groov EPIC becomes a Modbus master/client with a few easy lessons.

With Modbus continuing to be a popular protocol for industrial devices, the chances are pretty good you will need to write a program to communicate with Modbus slave/server devices more than a few times. The groov EPIC controller offers several Modbus communication options, and CODESYS, an IEC 61131-3 compliant development environment, is one of them.

With your PLC programming experience and the Using groov EPIC as a Modbus Master in CODESYS course on OptoU, creating a CODESYS project with Modbus master functions will be a breeze.

Prepare to make security changes to your email accounts by May 30, 2022.

For a long time, automation engineers have sent email alerts and reports from automation applications via a ‘throwaway’ Gmail account. This seemed harmless enough at the time and really useful, but it wasn’t very secure. As email abuse has risen over the years, it's time for the “less secure” party to come to an end.

Does this mean an end to all email alerts? Not at all. You just need to adjust your Google Gmail settings and update to a new application password in each application. Of course, this applies (with different end dates) to most other email providers as well as Google; check with your email provider for details. This blog will focus on Google Gmail.

Take part in a new virtual workshop that brings together changemakers in automation.

IntegrateLive! is a new collaboration that aligns integrators, vendors, and end users that share these values:

OPEN: Dedicated to making data flow freely between solutions and willing to work with others, even when they are competitors.
SERVICE: Fair business practices, publicly available pricing, and clear communication about what works and what doesn't.
HUMBLE: Not believing we have all the answers. Together we are better. Striving to learn from others and serve others at the same time.

The end result? An integrated solution ecosystem that you can use to solve everyday industrial problems.

Opto 22 is excited to be a part of this open collaboration and invites you to witness live demonstrations of different vendors' technologies working together.

This post has been updated since it's original publication date. The IntegrateLive! workshop recording is now available for on-demand viewing. Watch now.

Next up in the Node-RED developer video series is a tutorial on adding data tables.

Did you know that you can install additional gadgets to the Node-RED dashboard? Terry Orchard returns to the OptoStudio to show off the features of the ui-table node. Learn how to install the table node package and configure different kinds of tables to fit your needs, complete with several examples using live, real-world data. 

How can you deliver modern Industry 4.0 capabilities that still come in under budget? Harry McCollum of Tatsoft illustrates.

Today’s applications require more than a one-vendor approach. FrameworX by Tatsoft provides an open, extensible software platform as an alternative to the big control vendors. It includes everything you need to build world-class industrial applications at an affordable price: SCADA, HMI, MES, IIoT, mobile, dashboards, and more. With FrameworX, you can do it all without breaking the bank!

New website resources outline how to securely access and share your energy data.

Opto 22 gives you lots of options when it comes to helping you monitor your power and energy usage.  The groov RIO EMU (energy monitoring unit) is an edge I/O module meant for easy distributed power and energy monitoring of one 3-phase load. Check out our previous announcements for all the details.

However, for monitoring multiple loads located near each other, and for a complete system including real-time control, groov EPIC with power monitoring modules might be the better choice.

But, you might have more questions about which is the right solution for you, why and how do you get started monitoring your machine health or energy data? And how do you do it securely?

Check out our new website resources for some guidance on these important energy topics.

Follow along in this new developer series video as Terry Orchard guides you through storing and passing data in a Node-RED flow.

What if you need to snapshot a message from a very specific part of a Node-RED flow?

For those of you who've been using the Node-RED programming tool or are just getting started, Terry's latest video provides some guidance on storing data. In a Node-RED flow, each node can add to, modify, or delete data in different ways.

Watch the recorded presentation from the Spring 2022 CODESYS Tech Talk and see a real-world application using groov EPIC and the CODESYS runtime engine.

If you missed attending the virtual CODESYS Tech Talk earlier this month. now you can watch the Opto 22 presentation on demand.

Opto 22's Benson Hougland, Senior Application Engineer Garrick Reichert, and Allen Ray of Integrate Controls and Automation present a current CODESYS in-the-field application. 

Opto 22 UK distributor System Devices will be featuring groov EPIC and groov RIO at the upcoming Drives and Controls 2022 exhibition.

As the industrial automation industry returns to live, in-person events. we are pleased to announce that System Devices will be exhibiting at next week's Drives & Controls event in Birmingham (United Kingdom). System Devices is a long-time distributor of Opto 22 products as well as being certified IoT OptoPartners and trainers.

Want to get started with MQTT today? Ian Skerrett of HiveMQ shows you how, as our guest series on the open automation ecosystem continues.

Many companies are turning to MQTT and Sparkplug to simplify the process of acquiring their industrial data. MQTT provides lightweight, publish/subscribe communication that allows you to decouple hardware from software. By removing these dependencies, you can also remove the data silos that have existed in many industrial deployments. Sparkplug provides a common format for industrial operators to send data that can be processed by different applications. The openness and data interoperability of Sparkplug makes it possible to start implementing many IIoT use cases.