2.6 SP2 LTS Release Notes

[Sophie]

ctrlX AUTOMATION and ctrlX OS continue to develop rapidly in terms of its functionality and possible use cases. Bosch Rexroth therefore publishes new releases of apps and engineering software at regular intervals. This gives the community, customers and developers access to new functions. LTS releases (Long Term Support) are published once a year at the end of July. They are maintained over several years in the form of Service Packs (SPx) with bug fixes and security updates.
For details on release cycle and download area, see Release cycle of Apps and Engineering software.

Following are recent new features and highlights of the current version since the 1.20 LTS SP6 release.

• New ctrlX AUTOMATION Apps
• New ctrlX World Apps
• New mid-range control ctrlX COREplus X5
• New functional hardware extensions
• New features
• ctrlX OS - the operation system
• Fieldbus & communication
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - PLC
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - MOTION
• Engineering
• ctrlX WORKS Engineering
• ctrlX AUTOMATION – 3D Viewer
• ctrlX AUTOMATION – IDE
• ctrlX AUTOMATION – Oscilloscope
• ctrlX World – Engineering Tools
• Download
• History

New ctrlX AUTOMATION Apps

• ctrlX AUTOMATION - Model Connect is a target runtime for model-based generated control code from MATLAB/Simulink®
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - System Overview to extend the standard diagnosis with improved, more user-friendly topology and system information screens

New ctrlX World Apps

• 36ZERO Vision Adapter - Programming-free software, accurate results and short setup times - That is what 36Zero Vision can provide for your visual inspection
• HD Vision Systems - LumiScan Cam Driver - an application for ctrlX OS to capture images
• HD Vision Systems - LumiScan AI Object Matching - an application for better shape detection and quality inspection
• HD Vision Systems - LumiScan Calibration - an application that converts pixels into real-world coordinates.
• IXON - Cloud Connector - No-code cloud platform for remote service and data insights

New mid-range control ctrlX CORE^plus X5  

The ctrlX CORE portfolio is complemented by a mid-range industrial controller, the ctrlX CORE^plus X5. With an Intel Atom processor with 4 cores, the ctrlX CORE^plus X5 offers an optimal price-performance ratio.

New functional hardware extensions  

• A SSD storage with 80GB is available as an optional interface on the ctrlX CORE^plus.

New features

ctrlX OS - the operation system

• Support of new Ubuntu Core 22
• Backup&restore (ctrlX Setup): selective selection of device settings and resources when creating a setup
• Logbook redesign with standard/developer view
• Firmware update via web interface 
• Configuration of RETAIN memory > 2MB (use of UPS is requested)
• Configuration of XF50 as a Ethernet port (instead of EtherCAT) on the ctrlX CORE X3
• Flexible assignment of NRT/RT cores
• Optimization of boot time of ctrlX CORE
• Home page configuration using widgets
• Orderable licence dongle with pre-installed licenses ex-work

Fieldbus & communication

• ctrlX AUTOMATION - EtherCAT Master App to support 256 slaves on ctrlX COREplus X5 and 512 slaves on ctrlX CORE^plus X7
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - OPC UA Server App
  • App restart directly via the web interface after a configuration change
  • Support of method arguments with arrays of structures and arrays of enumerations
  • OPC UA Server supports the GDS Push Model, which is described in "OPC 10000-12: UA Part 12: Discovery and Global Services" as Push Management
  • Companion Specification Support - The OPC UA Server enables loading of OPC UA information models. Variables and methods of these models can be mapped to Data Layer nodes
  • Support of the OPC UA BuildIn types "NodeId", "LocalizedText", "UtcTime" and "DateTime" in the Data lLayer address space
  • Performance improvement for the "Read" and "Write" services for requests with a large number of nodes
  • Support of Data Layer events
  • Support of additional OPC UA built-in data types "StatusCode" and "QualifiedName" in the Data Layer address space
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - OPC UA Client App
  • Auto reconnect function available - an automatic reconnect can be configured for a client session
  • OPC UA methods with arguments of the OPC UA BuildIn types "NodeId", "LocalizedText", "UtcTime" and "DateTime" are supported
  • OPC UA variables of the OPC UA BuildIn types "NodeId", "LocalizedText", "UtcTime" and "DateTime" are supported
  • Support of OPC UA nodes in the address space, with GUID identifier and opaque identifier
  • Support of arrays for structures
  • Support of additional OPC UA built-in data types "StatusCode" and "QualifiedName" in the Data Layer address space
• ctrlX AUTOMATION - OPC UA Pub/Sub App
  
