IAA Feb/March 08

Water & Wastewater

CAD/ERP Data Integration

Strategies For Growth

Industrial Ethernet

PACs

MICA(P) 327/10/2007 | Feb/Mar 2008

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contents feb/mar 2008

30

programmable automation controllers

42

Power Of The PAC

Open Source Business Applications: The Next Big Thing?

With over 70 percent of the websites powered by Apache web server and a good proportion of them running in Linux, it is undeniable that open source movement has a leading role in powering the Internet revolution.

By Jeremy Yap and Varun Shrestha, both directors at PBA Solutions

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

46

Ultrasonic Level Sensors: Back To Basics

An introduction to ultrasonic level sensors and some difficulties faced when using them. By Derek Rodriguez

48

Flowmeters: Strong Growth For Pressure Transmitter Market

Strong growth for the worldwide pressure transmitter market is predicted.

By Dr Jesse Yoder, president of Flow Research Inc

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

24

The Face Of Change

Meeting the changing needs of manufacturers through advanced system integration practices. By John Nichols, Apex Manufacturing Solutions

30

Programmable Automation Controllers: Power Of The PAC

A PAC can be used as in a wide variety of applications in a wide set of domains within the manufacturing enterprise.

By Billy Piovesan, Field Sales Engineer, Advantech eAutomation

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

FEATURES

28

CONTROL POINTS

34

Belden: Revitalised & Recharged Belden’s looking towards an accelerated revenue growth in industrial markets with its expanding global reach and a strong portfolio. By Derek Rodriguez

Mesh Networks: The Future of AMI

Lower bandwidth mesh networking devices based on protocols such as Zigbee are a viable tool for the end points of an AMI network. By Jerry Armes, Consulting Engineer, Micronet Communications Inc

38

Industrial Ethernet: Staying Ahead Of The Pack Future prospects for traditional, non-Ethernet based industrial device networks look increasingly narrow as industrial Ethernet applications continues to migrate to lower levels of the industrial automation hierarchy.

By Augustine Quek

38

All Geared Up! A brand new look

staying ahead of the Pack

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contents feb/mar 2008

50

water & Wastewater: water world

Industrial Automation Asia (IAA) is published 8 issues per year by Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-02 EPL Building Singapore 169206.

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SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

50

Water & Wastewater: Water World

Lower total cost of ownership by implementing build-in redundancy, while retaining existing hardware investment. By Christine Lesher, Communications Specialist, Citect

IN BUSINESS

54

Strategies For Growth

Improving productivity across the enterprise, not just the plant.

By Larry O’Brien, analyst with the ARC Advisory Group

DESIGN FOCUS

58

CAD/ERP Data Integration: Two Ways About It Enabling manufacturing companies to extract and transfer metadata from CAD/PLM systems directly into ERP.

By Ricardo Talbot, Science Officer of Elmo Solutions Inc

Regulars 8 News 16 Profibus Association S E Asia 18 CAN in Automation 20 Fieldbus Foundation 22 EtherCAT Technology Group 62 Products & Services 70 Calendar of Events 72 Advertising Index / Ad Sales Office 72A Product Enquiry Card

EVENT REVIEW

66

NIDays 2008: Parallel Innovation

This one-day event showcased the latest software tools, hardware platforms, and commercial technologies impacting system development. By Derek Rodriguez

54

strategies for growth

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Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte Ltd 5 Bedok Road Singapore 469270 Tel: 6249 3704 Fax: 6249 6248 www.yokogawa.com/sg

One technology, two instruments, all bulk solids

Now Now forfor allall bulk bulk solids: solids: the the VEGA VEGA radar team team Now for allradar bulk solids: the VEGA radar teamfor virtually NewNew at VEGA: at VEGA: Radar Radar levellevel measurement measurement for virtually all bulk all bulk solids. solids.

One One technology, technology, two instruments, two instruments, all bulk all bulk solids: solids: VEGAPULS VEGAPULS 67 is67 more is more New at VEGA: Radar level measurement for virtually all bulk solids. universal universal and and reliable reliable thanthan ultrasonics ultrasonics – without – without costing costing more. more.

