Articles and News

The critical selection and proper configuration of an uninterruptible power supply SNMP/HTTP agent option is vital to network security.

Analytical design and analysis of mismatched Smith predictor

Automation.com, February 2012 By Eric Byres, Tofino Security Today’s attacks show a different focus – attempts to steal valuable information that can be used to make a counterfeit product, out-bid a rival, or coordinate a short selling campaign against a company’s stock.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Dr Richard Gooch, Optical Metrology Services For oil and gas companies, pipeline welding is a high precision task that cannot afford any delays. Software and laser-based measurement tools can help to optimise pipe fit-up, reduce welding time and minimise production delays.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Jessica Forguites, Rockwell Automation Embedding Ethernet switch technology into devices brings new advantages to high-performance applications. It simplifies machine design, configuration and maintenance.

What is the effect of the pump on control valves at lower rates?

Automation.com, February 2012 By Adam VanOort, DataNab ModBus and BACnet are the best protocol options to support on open I/O and control devices. Both protocols use RS485 as the communications backbone, i.e., the physical network that supports the data traffic. But what about IP?

Automation.com, February 2012 By Paul Didier, Cisco In production environments, typically the order of priority is Availability, Integrity and then Confidentiality. This is opposite of the priority in IT, where it's Confidentiality, Integrity and last is Availability. That makes a big difference in the way security is approached.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Mark Howard, Zettlex The term ‘tandem encoder’ refers to an encoder with at least two measurement axes but only one power input and one data output. A Tandem approach effectively spreads the cost of a single set of electronics across two (or more) encoders.

Automation.com, February 2012 By David Johnson, FBGS Fibre optic sensors for strain/vibration and temperature based on Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG) offer several crucial advantages to traditional electric sensor technologies. They are unaffected by electrical environments and they permit optical transmission of sensor signals over large distances.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor These results of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable (PAR) Emerging Technology Benchmarking Survey addressed major automation topics including DCS vs. PLC, Fieldbus Technology, Smart Devices, VFDs, PAT, APC, Wireless, Operator Interfaces, Computing Technology, Validation and Skills gaps.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Matthew Littlefield, LNS Research There are a whole slew of new technologies and system architectures being adopted in the automation industry at a very rapid pace. Companies today face the very real possibility that if they don’t effectively understand, adopt, and leverage these new technologies to their advantage; they will be left in an increasingly uncompetitive position.

Excellent temperature control is the key to both distillation and reactor performance.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Thomas R. Cutler 2012 augurs a need for immediate solutions as part of lean best-practices. A kaizen event for distribution must start with the hand truck in the delivery cycle; it represents the obvious place for continuous process improvement, yet consistently overlooked last year.

This is a Q&A with the ISA Boston Section.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The next major frontier in the evolution of open architecture is the development of application standards built around Use Cases to increase automation productivity and efficiency. Packaging machine standards from OMAC's Packaging Workgroup is a good example.

Process control migration best path forward: How do you achieve both when schedule and cost are constraints or better yet roadblocks?

Virtual Boxes

Automation.com, January 2012 By Gianni Minetti, Paradox Engineering Chemical plants struggle with growing complexity and are often instrumented for process control. Wireless sensors might not always be a viable option, while wireless transmission seems to be the best choice. So how to conjugate these two elements?

Automation.com, January 2012 By Sarah Erdman How energy dashboards have evolved over the past several years, mostly for key performance indicators, but now also for educating building occupants to encourage energy efficient practices.