Essentially, this provides for the seamless display of both real-time and historical data.
• To further bolster the already-strong UCOS security functionality, failed login attempts are now even harder to circumvent. Every time someone fails to enter a valid username and password, the lockout function will gradually increase the amount of time that passes before the next login attempt is allowed. In addition, all login retries will be logged for each user.
• UCOS administrators can now set passwords to expire on a certain date or never expire.
• UCOS real-time diagnostic utilities have been bolstered with the addition of an offscan tag list.
• Now you can transfer serial Modbus data from a Terminal Server to a UCOS Field Control Unit.
• The UCOS Operator Workstation real-time HMI displays can now span multiple monitors.
• UCOS has always been able to log events to printers. Now UCOS can log to line printers over the network.