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By Bill Lydon, Editor The recent ODVA annual conference and meeting provided a number of technology updates to the Common Industrial protocol (CIP) networks, specifically EtherNet/IP and DeviceNet. Topics included a new initiative for the DeviceNet of Things, as well as updates to the Machinery, Process and Energy initiatives. Wireless network and IO-Link integration and IPv6 migration concepts were also discussed.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The OPC Foundation held their General Assembly meeting on December 4, 2013. Dr. Grant Wilson of Emerson Process Management and Foundation Chairman of the OPC Board opened the meeting, and Tom Burke summarized the Foundation’s current successes as accelerating adoption of OPC technology, successful OPC certification program, IEC standardization, and continuous improvement.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Big data is a term used to describe large, complex collections of data sets. Big data is a hot topic in business, manufacturing, and IT circles because, if utilized correctly, it provides an opportunity for companies to improve efficiency and productivity. The challenge for many organizations is that in order for big data to be used most effectively, the organizational silos within companies need to cooperate.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The term reshoring is being used to describe the act of companies bringing back desirable jobs to the United States – those jobs that have been lost to decades of offshoring. This is all well and good, but U.S. companies should not lose sight of the fact that automation is the key to increased productivity and quality.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The improvement of manufacturing productivity and quality requires sharing data and synchronizing controllers. This can now be accomplished by using new standards that were jointly developed by PLCopen and the OPC Foundation.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The huge installed base of automation software running on Windows XP will be vulnerable to cyber-attacks with the end of Windows XP support April 8, 2014. More than 12 years old, Windows XP is the longest supported version of Windows ever and therefore is the most used in industrial automation systems.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Major General Robert E. Wheeler gave a compelling and informative keynote presentation on cyber security at the ISA Automation Week conference in Nashville, TN on November 6, 2013. The cyber security challenges faced by the military and industrial automation systems are strikingly similar.

By Bill Lydon, Editor While industrial Ethernet is being adopted at a high rate, the majority of connected nodes (73%) are still traditional networks like DeviceNet, PROFIBUS, Modbus, SERCOS, Foundation Fieldbus, ASi, and others. In order to gain a clearer understanding of the trends, I spoke with Tom Moore, Research Analyst at IHS's Electronics and Media Group.

By Rick Zabel, as originally published in InTech Here are the results from our 2013 salary survey of automation professionals. With an average annual salary of $106,772 in the U.S., job satisfaction has reached an all-time high of 85%. At the end of the article, the author provides a recipe for achieving the highest possible salary.

By Bill Lydon, Editor As Industrial Ethernet protocols have proliferated on the factory floor, IP devices have become vulnerable to cyber threats. Ironically, while the importance of cyber security protection is being emphasized, the industrial Ethernet protocol associations have no firm plans to migrate to new Ethernet standards that offer higher cyber security protection.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Is it time for a new automation architecture instead of debating over existing ones? I started to wonder about this after reviewing more than 100 comments in our LinkedIn Discussion about my article titled, PLC vs. DCS - Competing Process Control Philosophy.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The umbrella theme of the 2013 event was “Integrated Industry” that encompassed technology, cooperation and collaboration across corporate and sector boundaries. The Integrated Industry theme has become important with the continuing integration of mechanical design, embedded automation/control, business system integration, and machine–to-machine (M2M) communications technologies.

Proactive monitoring of rotating equipment and control systems can increase plant efficiency and reduce unplanned downtime, operating and maintenance costs

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Tofino Security Appliance and its management software withstood a variety of sophisticated reverse engineering attacks conducted by Digital Bond, the world's most respected sources for control system security research.

By Ingenia Field Oriented torque Control of a brushless motor is possible using one shunt sensing circuitry, obtaining an ultra-low cost but high performances device.

InTech, October 2012 By Rick Zabel While job satisfaction remains high (79.9%), this year’s survey indicates salaries are on the rise—up a respectable 4.4% over last year. This rise is indicative of the noticeable increase in the demand for qualified automation professionals.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Hannover Messe provides a unique event to directly see a wide range of automation technology, its application on a wide range of equipment, and the opportunity to talk with users. These are trends and products from the fair that I think are worth noting.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Participants of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable discussed the use of data, modeling and other automation technology for Intelligence-based Manufacturing. The goal is to move from responsive and reactive actions to preventative and proactive manufacturing strategies. This is part 6 of a 6 part article series.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Participants of the Pharmaceutical Automation Roundtable discussed the conversion of production lines from single product to multiproduct, which ultimately creates flexible manufacturing pharmaceutical plants. This is part 5 of a 6 part article series.

This article discusses the fundamentals and challenges of augmented reality (AR) in varied industry applications, specifically in the manufacturing sector.