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HMI, OI January 20, 2020

Industrial HMI migrations: Help with Microsoft Windows 7 expiration

Microsoft Windows 7 expired on Jan. 14, and manufacturers’ human-machine interface (HMI) software may still need help migrating to a supported operating system. System integrators can provide migration assistance to lower cybersecurity risk.

By Mark T. Hoske
AI and Machine Learning January 14, 2020

Cultivating robotics and AI for sustainable agriculture

Technology advances ranging from better autonomous vehicles to smarter machines will help relieve the effects of an aging agricultural workforce and a shrinking supply of workers.

By Tanya M. Anandan
Discrete Manufacturing January 10, 2020

Additive manufacturing: Prototyping reimagined

Advancing innovation: One key player in the aerospace sector has brought reduced inventory cost by 95% with the use of additive manufacturing.

By Amit Chadha

Control Systems

Industry expected model-predictive control (MPC) to naturally expand into the multi-loop control (MLC) region, but that never happened; MPC costs of ownership remain high and MPC remains primarily a high-end solution. MLC represents an important, but under-developed part of the APC matrix spectrum. Courtesy: Control Engineering webcast, Advanced process control: Past, present and future.
PID, APC January 15, 2020

Advanced process control: More answers

After a webcast on “Advanced process control: Past, present and future,” more answers to audience questions are provided by the webcast speaker covering advanced process control (APC) to help with process optimization.

By Allan Kern
Figure 1: FreeWave’s ZumLink IQ integrated with Inductive Automation’s Ignition Edge MQTT installed at one of Sylvan Lake’s field stations. Courtesy: Freewave

Real-time monitoring and control for a water, wastewater operation

January 12, 2020
Figure 3: Realizing the benefit of providing an easy upgrade path, Emerson designed the latest RX3i platform to have the same footprint as existing 90-30 systems and accept both legacy and new I/O modules. Courtesy: Emerson

Modern controllers ease upgrades

January 7, 2020
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IIoT, Industrie 4.0

Left to right: Steven Schneebeli, lead and director of engineering/IT at Malisko Engineering; Nancy Lange, co-founder and COO at Malisko Engineering; Matt Scott, lead and director of mentorship at Malisko Engineering; Dave Blaida, president and CEO at Matrix Technologies; Jeremy Gibbs, director of sales and marketing, Matrix Technologies; Jeff Buck, vice president of engineering at Automationnth. Courtesy: Katie Spain, CFE Media and Technology
System Integrators January 17, 2020

Control Engineering hot topics, December 2019

Control Engineering's most clicked articles in December 2019 included stories about the System Integrator Giants, SIY winners, Engineers' Choice finalists, automation infrastructure, and more. Miss something? You can catch up here.

By Chris Vavra
Courtesy: Control Engineering China

Automation approaches to use when market growth slows

January 11, 2020

Subscription software drives digital transformation

January 9, 2020
See more about IIoT, Industrie 4.0

Process Manufacturing

The rise of sophisticated attacks coupled with the lack of skilled personnel are among the biggest challenges facing operations technology (OT) security. Courtesy: Siemens/ISSSource
Cybersecurity January 17, 2020

Utilities benefit from a risk-based approach to cybersecurity

Utilities need to embrace a risk-based approach to cybersecurity to match the existing basic-level of compliance. See four issues utilities are currently facing.

By Gregory Hale

Machine learning shapes microwaves for a computer’s eyes

January 15, 2020
Members of the Oak Ridge National Laboratories and AddUp team collaborate to target the advancement of materials processes for metal additive manufacturing tooling applications. Courtesy: AddUp Group

Cooperative research and development agreement for additive manufacturing reached

January 10, 2020
See more about Process Manufacturing

System Integration

Intuitive touchscreen displays put a wealth of real-time data and analysis tools at operators’ fingertips so they can monitor, adjust and learn from their machinery while moving through the field. Courtesy: John Deere/RIA
System Integrators January 20, 2020

Top 5 Control Engineering articles January 13-19

Articles about the System Integrator Giants, robotics and AI in agriculture, subscription software, system integrator relationships, and advanced process control were Control Engineering’s five most clicked articles from January 13-19. Miss something? You can catch up here.

By Chris Vavra
With almost half of automation engineering professionals having achieved a bachelor’s degree as the highest level of education, those respondents’ average total take-home pay in 2018 was $115,793. Source: Control Engineering

Learning about the automation engineer

January 12, 2020
The standard way to test new battery designs is time-consuming and expensive. A new research method from Stanford University, MIT, and the Toyota Research Institute aims to change that. Image courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media

Researchers receive grant to enhance solar technology

January 12, 2020
See more about System Integration
New Products for Engineers

Search Products And Discover New Innovations In Your Industry!!

Discrete Manufacturing

PhD student Yan Xiong, Professor Sanat Kumar, Postdoc Jason Kahn, Professor Oleg Gang, and PhD student Brian Minevich, all members of the Soft Matter Lab at Columbia Engineering. The group made and partially characterized various optical and enzymatic materials to demonstrate a new nanofabrication platform. Courtesy: Columbia University
Discrete Manufacturing January 19, 2020

Nanofabrication platform developed for directing components into 3D arrays

By Holly Evarts
A red laser creates nonlinear effects with tiny triangles of gold. The blue beam shows the frequency-doubled light and the green beam controls the hot-electron migration. Courtesy: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech

Laser pulse creates frequency doubling in amorphous dielectric material

January 18, 2020

Info Management

The Global System Integrator Database has 522 system integrators list HMI, human machine interface among engineering specialties; 274 system integrators list PC-based control among engineering specialties. Courtesy: CFE Media and Technology
HMI, OI January 20, 2020

Industrial HMI migrations: Help with Microsoft Windows 7 expiration

By Mark T. Hoske
Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media

Machine-learning tool predicts code’s speed on computer chips

January 16, 2020

Networking and Security

The mathematical definition of a random bit sequence is so simple that it can be summarized in one sentence: A sequence of bits whose next bit is equal to 0 or 1 with equal probability, independent of previous ones. Courtesy: Bar-Ilan University/ISSSource
Cybersecurity January 19, 2020

Method developed for more secure communication

By Gregory Hale
Golden Richard III, LSU computer science professor, associate director for cybersecurity at the LSU Center for Computation & Technology (CCT). Courtesy: Louisiana State University

University receives cybersecurity training grant

January 15, 2020

Workforce Development

Figure 3: As a trusted advisor, you should on the lookout for the customer and help them see what their control system will be or could be in the future. Courtesy: Applied Control Engineering Inc.
System Integrators January 9, 2020

Fostering long-term relationships in the system integration industry

By Ian Burns

System integrator relationships key to manufacturers’ competitive advantage

January 8, 2020