OpenDAX

OpenDAX is an open source, modular, data acquisition and control system. It is licensed under the GPL (GNU General Public License) and therefore is completely free to use and modify. OpenDAX is written primarily for Free operating systems like Linux, BSD and Darwin (Mac OS X). We are making every effort to make the code as portable as possible but these are the big three that we will do development on.

OpenDAX could be used for anything from controlling the air conditioner in a home to controlling an entire industrial facility. Depending on what modules are installed and run it could be used as the firmware for a dedicated Programable Logic Controller (PLC) or a Home Automation system. It could loosely be compared to DCS (Distributed Control System) or a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. Eventually the system would be able to scale up to a several hundred thousand tag system. At this moment the code is far to immature to be used for anything that required reliability but we hope to get it to that point sooner or later. Much will depend on how many developers take up the challenge to help work on the code.

DAX stands for Data Acquisition and eXchange.

OpenDAX works by combining a backend program (opendax) a library (libdax) and set of modules. The opendax server handles the managing of the database, the messaging and the modules.

The modules do all the work and communicate with the opendax program through the libdax library. There will be modules for reading and writing to I/O points, data logging, alarming, machine interface, and logic. It will even be possible to use programs that were never written to be OpenDAX modules. These programs can be started from the OpenDAX process and have their STDIN and STDOUT piped to other modules so that they can be controlled. This will keep the OpenDAX system from having to reinvent the wheel if there is an existing program to do the work. Some examples might be using 'dc' for abitrary precision math, or mpg123 as a tone generator. Any program that you can interact with from the command line should work with OpenDAX as a module.

If you would like to know how you can help with the project see the Contribute page.