What is the primary purpose of alias tags in a control system?

The primary purpose of alias tags in a control system is to provide alternate names for existing hardware tags. Alias tags function as a way to create more descriptive or context-specific identifiers for hardware tags without changing their original names or values. This can significantly enhance the readability and maintainability of the code, allowing engineers and programmers to understand the function of various tags more intuitively.

Using alias tags can also improve the development and troubleshooting processes. When an operator or engineer sees a tag name that represents its function, instead of a generic or technical name tied to the physical hardware, it becomes much easier to link that tag to specific processes or operations in the system.

While alias tags may have secondary effects, such as potentially impacting processing load depending on how they are utilized, their main function is focused on providing clearer, more meaningful names to existing tag data. This is distinct from defining new data structures, enhancing security features, or directly affecting processing loads, which are not the primary intent of alias tags.