One of the reasons - apart from pigheadedness - for the continuing existence of traditional fieldbuses is the lack of determinism in ethernet networking. Even industrial variants rarely show the reliability required by extremely timing-critical systems. There are ways to overcome this, e.g. by tweaking networking protocols and fine-tuning software. A wholly deterministic and specialized operating system could do the trick as well.
Reading the ICS-CERT security alerts on a daily basis can make you despair, even though most of the vulnerabilities and attacks in and on industrial systems aren't actually world-shattering. However, a few of them do stand out - for example when the target is in use extremely often or the vulnerability is fairly easy to exploit.
Another one of those market studies that »unveils« something that's obvious - but there are some interesting and unexpected details. On the face of it, the »Strategic Analysis of Global Machine Safety Market« by Frost&Sullivan states that »with the introduction of stringent safety requirements in developed countries, demand for machine safety solutions is expected to rise significantly« (Really?). More interesting are the implications on developing and emerging markets.
The world market for industrial robots seems to be growing, and according to a study recently published the share of small payload robots is growing stronger than the rest. Where do all those robots go to in times of economical troubles all around the world?
The requirements for Programmable Logic Controllers are increasing continuously, and today's PLCs don't have much in common with their predecessors of a few years ago. The higher complexity brings potential risks that have to be fought off with even more new functions. With the newest member of the S7 family, Siemens tries to bring it all together.
When wireless transmission first had bee introduced to industrial automation, scepticism prevailed. Would RF signals safely go through the electromagnetic pollution on the plant floor? Would anybody be able to access company data with a simple scanning device? An new analysis from Frost&Sullivan describes the current state of WiFi in automation.
It's a phenomenon: While most fieldbuses have more or less vanished, Profibus is not only still around but seems to have become stronger over the past decade with its range of application continually increasing. Thus, the demand for information continues to be high. A 'slide set' is supposed to convey detailed know-how.
In every system with pluggable connections, connecting and disconnecting are weak spots. While a wrong power connection usually shows up soon with some system failure or other, defective data connections are more difficult to diagnose. In case you've been wondering why there are still new types of connectors being developed and existing ones improved: it definitely makes sense.
While industrial automation in general has just made the move towards ccompany-independent standards, new concepts like cloud computing seem to be almost too revolutionary for this industry. As a consequence, equipment providers tread softly and integrate new technology with caution. Why not hide a cloud in an M2M-Platform?
Plant infrastructures in many industries have been working more or less unchanged for years, sometimes decades. While modern industrial communication systems could improve internal processes, a recent analysis from Frost&Sullivan states a conservative attitude toward the implementation of new technologies.
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