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Powerful market forces are driving exciting changes in the use and design of laboratory automation and robotics.

The HART Multiplexer System by GM International is designed to offer the possibility to reduce the number of multiplexer modules, while maintaining ability to control up to 7936 channels.

RTVN version 18.0 is designed to advance the company’s vision to provide intelligent consumer-driven business networks to organizations across a range of vertical markets, including Retail, CPG, Electronics, Automotive, Defense, Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, and Logistics Services.

Edwards will begin his tenure at the Automation Federation on 26 June. Current Automation Federation Managing Director Mike Marlowe will continue with the organization as Managing Director Emeritus until his retirement in December.

The first step of the CLPA Security WG focuses on network security, especially when the user adopts the SeamLess Message Protocol (SLMP) and CC-Link IE Field Basic where general IP communication is used for both cyclic and transient communications.

As part of the investment, OSIsoft and SoftBank will collaborate on developing new products and services enabling digital transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and strengthening OSIsoft’s presence in new markets.

The ID/MV-30 includes USB connectivity, and may be plugged directly into the PC to power and go. The ID/MV-40 features Ethernet connectivity and a separate power supply.

This family of serial device servers and gateways support most common industrial protocols, with various combinations of HART, HART IP, Profinet, Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, Raw/ASCII, and EtherNet/IP.

The QF-50 is designed for optical positioning applications requiring precision and throughput coupled with long travels. It offers 400 μm closed loop and 450 μm open loop travel, 0.01% linearity, sub-nanometer resolution, and 4 nm bidirectional repeatability.

The sensors with a cable outlet are provided with a cable suitable for E-chain use, and a semi-transparent LED ring at the sensor end, which shows the sensing state from any viewing angle. The sensors are IP67 rated, and have an operating temperature of -25 to 70 °C.

By Markus Brettschneider, ABB Food and Beverage This article explains how food plant managers can add a similar level of connectivity to retrofit most motors with smart sensors to bring their plants to the digital age.

DTN is an independent source of insight and analysis, and decision-support solutions to more than 80,000 subscribers worldwide in agriculture, oil and gas, trading and weather-sensitive industries.

The industrial IoT solution is built on the FactoryTalk Cloud platform from Rockwell Automation, powered by Microsoft Azure. Rockwell Automation and Microsoft have long collaborated on solutions required for industrial digital transformation. The Metso solution is a direct result of these efforts.

The Liwa Plastics Industries Complex is being built in Sohar, on Oman’s northern coast. This package order is for 15 analyzer houses and associated analysis systems consisting of process analyzers and sampling instruments.

By Jan Pingel & Matthew Burd, Honeywell Process Solutions One of the most important characteristics of a connected plant is the ability to increase and enhance collaboration to help solve previously unsolvable problems. The emergence of the cloud-based historian is a key component, therefore, to bringing the connected plant to life because it greatly enables this type of collaboration.

The Transport LCU, which is now available for supply, is installed inside the locomotive and serves as the controlling system for remote, wireless control movement of a locomotive through a railyard and is designed as a small space solution.

The technology cooperation agreement is aimed at testing and improving the use of technologies in power transmission, power distribution, telecom networks, control and instrumentation applications.

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation The combination of data from multiple platforms is now possible because of the OPC UA protocol - an in-demand feature - as the Internet of Things (IoT) gains traction. This article discusses how the open source protocol OPC UA is beneficial for automation.

For this project, ABB will supply the production hoist and all related mechanical and electrical systems at the South shaft of the K3 mine. Mechanical equipment for the friction hoist will include ABB’s synchronous motor and ABB’s SIL 3 rated Safety Brake System to provide safety, security and reliability for hoist operation.

By George Schuster, Rockwell Automation Many safety teams, in comparison, are stuck in the dark ages. That’s because they still rely on antiquated data-collection and reporting techniques. A Connected Enterprise provides an opportunity to close this disparity – and revolutionize industrial safety through the use of safety data.