Single board

For COM Express to deliver real business benefit, it has to provide one other vital attribute: reliability. We are in the era of “always on” computing: The lights must never go out. And downtime means lost revenue. That’s a challenge in the harsh, hostile environments in which many critical infrastructure systems operate. Today’s connected world paradigm does not make a distinction between systems in stable environments such as offices and data centers, and systems deployed in harsh environments found in heavy industry, on factory floors, on drilling rigs, or on transportation systems.

These extreme industrial conditions require a ruggedized COM Express module. Specifically, they must operate in temperatures as low as -40 oC and as high as +85 oC – temperatures that are often found in oil and gas operations, for example. They must also withstand shock of up to 40g and extreme vibration from machinery or aircraft engines. Conformal coating is needed to resist the moisture, dust, and chemicals typical of industrial environments.

A recent report by IHS has shown that in 2012, capital expenditure on industrial automation equipment in Asia reached a total of $76.6bn, representing 46% of global investments in the sector.

Based on the survey results, this job satisfaction is tied to a number of factors. While salary is a leading factor, it is not the only factor. Like previous years, the feeling of accomplishment rated the highest, with solutions challenge, benefits, salary, pleasant work environment, good relationship with work colleagues, and job security also contributing factors. The top four most important benefits are health insurance (63.6%), pension plan/401K (47.7%), flexible working hours (40.5%), and paid time off (33.2%).

Again this year, we asked respondents to tell us if they were currently seeking new job opportunities. Those who are actively seeking new opportunities made up 8.0% of respondents and had an average annual salary of $98,166—about $8,000 less than the average. Passive job seekers made up 36.9% of respondents, whose average salary was slightly less than average at $104,103. Those not seeking new opportunities (55.1%) were making an above average salary of $109,809.

There is a message here for employers. If you are paying less than the industry average, you could very likely lose your engineers. Based on data from automation techies, a recruiting and contract staffing company based in Minnesota, there is a high demand forautomation professionals, and high-quality candidates are hard to find. When companies do find good candidates, the candidates typically have multiple offers on the table. If your company employs high-quality professionals, pay them well, or you may lose them.

If you made it to this part of the article, congratulations! As a reward, I would like to present you with the following recipe of how to achieve the highest salary:*

Get your B.S. degree (any type of engineering will do). An advanced degree will improve results.
Select an energy-related industry segment.
Select a large company, preferably one with 10,000 or more employees, and stay there for your entire career.
Get your professional engineering (P.E.) license.
Move into a management position where employees report to you.
Work more than 50 hours per week.
Blend in one spouse.
Add one or two children (optional).
Become a member of a prominent industry organization.
Allow ingredients to intermingle during your career.
*Editor’s note: results may vary depending on elevation.

refer to:http://www.automation.com/factors-that-affect-your-salary-what-you-need-to-know

Using Cellular Automation
Cellular automation is the concept of providing remote terminal units (RTU) with cellular connectivity to access data in hard-to-reach locations. Cellular connectivity provides fast and easy access to monitor and control business-critical Solutions at remote sites. This flexibility, however, also requires a level of responsibility that requires enhanced security requirements as well. In some cases, this is new ground for many users, as data security is something that many customers did not focus on in the past since they were using direct circuit connectionsvia modem banks.

These types of connections did not require the same stringent security standards that a cellular connection over an IP networking does. Therefore, as customers migrate toward IP networking and data security is mandated, sourcing and implementing new technologies to support the increasing security demands becomes necessary.

In addition to addressing more stringent security requirements, industrial users face the complexity of having multiple devices to manage and implement for an effective remote monitoring and control solution over IP. The challenge facing many customers is that, on top of their existing RTUs, they must also figure out which of many products they will require. It may be necessary to have a device for cellular connectivity, a Modbus gateway and a security (VPN) device, which is costly to deploy and complicated to administer and maintain.

