PLC Directed Studies
Faculty Mentor
Thomas Welsh
Document Type
Interactive Presentation
Start Date
10-5-2023 11:15 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 1:00 PM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Engineering
Abstract
There are three goals for us: learn about PLCs and ladder logic, implement a simple control system (garage door controller) using PLCs and ladder logic, and demonstrate how vulnerable PLCs are to hackers. This garage door is fully functional with up and down pushbuttons, limit switches, and photo eye feeding our PLC input. Outputs on our PLC include motors that are triggered by relays and LED lights indicating fault occurrence. The PLC was programmed using Connected Components Workbench. Some of the coding techniques will include seal-in logic, direct coils, direct contacts, and reverse contacts. These techniques will be emphasized and explained. Not only do we want to demonstrate our garage door, but we also would like to show how vulnerable PLCs really are to hackers, as they use insecure protocols such as Modbus for communications. We will have a laptop running a Kali Linux virtual machine. With Linux, it will be possible to hack into the PLC and disrupt its normal operation. In industry, PLCs are a huge threat and an issue that has not been completely resolved. This project ties in both electrical engineering and computer science together.
Recommended Citation
Plimpton, John, "PLC Directed Studies" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 29.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p2_2023/29
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
PLC Directed Studies
PUB NCR
There are three goals for us: learn about PLCs and ladder logic, implement a simple control system (garage door controller) using PLCs and ladder logic, and demonstrate how vulnerable PLCs are to hackers. This garage door is fully functional with up and down pushbuttons, limit switches, and photo eye feeding our PLC input. Outputs on our PLC include motors that are triggered by relays and LED lights indicating fault occurrence. The PLC was programmed using Connected Components Workbench. Some of the coding techniques will include seal-in logic, direct coils, direct contacts, and reverse contacts. These techniques will be emphasized and explained. Not only do we want to demonstrate our garage door, but we also would like to show how vulnerable PLCs really are to hackers, as they use insecure protocols such as Modbus for communications. We will have a laptop running a Kali Linux virtual machine. With Linux, it will be possible to hack into the PLC and disrupt its normal operation. In industry, PLCs are a huge threat and an issue that has not been completely resolved. This project ties in both electrical engineering and computer science together.
