We mentioned last year about an iPhone app that monitored Omron PLCs called Scadamobile. The new version (1.3) that was approved on iTunes a few days ago, now supports the Ethernet/IP protocol. This app allows the user to read/write tags in the Logix family (CompactLogix and ControlLogix) of Allen Bradley controllers.
As you may have already heard, the ISA (International Society of Automation) announced last week that it is ending its annual ISA Expo. It will be replaced by “Automation Week”, an event centered around seminars and training rather than trade show booths; held at the Westin Galleria in downtown Houston. Vendors will still be allowed to have booths but will be limited to one 10×10 space each and maximum of 100 vendors.
We did participate in last year’s show and was disappointed with the amount of attendees and the geographics of them. It seemed that the attendees just didn’t have a good mix geographically and were too concentrated — the majority of attendees seemed to be from Texas and the nearby states. The general consensus from those I’ve talked to this year weren’t any different. The event this year drew 8000 attendees, where only 200 registered for the educations programs and there was noticeably less exhibitor booths, a significant drop from the 2008 Expo.
Vendor neutral trade trade shows like ISA Expo seem to be rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Companies are participating more in targeted technology, vendor specific/automation based trade shows (e.g. Rockwell Automation’s Automation Fair). Companies are also leveraging the power of the internet and distribution channels in getting their product announcements out. With several more cost effective ways to announce product releases on the Internet, countless social networking outlets, and limited travel restrictions due to the economy, the lure of traditional trade shows is just not the same as it was. The increasing costs of exhibitor booths, hotel accommodations and the extra costs of booth amenities like electrical outlets, internet, shipping etc. also play apart.
It remains to be seen whether this new format will be embraced (considering the fact that the educational programs this year were poorly attended). The cost/quality of this type of show would be a factor in whether people would fly in for 4 days — ISA would have to make it extremely worth their while. A suggestion has been to move it out of Houston and host it in different states every year. Having it in different states tends to create mixtures of vertical industry focus. I have found that having it in Houston every year tends to shift the focus to the Oil/Gas related industry (for obvious reasons; although not purposely done). It will be good to have a change from that (unintended) focus. Having it in different locations could also play to their advantage as allows them to create a themed approach of the event based on geographical location.
The announcement wasn’t much of a surprise to me, considering the declining participation compared to Expos of previous years and in local ISA chapters too (one in particularly has disbanded in our region). My overall impression is that this announcement was sort of a rushed decision — it seems that they are putting a sudden stop to the Expo without a clear picture/direction of what they are going to do next year.
I am surprised that it has taken this long for someone to come out with a SCADA iPhone app. Sweet William Automation has come out with an app interface (called SCADAMobile) to access and monitor tag variables/ memory of PLCs via the iPhone. This will allow any plant engineer to know the state of their industrial processes and for PLC programmers to have instant access to their systems.
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Any plant floor supervisory or data acquisition system can be done more affordably than ever before if the right approach is taken and the right partnerships are made. (more…)
Beckhoff Automation is yet another manufacturer taking huge steps towards dispelling the *old myth” of “Industrial Ethernet not being deterministic enough”. Beckhoff’s EL6688 EtherCAT terminal allows machines, system components and productions lines to be synchronized with each other via GPS/ DCF77 receives using the IEEE 1588 standard. The distributed clocks within an EtherCAT system allows time synchronization within a 100 ns tolerance. The EL6688 EtherCAT Terminal supports Ethernet-based IEEE 1588 protocols PTPv1 (IEEE 1588-2002) and PTPv2 (IEEE 1588-2008).
The EL6688 is an IEEE 1588 clock (ordinary clock), which, from the perspective of the higher-level master (grandmaster), operates as a slave or supplies the connected EtherCAT Terminals (slaves) as a master via distributed clocks.
It has to be said that the determinism factor is a common apprehension among some control engineers. This results in the (Industrial Ethernet) networking technology being dismissed as being a control system network of choice. Words like “deterministic” and “determinism” are misunderstood when applied to control/ automation networks and often used very loosely in a conversation or when making a decision. In a non time critical application/ network, the real time traffic and latencies within a switched network are very negligible; and it is certainly super fast. Nowadays, switches (which form the backbone of the network) have latencies of around the 20 microsecond range or better. With (Industrial) Ethernet, a properly designed and installed network can be as good as or better than any other type of industrial network — even without IEEE 1588.
Ethernet/IP and Profinet are good examples of technologies that have real time protocols with CIP Sync and Profinet IRT respectively. CIP Sync uses IEEE 1588 clocks on switches and the CIP Sync protocol on distributed devices; and Profinet IRT uses switches and devices with ERTEC (Enhanced Real Time Ethernet Controller) ASICs and 802.1Q. As IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) is embraced and adopted more, maybe we’ll see more Industrial Ethernet usage within areas like motion control and other time critical situations.
Other manufacturers
SyncSwitch TC100 (IEEE-1588 Transparent Clock/Managed Ethernet Switch)
Meinberg LANTIME M600/ Hirschmann MICE MS-20 Industrial Ethernet Switch
Meinberg LANTIME/PTP : PTP/IEEE1588 Ordinary Clock and NTP Time Server
OnTime Networks T200 series – Time sync Ethernet switches
Teletronics Technology NSW -5FT/ NSW- 8GT switches
Siemens SCALANCE X-200IRT switches – Isochronous Real-Time
List of IEEE 1588 product catalog (NIST)
Useful IEEE 1588 links/articles
An introduction to IEEE 1588 (Real Time Automation)
IEEE 1588 and the need for Ethernet Clock Synchronization
Understanding the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol
Using IEEE 1588 for synchronization of network-connected devices
Tutorials (from NIST)
Basics of IEEE 1588
Industrial applications of IEEE 1588 part 1.pdf
Industrial applications of IEEE 1588 part 2.pdf
Telecommunications applications of IEEE 1588.pdf
Test and measurement applications of IEEE 1588.pdf
