There’s a lot of talk these days about artificial intelligence, the cloud, and cognitive computing.
But what the heck do those things have to do with industrial automation, and why should automation professionals be getting up to speed on these technologies?
Topics: Discrete control, Internet of Things, IoT, Machine builder, PACs, I/O, REST API, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things
In a recent developer survey conducted by the Eclipse IoT Working Group, IEEE IoT, and Agile IoT, 40.8% of respondents indicated that the IoT solutions they were either currently building or planning to build are IoT platforms or IoT middleware.
Almost every large IT or OT company today has some form of IoT platform or middleware.
In fact, right now there are over 150 self-described IoT platforms in the market today. Not neccessarily created equally.
Topics: Energy management, PLCs, IoT, PACs, REST, IIoT, Node-RED
Note that the information below applies not only to PCs, PACs, and PLCs, but to pretty much any industry-standard compliant network device.
There are a ton of great network analysis tools out there today that you can pay huge sums of money for. But a go-to industry standard, and my tool of choice for everyday network troubleshooting, is a free piece of software called Wireshark.
Topics: PLCs, IoT, PACs, Networking, IIoT
This week Opto 22 is exhibiting at the Open IoT Summit in Portland, Oregon. The IoT Summit is a Linux Foundation event, packed with a ton of technology workshops and product demos.
We also exhibited at the IoT Summit last year. It’s a great chance to connect with the Linux developer community and get their perspective on things, since it’s so much different from what a typical industrial automation professional is exposed to.
Topics: groov, Internet of Things, IoT, PACs, API, REST, mobile, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Node-RED, GPIO
Did you watch the Big Game on Sunday, February 5?
Not only was it a great game, with the outcome in doubt till a first-ever overtime settled it, but also... power for the Fox Sports television broadcast never failed.
Pretty important, right?
Topics: groov, Internet of Things, IoT, Machine builder, optonews, PACs, OEM, Integrators, mobile, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, OptoNews 2017-02-15
Announcing the release of PAC Project R9.6000, with new features, enhancements, and bug fixes—available now.
Here's good news for system integrators, OEMs, and others who build PAC Control strategies for users who don't have PAC Control on their systems. PAC Control now provides a command-line interface (CLI)
Topics: Updates, Machine builder, optonews, PACs, OEM, Integrators, PAC Project, PAC Control, OptoNews 2017-02-15
Our developer.opto22.com site gets a lot of traffic from developers working with SNAP PACs, groov, Node-RED, and industrial I/O for Raspberry Pi.
Since all Opto 22 products are designed on open standards, you have a variety of ways to interact with them and integrate with other systems. The developer site helps you do that.
Topics: groov, Internet of Things, IoT, Machine builder, optonews, PACs, OEM, Integrators, API, REST API, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, OptoNews 2017-02-15
Process control systems are used in everything from advanced manufacturing to run-of-the-mill activities at home, like heating your house and brewing your beer. (You do brew your own beer, don't you?)
A control system that manufactures a product requires monitoring and control of many different process variables, while some at home require little more than a timer. For example, in manufacturing we may use flow meters to make sure fluids flow through pipes at a certain rate, or float meters to ensure ingredients fill a vat to a specified level.
When I brew beer at home, I may use a temperature sensor in my mash tun, wired to a controller that’s controlling my heating element to keep the mash tun at just the right temperature for optimum starch-to-sugar conversion. This is an example of a closed-loop control system.
(To see how small closed-loop control principles are scaled up to build industrial process control applications, check out the New Belgium Brewery case study and see how they use Opto 22 gear to brew their world-famous Fat Tire and other beers.)
Topics: Food & beverage, PLCs, Tips, PACs, Oil & gas
So you know .NET—or Modbus—or Python—or HART. Can you use those development tools and protocols (or many others) with Opto 22 products?
You'll find the answer in our new technical note, Communication Tools & Protocols for Opto 22 Products.
Topics: Process control, Internet of Things, Tips, IoT, optonews, PACs, Integrators, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, OptoNews 2017-02-01
You never feel like you know enough about security.
And security issues and recommendations are constantly changing, as the bad guys try to hack in and the good guys try to keep them out.
Here are a couple of new blog posts on this important subject, both by Opto 22's Matt Newton, who has years of experience in both automation and IT (information technology).
Topics: Internet of Things, PLCs, IoT, optonews, PACs, Security, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, OptoNews 2017-01-18