And And the the One technology, two instruments, all bulk solids: VEGAPULS 67 is more mostmost difficult difficult application application conditions conditions are handled are handled

by VEGAPULS

by VEGAPULS 68. With 68. With universal and reliable than ultrasonics – without costing more. And the this team, this team, the radar the radar worldworld market market leader leader VEGA VEGA can now can now offeroffer the optimal the optimal most difficult application conditions are handled by VEGAPULS 68. With solution solution for any for bulk any bulk solidsolid application. application. this team, the radar world market leader VEGA can now offer the optimal VEGAPULS VEGAPULS 67 67 VEGAPULS 67

VEGAPULS VEGAPULS 68 68 VEGAPULS 68

VEGAPULS VEGAPULS 67 67 solution for any bulk solid application.

VEGAPULS VEGAPULS 68 68

Pressure Pressure

up to 2up bar to 2 bar

up to 40 upbar to 40 bar

Measuring Measuring rangerange

VEGAPULS up to 15 upmto 1567m

VEGAPULS up to 70 upm to 7068m

Pressure Temperature Temperature

up bar...

-40to...2-40 +80 °C+80 °C

up bar -40to...40 -40 +200 ...°C +200 °C

Measuring range Application Application

up to 15 m universal universal (replacement (replacement for ultrasonics) for ultrasonics) -40 ... +80 °C

up to 70 m extreme extreme conditions conditions (dust, (dust, noise,noise, heat) heat) -40 ... +200 °C

universal (replacement for ultrasonics)

extreme conditions (dust, noise, heat)

Temperature Application

VEGA Instruments (SEA) Pte Ltd

25 International Business Park #04-52 German Centre Singapore 609916 Tel: +65 6564 0531 Fax: +65 6567 5213 Email: sales@sg.vega.com www.vega.com www.vega.com www.vega.com

editor’s page

Water orried Over

Published by:

EASTERN TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD

(A fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd) Managing Director

Kenneth Tan

Managing Editor

Eileen Chan eileenchan@epl.com.sg writer

Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. In spite of this statistic, there is a distinct shortage of potable water, especially in Third World nations. Healthline Networks, an online health information service provider, states that dehydration is a major cause of infant illness and death throughout the world, accounting for about two million deaths per year in developing countries. Living in a society where drinkable water is just a tap away, this is very hard to swallow.

On the brighter side, there is reason for optimism. The projected progress of the wastewater recycling industry is an extremely encouraging trend for any advocate of life. According to a market report compiled by Frost & Sullivan (pg 53), the accumulative spending on the water treatment sector in Australia is approximated at an impressive US$5.5 billion and has a calculated annual growth rate of 5 percent until 2009.

Cultivating awareness of water scarcity is another step in the right direction. Events like the Asiawater 2008 event scheduled to be held in Malaysia from April 1–3 should help in this regard.

On the surface, such events serve only a business cause.

However, industrialisation and urbanisation does promote a demand for clean water and this will accelerate technological advancements in wastewater treatment as well, like Singapore based energy retailer PowerSeraya’s new S$20 million (US$14.1 million) desalination plant; the first in the world using 16 inch reverse osmosis membranes.

It is perhaps human nature to take things that are readily available to us for granted, be it tangible objects or immeasurables like love. Only when they are taken away from us do we realise their importance to our survival. The lack of safe-to-drink water is an issue that many of us do not recognise as a valid concern. The fact that less than 70 percent of the Asian population have access to potable water means that this is a problem, not just in faraway lands, and it has to be addressed.

Industrialisation and urbanisation promotes a demand for clean water and this will accelerate technological advancements in wastewater treatment as well

Derek Rodriguez derekrodriguez@epl.com.sg Senior Editorial Assistant/ Marketing Support

Norjana Taib norjanataib@epl.com.sg

Senior Art Director/Studio Manager

Lawrence Lee lawrencelee@epl.com.sg Graphic Designer

Katherine Ching katherineching@epl.com.sg Sales & marketing Manager

Caroline Yee carolyee@epl.com.sg

Circulation MANAGER

Rayney Caroline Virgina carolinerayney@epl.com.sg Circulation Executive

Agnis Lim agnislim@epl.com.sg Contributors

John Nichols, Jerry Armes, Augustine Quek, Harry Forbes, Jeremy Yap, Varun Shrestha, Billy Piovesan, Dr Jesse Yoder, Christine Lesher, Sarah Wang, Ricardo Talbot, Larry O’Brien Editorial Consultants

