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Jean Femia

Jean Femia writes about technical subjects and has focused on automation and control systems for more than 15 years. She likes learning about technology and taking corners in her Honda S2000.
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Recent Posts

Build mobile interfaces for your Allen-Bradley PLC system

Posted by Jean Femia on Jan 31, 2014 4:00:00 AM

Do you have an Allen-Bradley® PLC? Would you like to monitor or even control parts of your system with your smartphone or tablet?

Our video groov your A-B shows you how easy it is to do exactly that.

Opto 22 engineer Ben Orchard steps you through it:

  1. Import tags from your A-B PLC to the tag server.
  2. Import tags to groov.
  3. Attach tags to gadgets.
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Topics: Videos, groov, PLCs

Case study: Simple tank monitoring helps MSU research labs

Posted by Jean Femia on Jan 30, 2014 1:55:00 AM

Researchers at Michigan State University Foundation's biotechnology research center rely on deionized (DI) water for their experiments.

But with a limited supply of DI water, they sometimes ran out before an experiment was completed.

Facilities Director Phil Hegge knew that the best solution was a costly upgrade to the center's ionization and filtration system. A low-cost temporary solution, however, was to give researchers up-to-the-minute data on the water supply. They could monitor the water level in the tank and know whether to reschedule an experiment.

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Topics: Case studies, groov, Remote monitoring

New gadget improvements in groov 2

Posted by Jean Femia on Jan 13, 2014 4:28:44 AM

A recent OptoForum post (in the groov forum, of course) talks about two new gadget improvements in groov 2: a new feature for an existing gadget and a new gadget.

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Topics: groov, Tips

groov your system: Build interfaces for Siemens PLCs

Posted by Jean Femia on Jan 10, 2014 4:27:00 AM

Do you have a Siemens® PLC system? If you do, take a look at our latest video: groov your Siemens.

The video shows just how easy it is to build an operator interface to monitor or even control your Siemens equipment from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It's Your system on your mobile™.

Opto 22 engineer Ben Orchard walks you through the setup in three steps:

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Topics: Videos, groov, PLCs

Free upgrade to groov 2

Posted by Jean Femia on Dec 10, 2013 5:09:32 AM

If you bought groov before November 22, 2013—either the original groov Box appliance or groov Server for Windows—we've got great news: you get a free upgrade to groov 2. That's an $895 value.

You can download the new version today and start talking to other manufacturers' automation systems as well as Opto 22 SNAP PAC Systems and OptoEMU Sensor energy monitoring units.

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Topics: groov

groov a finalist in Engineers' Choice Awards

Posted by Jean Femia on Dec 10, 2013 4:36:00 AM

Control Engineering's annual Engineers' Choice Awards highlight some of the best new control, instrumentation, and automation products in the industry.

And this year groov is a finalist in the Awards for 2014!

For 26 years Control Engineering has recognized new products, and their 23 categories include a variety of hardware, software, safety, and process control products.

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Topics: groov

New groov 2 connects to all systems, offers free trial

Posted by Jean Femia on Dec 5, 2013 4:15:00 AM

Now you can easily build mobile interfaces for virtually any automation system.

Allen-Bradley, Siemens, GE, Schneider, Yokogawa, Modbus: with groov 2 you can securely monitor and control these and many more systems—through a groov operator interface that you can use on just about any mobile device.

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Topics: Process control, Discrete control, groov, Remote monitoring

Case Study: Mobile interface reduces staff travel

Posted by Jean Femia on Nov 18, 2013 9:27:00 AM

In the Charter Township of Union, Michigan, staff used to have to travel to each equipment location to check on wells, pumping stations, and water treatment plants.

Wastewater Superintendent Michael Dearing and Chief Water Operator Shaun McBride added PCs running HMI software plus remote desktop software to view them, but it wasn't enough.

What they really wanted was a mobile solution to monitor even the smallest installations and check on key process indicators like flow, tank levels, and power consumption.

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Topics: Case studies, Process control, Water & wastewater

groov a Finalist in Control Engineering Engineers' Choice Awards

Posted by Jean Femia on Oct 31, 2013 10:44:00 AM

We're happy to announce that groov is a finalist in the Control Engineering Engineers' Choice Awards for 2014!

The annual Engineers' Choice Awards highlight some of the best new control, instrumentation, and automation products in the industry. This is the 26th year Control Engineering has recognized new products. A variety of hardware, software, safety, and process control products are among the 23 categories.

Awards are chosen by Control Engineering's print and online subscribers—and that means you.

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Topics: groov

New updates announced for groov Box

Posted by Jean Femia on Oct 29, 2013 9:20:00 AM

If you have a groov Box (part number GROOV-AT1), be sure to install these updates. We've fixed some important issues, and you'll want to have the latest groov software.

First step is to activate your Box if you haven't already. You have to activate in order to get updates. Just go to activate.groov.com and follow instructions. Once you've activated, click the Get Updates button.

If you've already activated your groov Box, go to manage.groov.com and log in. Next to your groov, click "Show" in the Updates column.

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Topics: groov

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