Articles and News

Presentations from the inaugural OPC Technology Summit have been made available for download at its web site.

The PlantPAx system with EtherNet/IP and ControlNet network connectivity passed tests for “61b,” the Fieldbus Foundation’s most demanding host profile.

In 2011, the FCC said all private land mobile radio licensees operating in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz VHF and UHF frequency bands must change to narrowband technology by January 1, 2013.

Forbes Marshall, an India-based steam engineering and control instrumentation company, has joined ISA100 WCI as a supplier member.

Automation.com, October 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor OPC UA technology provides an efficient and secure infrastructure for communications and has the potential to be the standard of choice to complete the vision of IP to the edge, commonly referred to as the "Internet of Things."

The granting of the official certificate confirms COPA-DATA's zenon OPC UA server meets all of the quality criteria defined by the OPC Foundation.

Automation.com, October 2012 By Nuris Ismail and Reid Paquin This research explores how industry leaders are taking advantage of industrial networking to enable real-time visibility into data to optimize production, maintenance, and safety - in particular, the adoption rate of industrial Ethernet protocols versus Fieldbus.

Frost & Sullivan says the market earned revenues of $218.0 million in 2011 and estimates this to reach $539.5 million in 2016.

Emerson hit 1 billion total hours of wireless operations across 10,000 systems in more than 120 countries.

The PROFIBUS market is expected to grow in 2012 by a further 4 million nodes, to reach a total of about 44 million, taking PROFINET along with it.

Automation.com, October 2012 By Patrick Supanich, Contributing Writer Over the past year, a number of PROFINET technology developments and organizational structure changes have occurred. First, the release of specification Version 2.3 that covers applications from standard to high speed processes. Second, called performance upgrade, has dramatically increase the speed of the PROFINET network.

By Peter Seeberg and Jürgen Lange, Softing OPC specifications are created with the aim of permitting interoperability between products from different manufacturers. To ensure that a product actually complies with the specification it must undergo a series of compliance tests. Part 6 in a series of eight articles.

CDx Series of absolute encoders features a Safety Integrity Level of 3 (SIL3), with high system performance and a low probability of failure.

Upon installation of new controls, the system caused four separate pump stations to compete for water pumping rights at the same time. KEPServerEX solved the problem.

RapID Platform Network Interface has been certified to PROFINET Class B and Net Load Class III.

Kepware links PCs and PLCs to help manage the water supply for more than 2,700 acres in Walla Walla Valley, OR.

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) announced certifications for five additional ISA-100.11a conformant wireless devices.

A report from IDTechEx rambles over RFID, the Internet of Things, and how wireless sensor networks are affecting the world.

Automation.com, September 2012 By Marlee Rosen Implementing secure remote maintenance monitoring and real-time diagnostics reporting can contribute to improved device performance and the reduction of maintenance cost.

System installation costs can be reduced up to 50% by wirelessly connecting the tank farm to the control room, with the added benefit of reducing implementation time as much as 60%.