Jim Pinto

Industry Analyst

Alastair Ross Director, Codexx Associates Ltd

supported by:

EASTERN HOLDINGS LTD executive Board Chairman

Stephen Tay Executive Director

Kenneth Tan

Financial Controller

Boris Chan

etm

Eastern

Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company

Head Office & Mailing Address: Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-02 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Website: www.iaasiaonline.com Email: iaa@epl.com.sg MICA (P) No. 327/10/2007 ISSN 0219/5615 PPS 1561/7/2008 (000553) Co Reg No. 199908196C

Eileen Chan

6 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Colour Separation: Pica Digital Pte Ltd Printer: Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd

ENQUIRY NO. 756

INDUSTRY NEWS Advantech Introduces Embedded Software Services Taipei, Taiwan: Advantech recently announced the introduction of Embedded Software Services (ESS) that include Embedded BIOS, Embedded OS and Advantech’s own SUSI API solutions. Advantech’s ESS are a user-friendly bridge to simplify hardware and software application implementation.

Advantech provides fully-featured Embedded BIOS that has many options and extensions. They have also defined a new embedded BIOS core architecture. By optimising and modularising the BIOS core structure, customers can configure BIOS core features and easily build their own unique and stable BIOS for specific vertical market demands.

For fast project startup, Advantech offers Windows CE & XPe application ready platforms that come with fully integrated and licensed Windows Embedded solutions. To fulfill customer’s specific requirements, unique utilities and pre-configured OS images are provided. Key features include Watchdog, registry cleaner, registry flusher and more.

Sato Reports Record Sales Singapore: Sato financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2007 (for period April to September 2007) was the highest ever for a half-year result.

Standing at US$365 million, the result is an increase of 7.5 percent from last year. The operating income stood at US$20 million (up by 9.7 percent from last year). Outside of Japan, printer unit shipments saw a 50 percent increase from 2006’s first half, and overseas sales grew by 12 percent, driven primarily by increased deals from the transportation and retail industries in the US, and by the upward trend in the economies of Thailand and China (especially in the manufacturing sector).

Conversely, operating income (up US$2 million from 2006) has been negatively impacted by continued restructuring efforts aimed at the previously acquired Checkpoint and METO businesses in Europe.

“While the European restructuring remains as our key challenge, our business is growing strongly on a global basis and we are confident that all necessary restructuring measures in Europe can be completed within this fiscal year so as to further accelerate our growth momentum,” said Kaz Matsuyama, MD of Sato International.

ENQUIRY NO. 0201

ENQUIRY NO. 0202

To realize safety, comfort and fulfillment in people’s lives and contribute to the global environment through "human-centered automation".

Fiber Sensors Photoelectric Sensors

Massflow Meters / Controllers Temperature / Process Controllers Inductive Proximity Sensors

ENQUIRY NO. 735

ENQUIRY NO. 735

Solid State Relays

Yamatake Controls Singapore Pte Ltd

Blk 26 Ayer Rajah Industrial Estate, #01-06/07/08, Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore 139944.

Tel: (65) 6778 5966 • Fax: (65) 6778 0012 • Website: www.yamatake.com.sg

8 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Xinneng Energy Implements Proficy Process Systems Virginia, USA: Xinneng Energy Ltd, a supplier of energychemical products and services in the Jiangsu Province, Zhangjiagang, China, has implemented its new process control system, the Proficy Process Systems released by GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms.

When Xinneng Energy set up their new plant in Zhangjiagang, the company designed the plant to be able to produce one million tons of DME (dimethyl ether) per year on three production lines. Proficy Process Systems will be controlling those lines and will take over two lines that they plan to bring online in 2008.

Proficy Process Systems is an integrated system that offers increased throughput, performance and efficiency. The foundation of the system is a contemporary infrastructure that offers the benefits of both traditional DCS and PLC/HMI systems, without many of the historic limitations of those approaches.

