Search

By George Buckbee The line-up includes papers on topics ranging from control hardware to performance improvement and advanced control techniques. Presenters from around the world will give you insight into new and different ways to address control problems.

By Maurice Wilkins Over a three-day period, the Human Performance Track explores all aspects of the process industries from a human perspective from how things are done today to how they may be done tomorrow and also some ideas about how to get in on the act.

By John S. Mitchell Inclusion of condition assessment information into process control and SCADA systems has extended the knowledge base and made operators more aware of production limiting mechanical condition.

By Graham Speake The threat to all companies is real whether it is from virus, worms, and other malware or from a determined hacker inside or outside your company. Large companies who take security seriously and have the luxury of budgetary and manpower availability are not immune from attack and compromise.

By Brad Carlberg This overview includes highlights of three sessions titled, "Plant-wide Wireless," "Energy Harvesting: Powering your Wireless Devices," and "Improving Plant Operations with Wireless."

Automation.com, September 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Is it time for DCS suppliers to use open industrial Ethernet protocol standards for their backbone networks? I have asked major DCS suppliers this question and answers vary from supplier to supplier, but there are a few common issues.

Automation.com, September 2012 By Anup Varghese, Beroe Consulting The Media, Entertainment and Technology (MET) industry uses control and process automation equipment and services at amusement and theme parks. The growth of control and process automation in the MET industry is driven by three main factors which contribute to its future development.

By Peter Seeberg and Jürgen Lange, Softing An overview of collaborations between different organizations—including ADI, FDI, FDT, ISA-95, MES, MIMOSA, ODVA and PLCopen—and the OPC Foundation, and the resulting OPC UA Companion Standards. Part 5 in a series of eight articles.

Automation.com, September 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Rockwell Automation is clearly focused on building a process automation business to compete in segments that have traditionally been dominated by DCS suppliers. I recently visited with their PlantPAx experts to discuss the system and explore this business initiative.

test

Automation.com, February 2012 By Dr Richard Gooch, Optical Metrology Services For oil and gas companies, pipeline welding is a high precision task that cannot afford any delays. Software and laser-based measurement tools can help to optimise pipe fit-up, reduce welding time and minimise production delays.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Eric Byres, Tofino Security Today’s attacks show a different focus – attempts to steal valuable information that can be used to make a counterfeit product, out-bid a rival, or coordinate a short selling campaign against a company’s stock.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Adam VanOort, DataNab ModBus and BACnet are the best protocol options to support on open I/O and control devices. Both protocols use RS485 as the communications backbone, i.e., the physical network that supports the data traffic. But what about IP?

Automation.com, February 2012 By Paul Didier, Cisco In production environments, typically the order of priority is Availability, Integrity and then Confidentiality. This is opposite of the priority in IT, where it's Confidentiality, Integrity and last is Availability. That makes a big difference in the way security is approached.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Mark Howard, Zettlex The term ‘tandem encoder’ refers to an encoder with at least two measurement axes but only one power input and one data output. A Tandem approach effectively spreads the cost of a single set of electronics across two (or more) encoders.

Automation.com, February 2012 By David Johnson, FBGS Fibre optic sensors for strain/vibration and temperature based on Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG) offer several crucial advantages to traditional electric sensor technologies. They are unaffected by electrical environments and they permit optical transmission of sensor signals over large distances.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Jessica Forguites, Rockwell Automation Embedding Ethernet switch technology into devices brings new advantages to high-performance applications. It simplifies machine design, configuration and maintenance.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Thomas R. Cutler 2012 augurs a need for immediate solutions as part of lean best-practices. A kaizen event for distribution must start with the hand truck in the delivery cycle; it represents the obvious place for continuous process improvement, yet consistently overlooked last year.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Matthew Littlefield, LNS Research There are a whole slew of new technologies and system architectures being adopted in the automation industry at a very rapid pace. Companies today face the very real possibility that if they don’t effectively understand, adopt, and leverage these new technologies to their advantage; they will be left in an increasingly uncompetitive position.

Automation.com, July 2012 By Inge Hübner After some teething problems, wireless technology, such as WirelessHART, is becoming more and more established in the process industry.