July 7, 2014 - Schleicher announces GRED data compaction software that reduces the costs and memory requirements of so-called retain data, which holds a key function in automation solutions. With GRED, saved data needs less memory capacity, which in turn leads to a reduction in costs. GRED is particularly suitable for embedded systems, which have to process large quantities of data in real time, such as in production or logistics. Data, such as state values, positions, inputs or counter values, has to be saved when the machine is switched off, so that it can be used when switched on again. Until now, this so-called retain data was organised through its own hardware components, so-called NV-RAM modules, which are already integrated in industrial PCs in the form of a small chip.
The problem is that NV-RAM modules are not available in all capacities and are too small for many applications – such as embedded systems, which have to process large quantities of data in real time. In addition, depending on the necessary storage capacity, they are very cost intensive.
GRED reduces large quantities of data for small memory media, and thus represents an economical alternative to standard solutions: the software now only saves changes to data, so that just a small NV-RAM is required for the saving process. In this, Schleicher GRED accesses all three storage media – NV-RAM, hard disk memory and RAM. The advantage is that there is no impairment in system behaviour. The hard disk is not over-stressed, and neither are real-time processes blocked. In addition, Schleicher GRED runs in the background – without impairing the application.