Said Steve Hogge, Control Systems Commercial Director, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, Greater China: “It is estimated that the first big market for DME is South East Asia, including countries like Japan, China, Korea, India and Taiwan. And, GE Fanuc is pleased to be there on the forefront to help them succeed.”

ENQUIRY NO. 0203

Coresonic and SySDSoft Announce Joint Marketing Agreement Sweden: Coresonic AB has announced a joint marketing agreement with SySDSoft Inc to promote and market each other’s complementary technologies as complete packaged solutions to mobile device developers and manufacturers.

Rick Clucas, CEO of Coresonic, said: “Between our two companies, we’ll provide a complete package comprising the world’s most area and power efficient next generation baseband processor with PHY firmware, MAC layer and protocol stacks, allowing an OEM or ODM to quickly integrate a WiMAX or other IEEE802.16-based system-on-chip into their product.

Customers can come to either company for this complete package, giving them a single contact point for support and development.”

The initial focus of this collaborative effort is on producing a WiMax demonstrator, and the companies intend to add WiFi and Bluetooth support to meet customer needs.

ENQUIRY NO. 0204

Experience Control However You Like : Experience Control However You Like : Open, Compact & Distributed Open, Compact & Distributed

Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) with Integrated Programmable Automation SoftLogic and with HMIIntegrated Functions Controller (PAC) SoftLogic and HMI Functions

Incorporates with PC-based Computing

Performance and PLC-based Reliability Incorporates with PC-based Computing Performance and PLC-based Reliability

Real-time OS using Microsoft WinCE5.0 and

Real-time OS using Microsoft WinCE5.0 and ProConOS Runtime Engine ProConOS Runtime Engine

Supports 5-standard IEC 61131-3 Programming

Supports 5-standard IEC 61131-3 Programming Languages (LD/FB/SFC/IL/ST) Languages (LD/FB/SFC/IL/ST)

Complete PC-based I/O with 1 x VGA, 2 x LAN,

Complete PC-based I/O with 1 x VGA, 2 x LAN, x COM 2 x USB 4 x4COM andand 2 x USB

Comprehensive I/O Modules Comprehensive I/O Modules (even(even acceptaccept direct direct Thermocouple Inputs) Thermocouple andand RTDRTD Inputs) Open Architecture andand Modularized Design for for Open Architecture Modularized Design Complex Control andand Enterprise Network Integration Complex Control Enterprise Network Integration

Advantech’s PAC Series Advantech’s PAC Series

Open PAC System 8-slot Programmable Automation Controller

© 2007 Advantech Co. Singapore Pte Ltd

www.advantech.com

8-slot Programmable Automation Controller

UNO-2171KW

Distributed PAC System UNO-2171KW

AMAX-2050KW

Distributed PAC System AMAX-2050KW

Distributed PAC SystemGX2-400 Distributed PAC Programmable Automation Machine Control BoxSystem Controller with PC/104 Expansion with AMONet Interface Programmable Automation Controller with PC/104 Expansion

GX2-400 Machine Control Box with AMONet Interface

ENQUIRY NO. 743

ADAM-5550KW

Open PAC System ADAM-5550KW

www.advantech.com

© 2007 Advantech Co. Singapore Pte Ltd Singapore (South Asia Pacific Headquarter) Tel: 65-6442 1000 Email: sg@advantech.com Australia, Melbourne Tel: 61-3-9797 0100 Email: info@advantech.net.au Australia, Sydney Tel: 61-2-9482 2999 Email: info@advantech.net.au India, Bangalore Tel: 91-80-2337 4567 sales@advantech.in Thailand, Bangkok Tel: 66-2-248 Email: sales@advantech.co.th Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60-3-8075 SingaporeEmail: (South Asia Pacific Headquarter) Tel: 65-6442 10003140 Email: sg@advantech.com Australia, Melbourne Tel: 61-3-9797 01006196 Email: sales@advantech.com.my Penang Tel: 60-4-397 3788 info@advantech.net.au Email: sales@advantech.com.my Email: info@advantech.net.au Australia,Malaysia, Sydney Tel: 61-2-9482 2999 Email: India, Bangalore Tel: 91-80-2337 4567

Email: sales@advantech.in Thailand, Bangkok Tel: 66-2-248 3140 Email: sales@advantech.co.th Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60-3-8075 6196 Email: sales@advantech.com.my Malaysia, Penang Tel: 60-4-397 3788 Email: sales@advantech.com.my

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Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 9

INDUSTRY NEWS

Telepath Launches Demodulator IC Singapore: Telepath Technologies, a Chinese company offering semiconductor solutions for mobile broadcasting based on China’s China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) standard, has launched a demodulator integrated circuit that allows on-the-go digital television reception for universal broadcasting via mobile handsets, personal media players and other portable electronic devices.

