Articles and News

Traditionally, body panels are inspected by using a robot to present the part to an array of proximity switches. Ford improved on this method by using machine vision. The camera connects to either the robot or the PLC using the Ethernet/IP protocol.

By John Lewis, Cognex The need to use PCs to interface with vision systems and ID readers required the purchase of expensive hardware and development of sometimes complex software. A new generation of vision systems and ID readers with built-in EtherNet/IP connectivity streamlines factory network integration.

Centero will distribute and support the ISA100 Wireless Device Test Kit and ISA100 Wireless Stack Test Kit.

Using Kepware’s KEPServerEX, Cascades now supports communications across all of its seventeen plants, seventeen paper machines, and nearly ninety converting lines with just one piece of software.

To simplify the development of complex machines, Rexroth is integrating safety technology into the Sercos automation network.

By Julia Santogatta, Belden Wireless can actually be extremely secure, shared medium or not, if you follow the “wireless Golden Rule” and ask yourself some typical security questions when planning a wireless local area network (WLAN).

By David Gustafson, Emerson Process Management It took only two weeks to install the first system, and already it’s saved $100,000 in maintenance costs and increased production by 5,000 tons per year.

By Bill Lydon, Editor By recently joining the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), MOXA emphasized their strong focus on the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT). Another example of this commitment is their increased rugged industrial communications product scope, including security offerings.

By Julia Arneri Borghese, Paradox Engineering When considering a wireless network, the critical decision is how to invest in future proof infrastructures that can provide adequate flexibility and scalability over time. Industrial organizations are not likely to install technologies which bind them to legacy protocols, or force them to replace existing equipment.

Yokogawa will license its ISA100 Wireless technology to Murata and Murata will develop communication modules.

By Jonathan Wilkins A new industrial wireless European standard (EN300328 V1.8.1) threatens to make essential plant control sensors useless. It introduces the “listen before talk” (LBT) protocol as a solution for preserving bandwidth in industrial environments.

On October 21, Dr. Wei Sun, representative of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), made the announcement.

AlarmAgent.info makes a system OPC-compatible, enhancing its existing real-time reporting features by sharing data communication with HMI / SCADA software and third-party customized applications.

The RapID Platform with fido5000 REM Switch chip has been certified to EtherNet/IP CT11 for beacon-based DLR devices.

The RapID Platform with the fido5000 REM Switch chip has been certified to PROFINET v2.31 for Class B and Class C devices.

The industrial automation industry is starting to explore and implement Internet of Things concepts and technology.

HIKOB is a provider of wireless autonomous multipoint data acquisition systems.

The fido5000 REM Switch chip has been certified to EtherNet/IP CT11 for beacon-based DLR devices.

For a period of two days, participants subjected their EtherCAT masters and slaves to rigorous interoperability testing, discussed open questions, and prepared the devices for future marketing.

The company introduced an IP-based remote maintenance system for their products that ensures a high degree of IT security by using encrypted VPN connections and cellular radio routers.