Articles and News

Automation projects are the final stage of a bigger project and have time limitations; team member qualification and project scope definition are critical.

A pressure transmitter is connected to the analog input card of a PLC. The 4-20mA input value from the transmitter is converted into equivalent raw counts.

By Chris Leone, Erran Kagan, and Luna Koval, Electro Industries/GaugeTech Over the past few decades, cyber security has become a serious concern of banks and large commercial corporations. But what about the energy sector?

Control performance is affected by wireless link quality, which in turn is adversely affected by severe propagation loss in harsh industrial environments, co-channel interference, and unintended inter

During a January preview for the event, over 120 journalists, including yours truly, gathered for presentations and discussions from the Hannover Messe team, and over 40 exhibitors, expanding on the topics and technologies that so many will experience

By Simon Gibbs, Intertronics It is important to efficiently create a high-quality prototype. This article explains how design engineers can benefit from UV curing when 3D printing prototypes.

High-profile cyberattacks and security breaches are reminders that a comprehensive security plan is needed to protect industrial control systems and the critical infrastructure they control.

An optical isolation circuit is used to provide a barrier between the field wiring & associated field wiring issues (shorts, ground loops, transients, etc.)

By Mark Checkley, KEB Automation While feedback devices may be the usual choice for control of motors, sensorless closed loop control can provide design engineers and machine builders with the ability to add value and a competitive advantage to their machines.

The Industrial Internet of Things offers much greater availability of data to provide the knowledge needed to sustain and improve plant safety, reliability and performance.

By Gernut van Laak, Group Automation Solutions Leader, ABB Food and Beverage The need for factory maintenance often goes unnoticed. This article explains how plant managers can budget for maintenance and ensure optimum efficiency for all processes.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Collaborative robots are re-defining the way manufacturers operate today. To help further that process is Universal Robots (UR), a collaborative robot manufacturer driven by a vision & mission to help industries become more productive, with a particular focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

By Jeff Burnstein, A3 The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) reached out to several large automation integrators to get their input on the drivers, challenges, and opportunities in implementing collaborative robots.

Chemical plants demand fault detection schemes to ensure high product quality, reliability and safety under different operating conditions.

By Thomas R. Cutler Digital Visual Management on the manufacturing plant floor is secure by creating virtual meeting rooms for real-time, 24/7, multi-site collaboration.

A well-designed, integrated building automation system seamlessly integrates lighting, elevators, boilers, chillers, fire protection, generators, access control, and HVAC control systems, which may al

By James Davey, Boulting Technology Despite their resilience and rugged design, PLC-based control systems can still break down and their failure can lead to costly downtime. This article discusses the top causes of PLC control system failure.

By Zane Blomgren, Tripwire There is little doubt that the need for OT operators to adapt to stronger cyber security postures is getting increasingly urgent. Yet, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions that could very well hinder many operators from taking the appropriate actions

Leaks occur in an inherently stochastic environment and context so there is no reason to presume there is anything deterministic about them.

By Mike Santori, National Instruments The IoT and IIoT are making test more complex. IoT technologies can help address automated test challenges. Engineers need to understand and focus on the use cases with the most business value.