The product development is a joint effort between Telepath and Infineon Technologies. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is responsible for integrated silicon manufacturing.

The demodulator IC, S301AB, is the first silicon solution of its kind that fully addresses multiplexing and de-multiplexing applications at various data rates and in different demodulating modes. Based on 0.13micron process technology, S301AB is fully compliant with CMMB channel transmission and multiplexing standards. It supports SDIO, SPI and I2CD interfaces, and enable other portable device manufacturers to incorporate the demodulator in a wide range of RF solutions and application processor platforms. Pilot production shipments are expected by early 2008.

16.05.2007 12:06 Uhr ENQUIRY NO. 0205

Singapore: Fujitsu Electronic Devices Group Asia is investing in Chengdu West Star Chips to boost its R&D capabilities in Chengdu, West China.

With Fujitsu as a majority shareholder, West Star will be mainly engaged in R&D development of semiconductor devices for digital audio and video, microcontrollers and analogue products. West Star has relocated to new premises to accommodate the expected expansion of its R&D team by over 300 engineers in the next three years.

West Star specialises in both domestic and overseas digital audio and video markets for its high-performance semiconductor devices. The company has also registered several technical patents and completed several turnkeys in video processing applications. Currently, its collaboration with customers has been expanded from the HDTV market to the applications including video conversion, monitoring and projectors, and will continue to exploit new fields.

With the collaboration, West Star will continue to enhance Fujitsu’s offerings in multimedia imaging technology. In addition, it will integrate Fujitsu’s technical experience in microcontrollers and power management ICs. It is envisaged that West Star will eventually develop complete solutions for digital TV, consumer electronics, automotive applications Seite and 1 industrial control.

ENQUIRY NO. 749

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System Configuration

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igus® Singapore Pte Ltd No.15 Shaw Road, #03-02 Singapore 367953 Phone +65-6487 1411 Fax +65-6487 1511 asia-sales@igus.com.sg

10 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

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ENQUIRY NO. 0206

Touch by

Tel: +603 8070 8866 • Fax: +603 8070 8899 Email: sales@mytek.com.my • Website: www.mytek.com.my

www.iaasiaonline.com

ENQUIRY NO. 736

SI-697-CF98INI 85x114

Fujitsu Microelectronics Invest In Chengdu West Star

INDUSTRY NEWS

Dow Chemical And Kuwait PIC Ink Petrochemicals JV Michigan, USA: The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of the State of Kuwait form a 50/50 petrochemicals joint venture.

“We’re creating a petrochemicals company that will be a global leader from its first day of operation, an US$11 billion company that is well positioned to grow profitably across the industry cycle,” said Andrew N Liveris, Dow Chairman and CEO. To be headquartered in the US, the joint venture will manufacture and market polyethylene, ethyleneamines, ethanolamines, polypropylene, and polycarbonate. The JV is expected to have revenues of more than US$11 billion and employ more than 5,000 people worldwide.

Said Saad Al-Shuwaib, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation: “By selectively investing in downstream petrochemical businesses, we are maximising the value of Kuwait’s hydrocarbons resources while diversifying our national economy and increasing job opportunities.”

ENQUIRY NO. 0207

www.turck.com

Honeywell Signs Main Automation Contractor Agreement

INTELLIGENT FLUID SENSORS • Maximum operating comfort The new generation provides a recessed button for storing modified values in addition to two buttons for quick menu scrolling.

• Highest level of flexibility with mounting A freely rotatable sensor body with a tilted display which can be rotated using software by 180° and which offers all installation possibilities.

