Wartens LADV · virtual PLCs · open source
A PLC on every desk, no hardware needed.
Choose a controller, download your ladder, and run it against a digital twin that checks whether it works. Real scan behaviour, real limits, real diagnostics, in a browser tab.
Free. No account. Nothing to install.
The line
Four series, sized like hardware
Choosing a controller is part of the job: how many inputs, whether it needs analog, how big the program will grow. The LADV series makes you choose, the way a real project does.
Basic controller. The first one you program.
Small fixed-I/O controllers for learning ladder logic. Enough inputs and outputs for a motor station, a set of traffic lights or a garage door, and small enough that every channel is in view.
CPU 110 · CPU 120
LADV100 in detail →Compact controller with analog on board.
Compact controllers for a whole machine: more channels, analog inputs and outputs, and room for a program split into routines. The series to test real machine logic against a digital twin before the panel is built.
CPU 210 · CPU 230
LADV200 in detail →Advanced modular controller, sized to the job.
Modular controllers on a virtual backplane. Choose the CPU, slot in digital and analog modules, and size the system to the I/O list, the way a line controller is specified.
CPU 310 · CPU 350
LADV300 in detail →Edge controller that runs outside the browser.
The same runtime as a server process that other software can reach over open protocols, Modbus TCP and OPC UA, so a 3D simulator or a SCADA can drive it for virtual commissioning. Designed, not yet built.
CPU 410
LADV400 in detail →Specifications
Every model, side by side
Every limit here is enforced. A program that does not fit is refused at download, with the reason.
| Model | Order no. | DI | DO | AI | AO | Slots | Tags | Rungs | Routines | Fastest scan | Retentive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU 110 | LV100-C110-14DDT | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | - | 64 | 32 | 2 | 20 ms | No |
| CPU 120 | LV100-C120-20DDT-A3 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | - | 128 | 64 | 4 | 20 ms | Yes |
| CPU 210 | LV200-C210-32DDT-A6 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 2 | - | 512 | 256 | 16 | 10 ms | Yes |
| CPU 230 | LV200-C230-40DDT-A12 | 24 | 16 | 8 | 4 | - | 1,024 | 512 | 32 | 10 ms | Yes |
| CPU 310 | LV300-C310-16DDT | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4,096 | 2,048 | 64 | 5 ms | Yes |
| CPU 350 | LV300-C350-16DDT | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 8,192 | 4,096 | 128 | 5 ms | Yes |
| CPU 410planned | LV400-C410-EDGE | 256 | 256 | 64 | 64 | - | 65,536 | 32,768 | 1024 | 1 ms | Yes |
LADV300 channel counts are on board; add LADV-DI16, LADV-DO16, LADV-AI8 and LADV-AO4 modules in the slots. Analog values read 0 to 1000 for 0 to 100 percent across the line.
LADX Twin
Digital twins that mark your program
Each twin is a small process with rules a real one is held to. They are checked while it runs, so passing means the program works, not that the lamps look right.
Beginner · CPU 110
Motor start/stop station
A start button, a stop button, an E-Stop and a motor. The seal-in, done properly.
Teaches: Seal-in circuits, Normally closed stop wiring, Interlocks
Beginner · CPU 110
Traffic light junction
Two sets of lights at a crossroads. A sequence built from timers, with the safety rules checked.
Teaches: TON timers, Timer cascades, Sequencing, Safety interlocks
Intermediate · CPU 110
Sorting conveyor
A belt, two sensors and a pusher. Reject the metal parts, let the plastic through.
Teaches: Sensors and actuators, Combining conditions, Seal-in with a stop
Advanced · CPU 120
Tank level control
A tank, a fill valve and a level transmitter. Hold the level with hysteresis, never overflow.
Teaches: Analog inputs and outputs, Comparisons, Latch and unlatch, Hysteresis, Auto and manual modes
How it fits together
From a rung to a tested program
The virtual controllers are one part of LADX, the open platform for PLC programming. The same program moves through every step.
01
Write the logic
Draw rungs in the ladder editor, or describe them and let the AI write them onto the canvas.
Ladder editor →02
Download to a controller
Choose a LADV model. If the program needs more I/O or memory than it has, the download is refused with the reason.
The lab →03
Run it against a twin
The process responds to your outputs and the objectives tick, or fail, as it runs. Diagnostics read like a real controller's.
Try a twin →04
Take it to hardware
Convert writes the tested logic out as Structured Text, Siemens SCL, Rockwell text or PLCopen XML.
Convert →
What it is
A controller you can learn and test on
- Scan-accurate ladder: input image, output image, per-instruction edges, timers on real milliseconds.
- Fixed channels and memory per model, checked at download.
- RUN, STOP and FAULT, outputs off outside RUN, a watchdog, and a diagnostic buffer with codes.
- Retentive and non-retentive models, so a warm restart is something you can see.
- Open source. Read the runtime, change it, run it yourself.
What it is not
A controller to run a machine
- No fieldbus. A browser cannot speak PROFINET or EtherNet/IP, and does not pretend to.
- No hard real time and no safety rating. Never use it to protect people or plant.
- Not a copy of any vendor's controller. Timings and edge cases differ from Siemens, Rockwell and the rest.
- Not a replacement for commissioning. Test here, then commission on the real controller.
For companies
Your machine, as a twin, before it is built
Wartens builds digital twins of real machines and lines on this platform, so the PLC program is tested and the operators are trained before the hardware arrives. Fixed-price scopes, delivered by automation engineers.
- Virtual commissioning before FAT
- Digital twins of a machine or line
- PLC training for teams and institutes
- Migration from legacy controllers, with tested equivalence
Questions
Asked before trusting a virtual PLC
- What is a Wartens LADV virtual PLC?
- A controller that exists as software. It runs ladder logic the way a PLC does, one scan at a time with an input image and an output image, and it has a fixed number of channels, a memory limit, RUN, STOP and FAULT modes, a watchdog and a diagnostic buffer. The LADV100, LADV200 and LADV300 series run in your browser with nothing to install.
- Can a LADV virtual PLC control a real machine?
- No. The browser controllers have no fieldbus, no hard real time and no safety rating, and they are not meant to run plant. They are for learning, for testing logic before the hardware exists, and for preparing commissioning. Commission on the real controller. The planned LADV400 Edge will connect to simulators and SCADA over Modbus TCP and OPC UA, still for testing rather than control.
- How is this different from the simulator in the ladder editor?
- The same scan engine, with a controller around it. The ladder editor solves your rungs; a LADV controller also refuses a program that needs more inputs than it has, turns its outputs off in STOP, faults on a scan that overruns its watchdog, keeps or loses memory through a restart depending on the model, and is wired to a digital twin that checks whether the program did its job.
- What is a LADX Twin?
- A small simulated process wired to the controller: a motor station, a traffic junction, a sorting conveyor, a tank with a level transmitter. Each has objectives, such as never two greens or never overflow, that are checked continuously while it runs. Nobody marks it by hand, and a program that makes the lamps look right while the tank overflows does not pass.
- Is it free?
- Yes, and open source under the Apache License 2.0. The controllers, the twins and the lab run in the browser with no account. Wartens offers paid help around it, building a digital twin of your machine, virtual commissioning and training, for companies that want it.
- Which vendors' PLCs does it imitate?
- None in particular. The instructions are IEC 61131-3 ladder with Rockwell-style names (XIC, OTE, TON), because that is what most ladder is written in. Programs move to Siemens, Rockwell and CODESYS through Convert, which writes Structured Text, SCL, Rockwell neutral text and PLCopen XML.