A cellular automation solution dramatically simplifies this task by integrating automation, routing, security and cellular technologies into one hardened package. A built-in Modbus gateway easily interfaces with existing RTUs and PLCs and provides real-time access to data from pumps, valves, reclosers, transformers, capacitor banks and meters.

refer to:http://pipelineandgasjournal.com/using-cellular-automation-monitor-and-control-assets

When customers come to JAI to discuss a color application, Kinney starts by asking what sort of spatial accuracy the system needs versus color accuracy. “It also depends on data rate,” he adds. “If you need absolute color accuracy of less than 1%, then we usually look at a three-CCD prism camera solution. If spatial accuracy over a wide inspection area is more important, then a very-high-resolution single-chip Bayer camera may be better. If you need high speed, CMOS offers higher frame rates and multi-line sensors with NIR capability and is very effective for high-speed printing applications where colorimetry measurements are very important because NIR can help you judge between true black ink and black made by combining cyan-magenta-yellow inks. And for some printing applications, knowing the difference is important for quality purposes.”

Daylight in a Box
For imaging applications that need to measure multiple colors, white LED lights have supplanted halogen and fluorescent lights for a number of reasons, including LEDs’ ability to offer a wider range of colors and varieties of “white” light, also referred to as the color temperature.

White LEDs are made one of two ways: by applying a phosphor coating over a blue LED light that produces a broadband light closer to white light, or by mixing different-colored LEDs to make a broadband light source. Both methods result in a spectral continuum that is higher in some narrow wavelength bands within the white light spectrum compared to others. For the most challenging color vision applications, designers need to carefully match these “spikes” to the specific wavelengths. This is where choosing a lighting supplier with in-house engineers can really help, adds Metaphase’s Technical Sales Manager, Mark Kolvites. A quality supplier will make sure that the actual red, green, and blue (or more) LEDs mix to create a white light, or the blue LEDs with phosphor coating provide uniform illumination without hotspots that can cause trouble for automated inspection systems.
As the information above shows, color machine vision solutions can require in-depth knowledge of the physics behind machine vision. The good news is that by choosing the right supplier and partner, designers can solve applications where success isn’t just black and white.

refer to:http://www.visiononline.org/vision-resources-details.cfm/vision-resources/Is-Your-Machine-Vision-System-Color-Blind/content_id/4333

Offshore operations

The Situation: A leading global producer of crude oil and natural gaslooked for a way to stay ahead of dynamic market demands and overcome challenges associated with offshore oil and gas Automation. As part of an innovative technology project and with the help of Honeywell, this company built a Solutions to help coordinate control of multiple offshore platforms in the North Sea, and improve operations and efficiency.

The ability to operate and manage operations in a location-agnostic manner opens the door to a wealth of opportunities. For instance, experts and operations staff can be relocated to population centers, and out of harms’ way. They can then be leveraged over multiple assets in real-time to ensure maximum utilization. Networking collaboration also allows for much faster creation and utilization of best practices across a network of operating assets, thereby contributing to better knowledge retention and management as well as greater efficiency, and establishing a true, shared corporate culture throughout the enterprise.
Real-World Stories

refer to:

http://www.automation.com/business-transformation-through-remote-collaboration-optimization-and-operations

Resurgence of the Do It Yourself (DIY) community has driven a range of open networking platforms, giving aspiring technologists cheap and easy access to embedded development. Outside of hobbyist toys and educational devices, however, “hacker” boards are increasing performance and I/O flexibility, and have become viable options for professional product development.

refer to:

http://embedded-computing.com/articles/diy-pushes-open-hardware-kindergarten-kickstarter/

The implications of a secure automation from anywhere in the world extend beyond nightmare troubleshooting scenarios, such as a remote PLC in the middle of a desert with only basic cellular coverage connecting to the primary information center (SCADA PC or database server) across the Internet. How is this accomplished in a secure, simple fashion?

The answer is the humble Virtual Private networking (VPN) connection, sometimes referred to as a VPN tunnel. This particular piece of technology allows two disparate networks separated by the cloud to connect to each other as though they are on the same local networking, albeit with a substantial penalty in connection speed. This penalty is not particularly relevant when passing small pieces of data, such as a SQL command or a Modbus function call. It is now even possible to send programs to PLCs and monitor visualizations of industrial networks across such tunnels. These capabilities allow for truly unparalleled possibilities.

VPNs are typically established between two pieces of network infrastructure, such as a commercial router and an industrial hardware VPN solution. Alternatively, software VPNs are available that would allow a PC to connect to the remote networking. Software VPNs are particularly useful for the traveling technician, allowing remote troubleshooting to one customer’s site while at another site for long-term support. This sort of flexibility means that a technician can, quite literally, be in two places at once.

refer to:
http://www.automation.com/leveraging-it-technology-for-industrial-controls-applications