New ISA Book explains networks and their applications

Today's manufacturing processes and controls can require multiple network applications, and so finding the right one is often a challenge for automation and control users. To help make sense of all the automation networks available, the Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) has published a new book, Automation Network Selection, by Dick Caro, a 45-year veteran of industrial automation.

By Control Engineering Staff November 6, 2003

Today’s manufacturing processes and controls can require multiple network applications, therefore finding the right one is often a challenge for automation and control users. To help make sense of all the automation networks available, the Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) has published a new book, Automation Network Selection, by Dick Caro, a 45-year veteran of industrial automation.

Caro provides a complete overview of the various industrial networks, including sensor, fieldbus, and control networks, and then explains their typical applications. He emphasizes the intended application for each network, and notes that, “Any bus can generally be used for any application. However, stretching a bus technology outside its intended area creates more problems than it solves.”

Caro ventures beyond the factory in exploring network technologies, covering Ethernet, LON Works and Profibus, as well as explaining building controls such as those that run HVAC, distributed process controls, and Internet-related applications. He also offers reasons for the proliferation of networks that have complicated the lives of control technicians and engineers.

For more information or to buy the book, visit the bookshop .

—Jim Montague, news editor, Control Engineering, jmontague@reedbusiness.com