• Highest level of precision 0.5 % of the full scale with pressure sensors and 0.2 K with temperature sensors provides a very large range of applications with very few variants.

• Highest level of system reliability The robust design featuring a stainless steel housing, EMC and IP67 degree of protection provide the highest levels of operational safety.

TURCK Singapore Pte. Ltd. 25 International Business Park #03-22/23 German Centre, Singapore 609916 Phone +65 6562 8716, Fax +65 6562 8719 E-Mail singapore@turck.com

Sense it! Connect it! Bus it! Solve it!

ENQUIRY NO. 0208

www.iaasiaonline.com

ENQUIRY NO. 754

Phoenix, USA: Honeywell announced a six-year agreement with BP Exploration to provide Main Automation Contractor (MAC) services at the oil and gas leader’s new and existing facilities. Honeywell will help BP Exploration & Production (E&P) accelerate production schedules and improve efficiency in these facilities by integrating all levels of plant operations and automating critical processes.

As the MAC services provider, Honeywell can apply its integrated strategy to each design phase, including frontend engineering development, early operator training and process simulation, advanced control modelling, process validation and advanced process control. This integrated approach will result in common interfaces across production and business systems for increased safety and efficiency, higher plant availability, lower operating expenditures and reduced engineering.

With Honeywell’s deep technology portfolio and integrated MAC approach, customers can intertwine process control, manufacturing execution systems (MES) and safety and security solutions. They can also further streamline implementation through the use of wirelessenabled applications such as Honeywell’s OneWireless industrial mesh network.

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 11 S0200_80x240_Druck-Temperatur_EN.indd 1

01.02.2008 08:03:54

INDUSTRY NEWS

Vacon To Acquire AC Drives Business Of TB Wood’s Finland: AC drives manufacturer Vacon is to acquire the AC drives business of TB Wood’s, which is part of US-based Altra Holdings Inc. After the acquisition, TB Wood’s AC drives business will be merged into Vacon Group, and Vacon will have sales on all continents, and R&D and production on three continents. The transaction includes two factories in the United States, one factory in Italy and one in India, and a sales company in Germany. The aggregate purchase price will be US$29 million.

“This acquisition will give a significant boost to Vacon’s growth potential and market position, since the product ranges and customer bases of the companies complement each other,” says Vesa Laisi, President and CEO of Vacon Plc. Vacon and TB Wood’s have cooperated for more than 10 years. TB Wood’s brand will be replaced by the Vacon brand over a transition period of 18 months.

TB Wood’s has been operating in the electronics business for about 40 years, and has extensive know-how in application development and in designing AC drives for harsh environments, which will expand Vacon’s product offering. The size of the market for these AC drives is about US$300 million.

ENQUIRY NO. 0209

ENQUIRY NO. 739

Fluid sensors and diagnostic systems

ifm electronic

Level sensor with integrated leakage monitoring.

Safely detects sudden and progressive leakage in Hydraulic systems.

Freely programmable operating switching output.

Additional switch point designed as overflow protection.

2 configurable switching outputs for the detection of leakage.

Easy medium selection via the user menu.

Direct indication of the current level by LED display.

email: sales.sg@ifm.com • website: www.ifm.com 12 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Realignment Of The Baumer Group Frauenfeld, Switzerland: As of the beginning of April 2007, all group companies appear under the single Baumer corporate brand. The motion control sector has been strategically expanded with IVO, Thalheim and Hübner Berlin. The acquisition of the Bourdon-Haenni Group, specialists in instruments and sensors for process automation, opens an entirely new field of business.

The added access to pressure sensors eliminates a missing part of the product portfolio.

The common name and the reorganisation of the sales and marketing companies are designed to accelerate internationalisation and bring products and solutions more rapidly and efficiently to worldwide markets. During the past 12 months, companies were founded in China, Singapore and India. Existing outlets will continue to be expanded in Western and Eastern Europe as well as in North and South America.

ENQUIRY NO. 0210

ITER Organisation And Japan Ink Procurement Arrangement Chateau de Cadarache, France: The Director General of the ITER Organisation, Kaname Ikeda, and the Director for International Affairs Dept, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Toshi Nagaoka, signed the first Procurement Arrangement between the ITER Organisation and the Japanese Domestic Agency at the end of November 2007.

