What is the Internet of Things (IoT) and what is it good for?

Is anybody actually using it yet for real applications?

Here's a page of resources to answer some of your questions: The Internet of Things.

Topics: Energy management, Videos, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, IoT, optonews, OptoNews 2016-09-14

Tasty and wholesome, the frozen fruit bars made by Natural Fruit Corporation must be stored at precise temperatures.

Although their cold storage rooms were automated, on weekends operators used to have to stop by the company's factory to verify that systems were running and temperatures were within range.

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Food & beverage, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, IoT, optonews, Building management, OptoNews 2016-08-31

One of the world's largest automation events is headed to Chicago!

It's the international trade fair for industrial automation: Industrial Automation North America (IANA).

And here's an even bigger reason to attend: IANA is co-located with IMTS 2016, North America’s leading manufacturing technology trade show.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, Food & beverage, Discrete control, Internet of Things, IoT, optonews, PACs, Events & conferences, REST API, OptoNews 2016-08-17

Actually you can buy this flexible analog input module right now. You'll just need a SNAP PAC brain or R-series controller with firmware R9.5a in order to use it—coming soon!

Designed for 3-wire RTD temperature inputs or high-resolution resistance measurement, the new SNAP-AIRTD-8U analog input module has, yes, 8 points, each individually software configurable.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, optonews, New products, I/O, OptoNews 2016-07-06

Getting Useful Data from Big Data

At the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), researchers analyze mountains of data from widely differing fields, including:

• Supersonic aircraft
• The human brain
• Distant stars

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, optonews, PACs, Integrators, Building management, Modbus, OptoNews 2016-07-06

Say you own a 30-year-old enterprise data center in the Arizona desert, and you're starting to have some problems:

• Aging HVAC and mechanical systems are increasingly inefficient in the hot climate.
• Security systems are no longer adequate.

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, optonews, PACs, Integrators, I/O, Building management, Security, OptoNews 2016-05-25

If you live just about anywhere in the U.S.A., you can probably thank California Controlled Atmosphere (CalCA) for some of the fresh fruits and vegetables you buy. 

In fact, CalCA's industrial refrigeration systems for storing produce can be found throughout the world, reaching to India and China. 

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Process control, Food & beverage, Remote monitoring, optonews, OptoNews 2016-05-11

As "green" power production from sun and wind increases, electrical grids can find themselves with a big problem: too much electricity at once. 

Solar and wind power generation work when the sun shines and the wind blows. But those hours are not necessarily when electrical demand is highest. 

Topics: Energy management, Case studies, Videos, groov, Internet of Things, Remote monitoring, IoT, optonews, Integrators, OptoNews 2016-02-03

In automation, proportional integral derivative (PID) control loops are common, useful, and tricky to get right. 

Each loop is different and each requires individual tuning for maximum effectiveness.

Now here's a new tool to help you tune your PID control loops: our online PID Control Loop Tuner.

Topics: Energy management, Process control, optonews, Integrators, Building management, OptoNews 2016-01-06

Suppose you have an analog input—maybe it's a flow meter, for example—and you want to know not only the current flow rate, but also the cumulative flow over time.

How many gallons went through that pipe over the last 24 hours, or over the last month? 

If you're using an Opto 22 analog input module and PAC Control, you're in luck. 

Topics: Energy management, Process control, Tips, optonews, I/O, PAC Project, OptoNews 2015-12-02