FT View ME Login from a PLC tag

Mynvar67

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May 2016
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Hi, I have a PLC with RFID card reader attached to it. The PLC can read the RFID card and from there I would like to send the authorizations levels to the HMI FT View ME (Panel View 7 Plus).

There are different level the RFID card can send, operator =2, tech=4, maintenance=6, Engineer=12....

I tried a lot of things but without any result. Siemens HMI can do it, so is there a way to log from an RFID card and send the authorization to the HMI?
 
This is exactly what I need to do, but one of the TechNotes that I read said it was not possible, and I could find no way of doing it with global tags.

The only way I could think of doing it was to make the buttons needed visible or invisible as needed, still to test this in production.
 
We have done it in the past. I don't remember all the details, but IIRC we used FactoryTalk Security to accomplish this. We had USB RFID readers mounted to the HMI enclosures that acted as HID devices. When a badge was scanned, the reader would press F3 to open the login screen, enter the badge number as the login name (passwords weren't requrired), and then press the F key required to login. Every badge was associated with a login level; operator, supervisor, maintenance, etc. The PLC monitored the tag to see who logged in, verified that the badge number was in the lookup array, confirmed their authorization level, and then enabled the functions and screens for that level.

To add operators, we would enter the badge number and auth level into the array on the PLC, then we would add them into FactoryTalk Security directly on the HMI. Once a year, I would audit the system by comparing the employees in the PLC against the employees entered into FactoryTalk Security in the FactoryTalk View MER. If there was anybody missing in FactoryTalk View Studio, I entered them in there, recreated the MER and then downloaded that in so if an HMI needed to be changed out, we didn't have to go through the trouble of re-enrolling everyone.
 
Frankly, unless there's a compelling reason to use the HMI's built-in user security, I would let the PLC manage it all. Have the PLC write to an integer tag according to the access level and have visibility animation on the controls that need to be controlled based on the value of that tag. It'll be more portable to other platforms if you have to replace the HMI with a different brand, too.
 
Jlandwerlen is correct,
we do the same thing,
if i am not mistaken, we write to an integer and our app looks at the value and
determines what screen items to display based on that value. we also have a timer to auto log you out after so long with no activity. if i remember, i will look at the app tonight when i get to work.
james
 
I seem to remember some years ago perhaps PV+6 you could change screens by putting a number relating to the screen, I remember doing this, operators were always finding the log in perhaps some senior managers were giving it out or looking over their shoulder, we replicated the screens so that only the required fields could be changed but had a key switch hidden so an engineer would switch over to load a screen with all fields enabled without security for them to do the changes, switching the key switch back put it back on the main screen there were no buttons to get at the modified screens took a bit of thinking out but basically had 3 screens where critical info was read only (for operators), the other ones for example screen 20,21,22 were only availlable with key switch to PLC, this put 20 into the screen register & the screens 21 & 22 could be accessed from this. it stopped the meddling.
 
Parky, we have some old standard and some newer Plus units done this way with a key switch on the operators panel and code to switch to the required screen and than back to the operators screens when the key switch is turned off, it does work well, but I have not been able to find a way to do this on the PV5000 series, thankfully we only have one of those (but it is on a badly programed machine form England).
 
Hi, I have a PLC with RFID card reader attached to it. The PLC can read the RFID card and from there I would like to send the authorizations levels to the HMI FT View ME (Panel View 7 Plus).

There are different level the RFID card can send, operator =2, tech=4, maintenance=6, Engineer=12....

I tried a lot of things but without any result. Siemens HMI can do it, so is there a way to log from an RFID card and send the authorization to the HMI?


I think this example is probably what you are looking for. something external, designed for Panelview use, and has internal macros set up to take care of the button pressing required in factorytalk applications.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0gKA3aTbLs

if you watch, it doesn't just work in the background, it just drills through the login options using the provided name and password associated with the card itself.
 
also

https://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/614056/loc/en_US#__highlight

ID: QA25039 | Access Levels: Everyone
Login to PanelView Plus 6/7 terminal using RFID badge reader.


they state to use the RFideas system as well.

Edit:

And if you're feeling development-y, you could use something like an arduino UNO. scan the badge using RFID, send that information to the UNO and use the UNO's USB output to send that as keystrokes to the Panelview plus. that's basically all the RFideas is doing anyway, since there is no real way to make the factorytalk software login without keystrokes it seems.
 
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