Control system, support apparatus, and program for support apparatus

A support apparatus comprising a processor configured to:

• provide a development environment that allows for creating contents of processing to be executed by a control device to periodically perform a control operation for controlling an object to be controlled and for setting a plurality of settings for communication processing by a controller to periodically exchange data with at least one device that is configured to communicate with the control device, the plurality of settings including a settable range of a cycle time for the controller to periodically exchange the data with the at least one device,
• wherein the settable range is determined based on a task cycle time of the control operation performed by the control device and based on a plurality of safety settings
• wherein the cycle time for the controller to periodically exchange the data is an expected packet interval (EPI), and
• wherein the EPI is determined based on the task cycle time of the control operation performed by the control device, a number of connections supported by the control system, a size of data allocated to each of the connections, a processing capability of the control device, and a priority of the control operation performed by the control device.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon an executable program which, when executed by a processor of a support apparatus, causing the processor to:

• provide a development environment that allows for creating contents of processing to be executed by a control device to periodically perform a control operation for controlling an object to be controlled and for setting a plurality of settings for communication processing by a controller to periodically exchange data with at least one device that is configured to communicate with the control device, the plurality of settings including a settable range of a cycle time for the controller to periodically exchange the data with the at least one device,
• wherein the settable range is determined based on a task cycle time of the control operation performed by the control device and based on a plurality of safety settings,
• wherein the cycle time for the controller to periodically exchange the data is an expected packet interval (EPI), and
• wherein the EPI is determined based on the task cycle time of the control operation performed by the control device, a number of connections supported by the control system, a size of data allocated to each of the connections, a processing capability of the control device, and a priority of the control operation performed by the control device.