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Automation.com, October 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor It is hard to find another platform with the computing power and rapid prototyping capabilities of LabVIEW coupled with NI hardware. Because it comes at a price, their products are used in demanding industrial automation applications out of the reach of typical industrial controllers.

An enhanced PID can simplify the tuning and improve the stability for loops with large and/or variable analyzer update times.

ISA would like to extend a special Thank You to our Partners for their support of ISA Automation Week, the organization and the global automation community.

By Bridget Fitzpatrick Track: Human Performance Bridget Fitzpatrick from Wood Group Mustang presented on the topic of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in the context of Automation projects. The talk centered around defining HFE and providing an overview of how it applies to automation projects.

By Nikki Bishop Track: Asset Performance Wireless instruments, asset monitoring algorithms, and the combination of the two serves as a gateway to overall improvements in plant reliability, allowing operations to take advantage of market conditions to maximize profitability.

By Bill Lydon Executives from supplier and end-user companies, along with a leading industrial business analyst provided their insights into the future of automation and industry issues. Peter Martin, Ph.D., Vice President, Business Value Solutions at Invensys, assembled and moderated the panel. Here's a summary of the discussions.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Greg Hale, Disney's Chief Safety Officer and Vice President, highlights how Disney uses innovative technologies to implement safety and maintenance systems and improve guest experience, including those with disabilities, at all of their theme parks.

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By George Buckbee The line-up includes papers on topics ranging from control hardware to performance improvement and advanced control techniques. Presenters from around the world will give you insight into new and different ways to address control problems.

By Maurice Wilkins Over a three-day period, the Human Performance Track explores all aspects of the process industries from a human perspective from how things are done today to how they may be done tomorrow and also some ideas about how to get in on the act.

By John S. Mitchell Inclusion of condition assessment information into process control and SCADA systems has extended the knowledge base and made operators more aware of production limiting mechanical condition.

By Graham Speake The threat to all companies is real whether it is from virus, worms, and other malware or from a determined hacker inside or outside your company. Large companies who take security seriously and have the luxury of budgetary and manpower availability are not immune from attack and compromise.

By Brad Carlberg This overview includes highlights of three sessions titled, "Plant-wide Wireless," "Energy Harvesting: Powering your Wireless Devices," and "Improving Plant Operations with Wireless."

Do You Care? I Do...

Automation.com, September 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Is it time for DCS suppliers to use open industrial Ethernet protocol standards for their backbone networks? I have asked major DCS suppliers this question and answers vary from supplier to supplier, but there are a few common issues.

Loose and Tight Systems

Self-tuning adaptive control for an industrial weigh belt feeder

Any continuous waste stream is an excellent candidate for a money saving opportunity. Always keep an eye out for them.

Automation.com, September 2012 By Anup Varghese, Beroe Consulting The Media, Entertainment and Technology (MET) industry uses control and process automation equipment and services at amusement and theme parks. The growth of control and process automation in the MET industry is driven by three main factors which contribute to its future development.