Edge Computing, Embedded Systems
Xycom Automation bundling software, hardware
To help users avoid Christmas-like "some assembly required" hassles when buying PC controls, Xycom Automation (Saline, Mich.) is bundling soft-logic control with traditional PC hardware. In a discussion with Control Engineering at National Manufacturing Week, Tom Gross, Xycom Automation's ceo, says the remade firm will deliver control products tested to work together, ...
Window CE Moves From Pocket to Control
Serious consideration of Microsoft Windows CE as an operating system for industrial applications began slightly over a year ago. First referenced in January 1997 Control Engineering, most mentions since have occurred in the last six months. In a short period of time, this real-time operating system (RTOS) has managed to focus attention on the little-known embedded RTOS market and has domi...
National Industrial Automation Show and National Manufacturing Week highlights
Chicago, Ill. — National Industrial Automation Show (NIAS), part of National Manufacturing Week (NMW), March 15-18, included the following announcements: Industrial Ethernet association forms In an effort to clear confusion surrounding use of Ethernet in industrial applications, Mike Justice, president of Synergetic Micro Systems (Downers Grove, Ill.) has formed the Industrial Ethernet Association. To start, the user and vendor trade group will use www.industrialethernet.com as a clearinghouse for technical information, including an Ethernet terminology white paper; online discussion forums and published standards also are planned on the website.
5Machine Control Size, Connectivity Drive Hardware Strategies
PLC or PC? If that were the only question facing engineers, then it would be easy. If PC (personal computer) is the choice, then what type of PC? If PLC (programmable logic controller), then should I/O modules be on a backplane or distributed? Add to this the impact of Microsoft Windows CE and Ethernet.
Single-chip disk combines flash memory, controller
M-Systems recently launched a tiny single-chip flash disk, MD2200, that combines a controller and high-density flash memory in a single-die, 32-pin DIP package. MD2200 is the first model in M-Systems' DiskOnChip Millennium series. With 8 MB (64 Mbit) performance, an EDC/ECC controller, a small footprint, and low-power consumption, MD2200 can be used in Internet acc...
Windows CE board support package
San Jose, Calif.— Cell Computing Inc. and VenturCom announced the availability of their new Windows CE board support package (BSP) for the Cell CardPC micro-motherboard. It lets embedded system designers design applications using the Microsoft Windows CE operating system and the industry's smallest Intel Pentium motherboard.
Year 2000 Remediation in Action
With year 2000 less than 355 days away, your facility and business should be well underway with software accessment and remediation efforts.Major manufacturers have to communicate the Y2K message to a number of audiences: employees, shareholders, and customers. While messages may differ, internally and externally, if adequate plans aren't in place, the majority of post-2000 communications...
Windows CE Embeds Itself in Automation, Control, and Instrumentation
Windows CE, the thinnest among Microsoft Windows operating systems, works as fast as PLCs, is moving to real time, and offers developers of automation, control, and instrumentation software the advantages of the Microsoft development world.Windows CE is compatible with existing Windows products, can look like Windows NT to the user, and has reduced memory requirements, less than 1 MB, so ...
Structured programming tools for embedded systems
Sometimes it's fun to imagine what the world might have been like if John von Neumann had a room full of Crays or if Galileo had the Hubble telescope. On a somewhat smaller scale I wonder what my own career might have been like if I'd had something besides machine code back in the days of designing embedded control systems for microwave ovens, simple RTUs, and steam-driven chiller packages.
First PLC for Windows CE
It's not often you see the price leader in a market snare the role of technology leader. Yet this is the case with PLCDirect's (Cumming, Ga.) introduction of two new control platforms for the Microsoft Windows CE operating system (OS).The WinPLC and RuntimePC combine PC-based control software, Ethernet ports, PLC I/O, and flat-panel display hardware with Windows CE.
