Top 5 Control Engineering articles, June 13-19: Salary and Career Survey, binary-coded decimals, tool calibration and robots, more

Articles about the 2016 Salary and Career Survey, binary-coded decimals and PLCs, tool calibration and industrial robots, high-performance HMIs, and engineering career advice were Control Engineering’s five most clicked articles from June 13-19. Miss something? You can catch up here.

By Chris Vavra June 20, 2016

The top 5 most read articles online, from Jun. 13-19 for Control Engineering covered the 2016 Salary and Career Survey, binary-coded decimals and PLCs, tool calibration and industrial robots, high-performance HMIs, and engineering career advice. 

1. Control Engineering Salary and Career Survey, 2016 

Control Engineering research shows nearly a 5% increase in salaries among respondents to an average of $94,747; analysis of salaries by years with employer shows upward salary pressure for engineering new hires. 

2. Binary-coded decimals and PLCs

Binary-coded decimal (BCD) is a class of binary encodings of decimal numbers where each decimal is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four or eight, which goes against the way humans compute data. This disconnect can cause problems for programmable logic controller (PLC) users.

3. Tool calibration method speeds implementation of 6-axis industrial robots

A teach-position method calibrates tools used by six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) robots for peak efficiency and improves industrial processes.

4. Developing high-performance HMIs: Evolution, improved usability

This two-part series examines the development of high-performance human-machine interface (HMI) methodology. Part 1 covers HMI evolution, security, improving usability, and consistent use of color.

5. Engineering career advice from the 2016 Control Engineering salary survey 

Many subscribers taking the 2016 Control Engineering salary survey provided write-in advice about engineering careers; education, workplace strategies, and project management are among engineering tips and reminders.

The list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on controleng.com, June 13-19, for articles published within the last two months.  

Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.


Author Bio: Chris Vavra is web content manager for CFE Media and Technology.