The Procurement Arrangement is for part of the conductor for the 18 Toroidal Field (TF) coils that will confine the plasma within the ITER machine. “Being the first Procurement Arrangement, it clearly signals that ITER procurements have begun and on a big scale”, said Mr Ikeda.

With the manufacture of approximately 400 tons of niobium3-tin (Nb3Sn) conductor cables it is one of the largest superconducting cable procurements in history.

The coils are designed to have a magnetic energy of 41 Giga Joules and a maximum magnetic field of 11.8 tesla. Each strand has about 10,000 micron-scale filaments per strand.

ENQUIRY NO. 0211

Your competent partner for pressure measuring

techniques from 1 mbar to 1000 bar

ENQUIRY NO. 738

www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 13

INDUSTRY NEWS

Siemens PLM Software Expands Development Centre In India Pune, India: Siemens PLM Software has expanded the capacity of its operations in India by opening a much larger, development centre to accommodate up to 1,100 employees. The division’s India-based development team has experienced a growth rate of 30 percent (CAGR) over the last few years.

The new facility, recently inaugurated by its president, Dr Helmuth Ludwig, currently employs 800 individuals responsible for many of the division’s software product developments, modules and service engagements on a global basis.

Siemens PLM has operated in the Indian subcontinent for nearly 20 years and has more than 2,200 customers throughout the country. Its customer list includes leading manufacturing enterprises from such industries as automotive and transportation, machinery, aerospace and defence and numerous small to mid-sized businesses.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

APPOINTMENTS & NOTICES Prima Appoints Technical Director Minnesota, USA: Prima North America Inc, the North American subsidiary of Prima Industrie Spa, Torino, Italy, announced today the appointment of Peter G Thompson to the position of Technical Director for Laserdyne Systems.

Mr Thompson’s duties would include a combination of advanced process development and technical support.

Global RFID Market To Grow Dublin, Ireland: The global industry for RFID technology has been growing steadily for the past few years, and is still expected to grow rapidly before stabilising and settling on a steady growth path, according to a new report entitled ‘Global RFID Market Analysis until 2010’ by Research And Markets.

The global RFID market was estimated to grow at over 115 percent in 2007 over the previous year. But, in future, major growth will be seen in countries such as the US, UK, Japan, China, and Thailand, with the market being forecast to grow at a moderate CAGR of around 20.7 percent from 2008 to 2016.

ENQUIRY NO. 0213

Entry-Level Industrial Ethernet Switches starting at $119 (USD)

Hirschmann Appoints Dr Babel CEO

Bosch Rexroth Installs Dr Hieronimus as CEO Stuttgart, Germany: Effective February 1, 2008, Dr Albert Hieronimus, 60 is to be the chairman of the Bosch Rexroth AG board of management. Dr Hieronimus is currently Managing Director of Motor Industries Company Limited (Mico), the Bosch Indian subsidiary headquartered in Bangalore.

Dr Hieronimus will retain his links with India, becoming chairman of the Indian company’s board of directors also effective February 1, 2008.

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Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 15

ENQUIRY NO. 752

Schalksmühle, Germany: Dr Wolfgang Babel, 50, has been appointed CEO of Hirschmann Automation and Control, Neckartenzlingen, and Lumberg Automation.

Dr Babel has been a member of the Hirschmann executive since October 2007 and succeeds Reinhard Sitzmann, who will be concentrating on several Supervisory Board appointments.

News Updates Performance Of Profinet The consistent use of Ethernet in automation systems produces a big cost reducing potential in planning, commissioning and maintenance of networked automation systems in the machinery and equipment building industry.

This fact was one of the main motivations of PI (Profibus & Profinet International) to pursue the development of Profinet.

Within the framework of the project titled ‘Real-time Ethernet in sensor/actor networking’ supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the potential of today’s real-time Ethernet systems are analysed by the Institute Industrial IT of the University of Applied Science of Lippe and Höxter (inIT). The focal point here is on the really achievable performance under real conditions in typical applications.

