Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Today we take another dive into the world of new technologies in today's automation ecosystem. For this article, I had opportunity to examine Opto 22's groov EPIC product at the 22nd annual ARC Industry Forum in February.

By CAS Dataloggers With advances in technology and computing power, modern data loggers can reduce the amount of time and effort required to extract critical information. These "intelligent" data loggers incorporate several features that allow them to go well beyond the functionality of a traditional data logger to help zero in on what the user is looking for

Factories of the future will demand advanced circuit protection technology to keep everything connected.

What started as the sole responsibility of engineers and technicians has now grown to become a backbone of business operations as organizations realize the impact maintenance can have on their efficie

Converging networking and other technologies ease remote access from the plant floor to PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

Automation is essential to the implementation of Industry 4.0 and IoT strategies as manufacturers realize low labor rates are no longer a winning strategy.

By Eric C. Cosman, ARC Advisory Group Recently, there have been several efforts to apply and adapt standards developed for one sector or industry to others. ARC Advisory Group expects this trend to continue as industry groups, suppliers, and asset owners strive to optimize their response.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com At Hannover Messe 2018, it was clear that many in the computing industry are focused on implementing a holistic cyber security approach, encompassing the entire architecture including cloud, enterprise, and edge devices. This article will explore some of these efforts and explain how they are shaping the future of cybersecurity in industrial automation.

The development of the HART-IP and WirelessHART communications protocols have created a growing need for battery-powered solutions that can operate without maintenance for decades and provide reliable

The IIoT essentially involves acquiring data from hundreds—if not thousands—of process and equipment sensors, and transmitting the data to central locations via wireless or hardwired networks. Once ac

The Industrial Internet of Things is an important advancement, and a real opportunity to increase ROI and asset value. But first, industrial control systems have to be made secure from hackers and cyb

After another busy year talking to a wide range of users, suppliers and industry consultants, and attending over 20 industry conferences and related events, I have another year’s worth of informed insights to share on the latest trends that will shape automation in 2018.

Industrial companies are leveraging IoT connectivity so customers can have the same level of connectivity in their workplace as they do at home

MQTT appears to be a protocol with a good track record, good adoption, and unique suitability for industrial control systems and IIoT applications.

The cloud is expanding and becoming valuable for improving manufacturing systems.

Data from automation and monitoring systems, leveraged with analytics, monitoring, and reporting, creates the basis for a real-time maintenance program.

Connected manufacturing gives everyone in the organization a voice, from the shop-floor employees to the CEO.

Perhaps no other new technology comes with more promise to manufacturing executives than big data analytics for manufacturing and the process industries.

For on-site & off-site analysis, industrial IoT delivers data to the right personnel without requiring connection to the plant’s real-time control system.

The hyper-focus on IoT is creating an unfocused urgency monitor everything, which could lead to over instrumenting automation systems & creating data noise.