Automation meets embedded systems July 2017 What do automation and embedded systems have in common? The short answer is: more and more. The annual Embedded World trade fair, held every winter in Nuremberg, Germany, has become the world’s largest ...
How will digital manufacturing impact on IT outsourcing? June 2017, IT in Manufacturing IT in manufacturing is changing fast as companies introduce technologies that reach beyond the factory boundary in line with trends such as Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Future of process control staffing June 2017, News Technology is changing and fast. Labour availability and skills requirements are changing as well. Process control personnel makeup and skillsets have evolved over decades of iterations. The process industries ...
Nick Denbow's European Report: Fashions in sensor technology May 2017, News I confess it was 50 years ago when I started looking at new technology for sensors. Back then, colleagues and I updated the old WW2 mine detector, using really low frequency (i.e. 1 kHz) magnetic waves ...
Control loop: Case History 154 - What happens to the process if the valve jumps? May 2017, Michael Brown Control Engineering, System Integration & Control Systems Design I recently wrote a Case History about control problems in a minerals extraction plant in Portugal, which was experiencing great difficulty with the control on their flotation banks. I have also written ...
Nick Denbow's European report: Advances in battery technology April 2017 The opportunities for spin-out businesses and industries from university research projects are multiplying. The growth in this sector comes from the acceleration of technology in general, but also because ...
Control loop: Case History 153 - Why is the control so terribly erratic? March 2017, Michael Brown Control Engineering, Motion Control & Drives I was recently asked to advise on a bad pH control problem in a water treatment plant. A new carbonisation bay had been installed at the plant: Figure 1 shows the layout of the bay and controls. Raw water ...
How to build a cloud IoT system around a manufacturing process February 2017 Cloud-based IoT is a potential game changer that allows businesses to extend and further automate their processes using data from lots of sensors outside the factory by leveraging global infrastructures ...
Nick Denbow's European report: Scada and disruption in the IoT era December 2016 What is to be the next generation of automation systems, to take advantage of the Internet of Things (IoT)? The large automation systems offered by the major suppliers of today were initially developed ...
Nick Denbow's European report: The latest robots are friendly November 2016, News We all know what a robot is. But then it really does depend on whether you immediately think of them in ‘sci-fi’ films, or paint spray booths, or welding on automotive production lines, or stacking in ...
Control loop: Case History 151 - The myths surrounding deadtime dominant processes November 2016, Michael Brown Control Engineering, System Integration & Control Systems Design The practice of industrial feedback control is one of the most misunderstood engineering disciplines in the world. The theory was developed by eminent mathematicians in the early 1900s and was based on ...
Nick Denbow’s European report: Sales and marketing people to admire September 2016, News There is a family-run DIY shop in Winchester: it does not have the attractive displays of the DIY supercentres, it is crammed with stuff in crowded aisles, and you have to ask where to look for anything. ...
Case History 150: Mystery in distillation column temperature control. September 2016, Michael Brown Control Engineering The longer I work in the field of control loop optimisation, the more I learn that things often do not work the way one expects. I have spent over 30 years optimising literally thousands of feedback control ...
Cybersecurity implications of the Industrial Internet of Things Technews Industry Guide - Industrial Internet of Things 2016 ARC Advisory Group’s long-running research into industrial control systems (ICS) and ICS cybersecurity provides a unique vantage point for assessing the cybersecurity implications of the emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Nick Denbow's Industrial Internet report: The future for IoT Technews Industry Guide - Industrial Internet of Things 2016 Richard van Hooijdonk, a ‘Trendwatcher’
For the Yokogawa European conference, their Trendwatcher was Richard van Hooijdonk, from the Netherlands. A well-known radio lecturer, Richard is also a lecturer ...
Nick Denbow's European report: Fresh air with Brexit August 2016 Having been a silent voter during the run up to the referendum, and appalled by the rubbish pedalled by the politicians on both sides, I was delighted to discover that despite my reservations about leaving ...
