ISA Communications Division
This may seem like a crazy tip, but there is a lot more truth in this statement than you might realize. It’s directed to management, but a young engineer may have reason and opportunity to encourage management to do this. Concept: Simple things like strong coffee and a fast brewing pot seem minor, but during [...]
The use of wireless transmission is part of everyone’s life. Every day, companies develop and update products with wireless capabilities. The benefits of mobility make the use of wireless equipment almost a necessity. The online life is now possible not only through computer desktops but also through cell phones, tablets, notebooks, and TVs, which makes [...]
There is a lot of talk today about the integration of the “enterprise” and the “factory floor.” I have enjoyed a lot of this discussion. … There are also new terms being thrown around like digital factory and integrated intelligence. However you look at it, there is more and more talk (and action) toward linking [...]
There has been much advancement in recent years in hardware and software technologies that are enabling more choices in instrumentation that can be put into the field and data that can be brought back to the control room. However, this equipment only provides you with data. This data must be interpreted into practical information in [...]
The addition of new people to the automation profession provides a great opportunity to avoid “reinventing the wheel,” and with the synergy between the new dogs and old dogs—the experienced automation professionals—new ideas are created that fuel innovation. The new dogs can teach the old dogs new tricks, and the old dogs can teach the [...]
Wireless Track: Using Wireless e-Tablet/iPod/iPhone Technology Presenter/Author: Mr. Brian Cunningham, Cooper Bussmann Wireless Business Unit With increasing requirements on plant managers to reduce operating costs and increase safety, wireless connectivity is an attractive alternative to buried cable and conduit. However questions remain as to its performance in industrial settings and more so, what will happen during [...]
Market developments form the foundation of the premier ISA Wireless Factory Automation Workshop, with a focus of “The Last Meter – Leveraging economies of scale of mass market technologies to meet factory automation wireless communication needs at the edge of the architecture.” The ISA Communications Division will host this workshop on 16-17 April at the [...]
In case you haven’t heard, the Society has a new honors and awards program—“Celebrating Excellence.” Thanks to a special task force formed by the ISA Honors and Awards Committee and headed by Dr. Peggie Koon, this new program will re-invigorate ISA’s long standing practice of recognizing individuals and companies that have made significant technical contributions [...]
Once a hacker has gained access to a moderately secured network, they can easily determine the IP addresses of every device on the network. Using port scans, they then can determine if the device communicates through HTTP, SNMP, Telnet, MODBUS, etc. Once the communications protocol has been established, the hacker will first attempt to determine [...]
In preparing for our updated suite of cyber-security classes one idea that has come to the forefront is to set up virtual computers aka: appliance or machines. This would enable us to let our students experiment and not cause damage to the physical computer. I have spent many hours in the last 3 weeks testing [...]
