While there seem to be industrial automation applications where the »Windows« operating system is considered useful, there are downsides to implementing desktop operating systems in critical applications. Apart from safety and security considerations, the very Windows-specific question of 32 or 64 Bit is coming up now in those applications as well.
Are fieldbuses really dead? Quite possible, but they are still twitching. A modernized approach to device management in a bus structure throughout all areas of an industrial plant is FDI - Field Device Integration. The industry alliance behind it is working on IEC standardization, and this week's Achema trade show is a step on the way.
As I mentioned before, this year's Automatica show was bustling with robots of all kinds. One of the most tedious but nevertheless challenging tasks is material handling, for example in injection molding processes, industrial applications and food processing. This is where the control system is becoming more important than the robot hardware.
CAN is a rapidly evolving bus standard, many changes reflect rising security and safety concerns as well as user-friendly configuration issues. Often it is the case that various subsystems of a larger system comply to different standard levels. This makes using a single deelopment tool rather difficult.
The partnership between Wind River and Isagraf, announced on SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2011, is taking form. The former RTOS company receives know-how on validated SIL 3 solutions while Isagraf's safety software is being integrated in common products.
Today, control units for industrial automation need to be modular in order to keep cost and integration effort at a reasonable level. Since many of those applications require components (i.e software and hardware) from different vendors, certification and licensing issues arise. Bundles or system platforms may ease those pains.
A manufacturer’s declaration is asked by the IO-Link Consortium for all IO-Link Masters and Devices in order to get IO-Link conformity. Therefore, test equipment is neccessary which allows checking all relevant parameters. A major part is EMC conformity.
Machine-to-Machine communication is a term used for applications ranging from ultra-short range sensor couplings up to large automation networks. None of those pose problems in themselves, but difficulties have been known to arise at gateways to the internet.
The smartphone operating system Android is very versatile, but you wouldn’t want it causing havoc in safety critical systems. However, if you can’t do without and no safer alternative like Blackberry OS or iOS around, virtualization can keep your system clean.
Planning and developing industrial communication systems is a rather difficult task, especially when proprietary fieldbuses are involved. An enhanced tool allows for the direct integration of fieldbus devices into a control system topology using FDT/DTM.
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