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Automation professionals around the world are invited to submit an abstract for the ISA EXPO 2006 Technical Conference Program to be held on 17-19 October 2006 in Houston, Texas. Abstracts are selected based on topic area and presentation category. Topic areas for the event include safety and security, environmental and quality control, industrial networking, process automation, and systems integration.

PackAL will be added to the OPW Guidelines for Packaging Machinery Automation. An updated version of these guidelines is scheduled to be released in April. PackAL is an application library of common software elements used in packaging applications that was developed by the PackSoft subgroup of the OPW. The application library is made up of twenty-three functions. Thirteen functions are machine functions, such as wind/unwind, dancer control, registration, and indexing.

Attendees will receive an introduction to the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM hardware, overview of Industrial Ethernet components and protocols, hands on IEC 61131-3 programming session with live demo PLCs, and review/create web services or applications (such as alarm emails, web pages, etc. from the controller.

The symposium covers all aspects of process composition analysis including analyzer technologies such as chromatography, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, chemical analysis, physical analysis methods, sample systems, and gas and liquid sensors and detectors. The symposium also covers the practical use of these technologies and explores maintenance, systems integration, safety and networking and communications.

The committee will be formed to create a standard that adopts the generic language specified by IEC 61804 to describe the properties of automation system components. The specified language is capable of describing device parameters and their dependencies, device functions, graphical representations, and interactions with control devices.

The newly elected ODVA officers are: President: Doug McEldowney; Executive Director: Katherine Voss; Treasurer: Steve Freedman; Chief Technology Officer: Rich Harwell; and Secretary: Katherine Voss. Elected representatives for the Regular Membership include Dave Dodds and Steve Freedman on the ODVA Board of Directors and Jörgen Palmhager on the ODVA Technical Review Board.

The affiliation will allow both organizations to build on their respective strengths. The two organizations are working through the final stages of the arrangements that would result in WBF functioning as independent affiliate of ISA. Remaining steps should be completed in the first half of 2006.

The Automation Alliance will provide industry wide strategic analysis and coordination through its member organizations. The Alliance will provide technical management, administration, and integrated services such as seminars, web conferences, training, and conference services to be shared among participating organizations.

A variety of products from Agilent Technologies, Keithley Instruments, Inc., Rohde & Schwarz and Symmetricom were tested in key areas of the specification, including LAN functionality, Web interface, programming API and hardware triggering. The event, which took place Feb. 14-16 in Irvine, Calif., was attended by 46 members of the LXI Consortium.

One year after affiliating with ISA, OMAC's outlook is brighter than ever. OMAC is reporting renewed strength in the development and use of open, interoperable control and automation systems technologies for end users, technology providers, and OEMs. OMAC reported on progress made in a number of packaging, manufacturing infrastructure and machine tool initiatives at its annual meeting. The meeting was held in concert with the ARC Next Generation Manufacturing Forum in Orlando, FL.

xCouplers modules install into factory floor PLCs to provide a simple way to exchange factory floor and enterprise server data. They provide a seamless and secure method to provide real time information flow between the plant floor control systems and business systems than conventional HMI- or PC-based custom software methods.

The ISA Foundation is gearing up to give scholarships, encourage student development, and support standards development in 2006. Through the Foundation, ISA awards educational scholarships each year. Scholarships for tuition and research activities are given to graduate and undergraduate students. Students must demonstrate outstanding potential for long-range contribution to the automation profession. Since 2001, ISA has awarded over $135,000 in scholarships to 53 well-deserving students.

Funded by the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (DHS/HSARPA), the PCSF provides an open, collaborative environment for representatives from industry, academia, standards bodies, vendors and government. The PCSF is a neutral entity managed by a public/private collaborative (interim) Governing Board and facilitated by Mitretek Systems.

Azure has received orders from five automation and materials handling OEMs and control systems integrators for its Universal Wireless Gateway. Under the contracts, the Gateway will be used to provide communications over Wi-Fi wireless networks for flexible manufacturing control systems and automated guided vehicles.

The 6th Annual Fugitive Emissions - LDAR Symposium will be held 13-15 June 2006 in Houston, Texas. The symposium covers leak detection and repair (LDAR) methods and fugitive emissions management systems. The event is designed to create a forum in which paper presentations, tutorials, and speaker panels transfer information from the world's leading experts on fugitive emissions and LDAR to industry professionals.

Puma rear-projection Advanced Performance Liquid Crystal Displays (AP/LCD™) have been selected by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to provide a large-scale visualization capability in its Integrated Energy Operations Center (IEOC) at Richland, Wash.

AEC, a supplier of automated machinery and control systems, will integrate KUKA industrial robots into their new family of foundry automation cells. These customized cells are designed for casting, grinding, polishing, and material handling applications in the foundry industry.

The system includes the new Datastick® VSA-1212 Vibration Spectrum Analyzer module that attaches securely to select PDAs running Palm OS; new Datastick Spectrum handheld software that collects and stores vibration measurements while displaying them in time waveforms and FFT spectra complete with alarm levels; and Datastick Reporting System(TM) (DRS) software for PCs, which is based on Microsoft Excel.

The program honors the memory of James (Jim) O. Gray, a long-time leader in the Fieldbus Foundation who passed away in 2002. It establishes a perpetual $250,000 endowment fund providing awards to eligible students studying industrial automation.