  • Improved diagnostics including cyclic diagnostic messages
  • Support for 64 DataSetWriters, 64 DataSetReaders and 64 Pub/Sub connections

ctrlX AUTOMATION - PLC

• New License model – ctrlX PLC licenses can be selected independently of the hardware used. Scaling factors are now consistently the usable tasks, CPU cores and new - the number of IO data used. The new PLC licenses allows the consistent use of ctrlX CORE through to 3rd party hardware with ctrlX OS.
• New access functions to the ctrlX Data Layer real time, mapping of PLC variables based on the UNION, BIT and ENUM data types is now also supported in the ctrlX Data Layer.
• POUs (program organization units) externally supported, in addition to the creation of POUs in the input languages of IEC 61131, the POUs are implemented in C or C++ in the PLC runtime system (Real time SDK for ctrlX AUTOMATION required)

ctrlX AUTOMATION - MOTION

• Standard Motion
  • Extension of ctrlX Motion app to support up to 128 axes. Performance limits to be verified depending on controller hardware and desired cycle time.
  • Support for multi axes devices with single EtherCAT adress, e.g. multi axes CoE servo drives.
  • New data structure in data layer "AxisStatusDataStructure" to represent axes status.
  • Support for touch probes including time stamp function.
  • Extension of absolute positioning command for modulo axis.
  • Support of PLC open states "stopping" and "stopped" for ctrlX DRIVE axis.
  • New library to support execution, monitoring, reseting and deletion of Python or G-code scripts.
  • Web interface improvements, e.g. possibility to modify axis and kinematic names and support for axis names longer than 10 characters.

• Synchronized Motion
  • Electronic Gear functions that extend the basic motion function with axes synchronization
  • New and extended libraries within PLC Engineering for your synchronized motion program: CXA_Winder, CXA_RegisterCrontrol, CXA_MotionPrinting, CXA_Crosscut
  • Encoder Axis can be used via IndraDrive and ctrlX Drive

• Robotics
  • Delta and Scara Kinematics
  • Functional support for safely limited velocity and safe stop in the Tool Center Point
  • 3D circle
  • PolyTrans with orientation
  • Tool offsets
  • 1D, 2D Orientation transformation
  • Axis and kinematic names can be changed in the web interface
  • Switch on Path with pre-trigger time
  • Feed Group which controls the dynamics calculation of the interpolation

Engineering

ctrlX WORKS Engineering  

• The installation of ctrlX WORKS now only contains SW packages for ctrlX WORKS, Virtual Control and App Build Environment. The installations of ctrlX PLC Engineering, ctrlX I/O Engineering, ctrlX DRIVE Engineering and ctrlX SAFETY Engineering are each provided as individual setups. ctrlX WORKS identifies the versions of the aforementioned SW products installed on the computer and provides them for selection in the Engineering Tools menu.
• ctrlX WORKS supports the creation of setup file repositories (locally or on a server) to display updates and setups.
• ctrlX PLC Engineering
  • “Licensed Software Metrics” information is available on the device node of the control. The parameters to be taken into account for licensing are determined in the current project.

ctrlX AUTOMATION – 3D Viewer  

• The 3D Viewer app now also works without the Motion app. If no Motion axis is defined, only the "Data Layer Variable" connection type is available for the connection to the Data Layer.
• Simulation characteristics can be influenced by linking them with corresponding DL variables that can now be conveniently selected via a DL browser:
  • visibility of workpieces
  • line type of the toolpath
  • automatic deletion of the toolpath
  • visibility, color and/or transparency of model objects
• New settings options, e.g. definition of a favourite model, realtime subscription for axis values to increase the accuracy of the toolpath

ctrlX AUTOMATION – IDE  

• Motion Blocks: added support for selection of multiple coordinate systems
• A global error handler block is now added to every python script
• DataLayer Extension: support for pausing execution until a value is reached
• Improved error messages in Visual Coding

ctrlX AUTOMATION – Oscilloscope  

• New analysis functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
• Support of storing the recorded data to InfluxDB
• Support for ctrlX DRIVE Oscilloscope
• Further UX improvements (scaling options, cursor movements etc.)

ctrlX World – Engineering Tools

• CODESYS - Professional Developer Edition - Professional add-ons to increase productivity
• Bosch Connected Industry - Nexeed Control plus - Machine modelling and PLC code generation

Download

• Download ctrlX OS 2.6 LTS with ctrlX WORKS Engineering 2.6 here.
• Click here to find the app downloads for LTS version 2.6.
• Click here to download the app via ctrlX Device Portal.

Please note:
For downloading you need to be registered at our customer portal "myRexroth". Click the according icon in the upper menu and follow the instructions for registration.

History

Spoiler

Release notes in details are available in the respective app documentation in the documentation system.

Release	Date	Release notes
2.6 SP2 LTS	07/2024	resolved defects & modifications