Showing off: Variety of HMI products debut at NMW

HMI-related products and services made their presence felt at the National Industrial Automation show during National Manufacturing Week last month. Introductions included new HMI integration technology, a line of wireless monitors and displays, and two handheld devices.

By Control Engineering Staff March 11, 2004

HMI-related products and services made their presence felt at the National Industrial Automation show during National Manufacturing Week last month. Introductions included new HMI integration technology, a line of wireless monitors and displays, and two handheld devices. Highlights of the new products are outlined below.

Wonderware and ArchestrA business units of Invensys Systems Inc. announced that GE Fanuc HMI technology can now be integrated with Wonderware’s Industrial Application Server, which is built on the ArchestrA industrial automation and information software architecture. Proxy object lets system integrators and end users tightly integrate GE Fanuc iFix and Fix 32 HMI installations with the server. The server is the core distributed application development and supervisory software platform for Wonderware’s FactorySuite A2 product line, which leverages ArchestrA technology. It provides a unified environment for visualization, plant history, device communications, and supervisory plant automation and information application integration.

Current GE Fanuc HMI systems can be easily integrated into the overall architecture of a comprehensive factory or plant project along with Wonderware’s InTouch HMI product. Users can easily expand or migrate current applications using Wonderware products and ArchestrA technology. “Using this proxy object, users are able to create an object within the Industrial Application Server that can be deployed to represent an iFix or FIX 32 HMI machine,” said Tim Black, device integration product manager for Invensys’ Wonderware and ArchestrA business units. “The software can be deployed on a machine with one of these legacy HMI products.”

Underlying OPC technology allows for easy browsing and selection of items to be configured and monitored.

JETT-RFID customizable handheld computer from Two Technologies is suited for applications that use RFID technology.

In other show activities, Two Technologies introduced the JETT-RFID model to their line of customizable handheld computers. The device is enabled with a 13.56 MHz reader/writer and features Microsoft Windows CE .NET 4.2 operating system and Intel XScale Technology processor. Billed as a cost-effective solution in a variety of applications that use RFID technology, the unit can read and write to most industry standard 13.56 MHz RFID tags and smart labels.

QTERM-G55 handheld graphic operator interface terminal from QSI Corp. is rugged and lightweight.

Three-Five Systems, Inc ., electronics manufacturing services and display solutions provider, revealed plans to market wireless monitors and display systems. The products will target the industrial and medical marketplace and use patent-pending wireless technology developed by Avocent Corp ., a supplier of KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switching, remote access and serial connectivity solutions. Wireless capability will be embedded directly into the monitor itself. The configuration will let customers replace existing monitors or displays without adding wireless equipment. New monitors and displays will use the industry standard IEEE 802.11a protocols and interface with any remote computer up to 100 ft away with connections provided through Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for secure transmission of audio and streaming video data. Products will be available later this year.

QSI Corp . announced the QTERM-G55 handheld graphic operator interface terminal. Newest addition to the family of Qlarity terminals is rugged and lightweight; it uses screen graphics and a keypad interface and can be equipped with two EIA-232, 422, or 485 serial ports, Ethernet 10Base-T or a Power-over-Ethernet (IEEE 802.3af) interface. The unit has a 320 x 240 pixel, grayscale graphic LCD and is viewable in most lighting conditions. It uses an object-based graphic terminal programming language called Qlarity and can act as a simple control panel interface or accommodate a complete stand-alone application.

—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com