Ethernet
Seven protocols crash IEC 61158 party
Was it inevitable? Probably. Will it matter in the long run? Probably not—because the Ethernet train is thundering through.Like self-invited guests at an end-of-millennium New Year's bash, supporters of seven fieldbus protocols showed up at a recent meeting on IEC 61158 and basically mugged the guest of honor, according to some present, by inserting t...
Gensym analyzes network performance
Gensym (Cambridge, Mass.) Operations Expert is a graphical software product for intelligent fault management of advanced distributed networks. (For related information, also see Control Engineering June `99 article, ‘Software Tools Can Ease Network Setup and Use.’ ) Operations Expert uses a model of the network, system, and related applications to display objects to be managed and describe their behavior, characteristics, and attributes. Procedures are written or drawn graphically to locate, identify, and respond to various conditions that arise within the application, often large distributed client/server applications that might be unapproachable with conventional application development tools. Basic architecture allows for concurrent processing and provides for processes to be executed when needed.
Schneider Automation, Hirschmann to develop Ethernet solutions
Two developers often are better than one. To deliver better Ethernet solutions, Schneider Automation (North Andover, Mass.) and Richard Hirschmann GmbH & Co. (Neckartenzlingen, Germany) recently formed a long-term, strategic partnership. The two companies signed a memo of understanding at the Schneider Electric exhibit during National Manufacturing Week (NMW).
ARC forum scopes future needs, trends
Challenging manufacturers to respond to Internet and web-based opportunities, Andy Chatha, president of ARC Advisory Group (Dedham, Mass.) kicked off his organization's annual two-day Automation Strategies and Technologies Forum on Feb. 8, 1999. Mr. Chatha says manufacturers must seek to: become web-enabled organizations and cultures; improve ROI of enterprise and ...
Network hits and misses
The list of leading industrial networks for now and the near future reads like a top hits list from the past. According to the Control Engineering 1999 Industrial Networking survey, winning choices are tried-and-true strategies such as Ethernet, EIA-232 (formerly RS-232), and 4-20 mA. This bias toward the old is balanced, however, by a growing acceptance of digital networks and distribu...
Connect and be counted
Control Engineering wants to know what networks you use in your automation applications. In December 1998, we mailed an Industrial Networking survey to a 10% sample of our readers. If you received the survey, please take a few minutes to complete it and send it back. Other readers that want to participate can complete the survey on our web site at www.
The Ethernet wars
Profibus vs. FOUNDATION fieldbus; ControlNet vs. Interbus; DeviceNet vs. SDS; Seriplex vs. AS-Interface—the bus wars continue to rage. But a new challenger has changed the battle.Ethernet, a standard in business networking since the mid-1980s, is touted by vendors and users alike as a contender for industrial applications.
National committees torpedo IEC 61158 in close vote
In a stunning though not unexpected rebuke, the International Electrotechnical Commission's national committees voted Sept. 30 not to publish IEC 61158 as an international fieldbus standard. National members narrowly rejected Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) documents covering IEC 61158's Data Link Layer (DLL) and the Application Layer (AL).
Corrections – 1998-09-01 – 1998-09-01
In the second question of the Q&A sidebar that accompanied the “Implementing Industrial Networks” article in Control Engineering , July 1998, p. 114, misspelled the acronym for the most common cabling scheme, DB9. In Control Engineering , July 1988, p. 133, an incorrect location was given for Emcor Products.
Alliance for web-embedded chip may spark connectivity revolution
No man is an island and pretty soon many factory networks will be a lot less isolated too.To help transform these networks from proprietary islands of automation into globally manageable data and control systems, Osicom Technologies Inc. (Santa Monica, Calif.) unveiled an alliance June 22 of four automation firms it says are committed to Internet- and Ethernet-based control networks.