The project reveals that the underlying individual frame setup of Profinet offers the biggest performance potential in real machine and plant structures. In this respect, it became obvious that in the field of complex machine/plant structures the Profinet performance is significantly better than all other systems.

Optimisation potential exists only in simple line structures in case of small data volumes. On account of approaches for optimisation which can be included easily in today’s Profinet technology, Profinet can be used also in the field of simple sensor/actor networking with a pure line topology and its typically small data volumes per subscriber.

Activities have already been initiated in this respect, which are aimed at the specification and test of compatible extensions. With this measure to optimise IRT, Profinet is developing into the best performing Ethernet system in all applications used in industrial automation systems.

In addition, the project has revealed that Profinet profits from the Ethernet evolution (such as increase of the bit rate to 1GBit/s) more than any other systems, which makes Profinet is the fastest and most universal real-time Ethernet system which offers the openness for TCP/IP and IT communication at the same time. This guarantees a high degree of security for the future.

Profinet can be used also in the field of simple sensor/ actor networking

In the field of complex machine/plant structures the Profinet performance is better than all other systems

16 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

ENQUIRY NO. 0220

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ENQUIRY NO. 647

Newsdesk

Setting the

Standards

By configuring instead of re-programming, modules from different machine manufacturers could be integrated very easily. By Holger Zeltwanger, MD of CiA

W

hat is common to cable, chewing gum, glue, tablets, and breakfast cereals? Machines from the same manufacturer produce them. The Coperion Group has sold more than 500 production machines for very different purposes. The machine control system is based on devices from Bernecker & Reiner, most of them communicate via CAN networks.

Most of the I/O modules and the frequency inverters use the CAN interface. The main target was the reduction of cost and time for the system integration. This was achieved by standardising the control software.

The maximum software functionality is installed in all machines. The software functions are reduced, if they are not needed, by configuration. The benefit for the machine builder: Depending on the application requirement, software modules are just enabled or disabled.

No reprogramming is required!

Of course, this concept is possible with any network technology that provides peer-to-peer communication.

But nowadays, many leading companies support CAN interfaces in their I/O modules and drives or motion controllers. At the SPS/IPC/Drives fair in Nuremberg 2008 most of the motion control companies presented an implementation of the CiA 402 drive profile. Just at the end of the exhibition, the IEC published the CiA 402 profile in the new IEC 61800-7 standard series. The profile covers frequency inverter, servo controller, and stepper motors.

Whatever production machinery is being developed, you need motion 18  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

The Coperion Group uses machine control system based on devices from B & R, most of which communicate via CAN networks

controller and drives. CAN-based solutions usually provide sufficient bandwidth to control the drives, even if there are several ones in the machine.

Only about 5 percent of the applications require very high-speed networks. Local computing power is available in many drives so that the system designer is able to decentralise motion control software.

Decentralised and distributed control architectures do not require very fast communication networks. Most of the tasks are managed locally in the sub-systems and devices. The critical part in any control system is the physical layer of the communication network.

The higher the bit-rate, the lower the reliability of the communication. The same is true for the costs: For faster networks, the more you need expensive physical layer components such as cables, connectors, etc.

Simplifying System Integration Sometimes, companies do strange, but innovative system designs.

Wago and its Swiss customer Wifag located in Bern developed a method to synchronise Sercos and CANopen networks.

The printing machines required high-speed motion control and synchronised peripherals. CANopen I/O devices are much cheaper than comparable Sercos modules. That is the reason why the CANopen network was synchronised to the Sercos II network. This meets the application requirement and saves costs.

In the future, this will be achievable much easier with Ethernet-based networks that support CANopen profiles. Today, Ethercat, EthernetPowerlink, Safetynet, and Varan have adapted CANopen profiles. Gateways www.iaasiaonline.com

with synchronisation function help the system designer to integrate CANopen network into industrial Ethernet environments as well as Ethernet-based high-speed motion control sub-systems into CANopen machine backbone networks.

Profibus International (PI) and CAN in Automation (CiA) recently established a joint task force in order to standardise a bi-directional CANopen-to-ProfinetIO gateway – heterogeneous network systems are the future. In order to simplify system design and to improve exchangeability of gateway devices standardised interface profiles on both sides are necessary.

Sigmatek showed how simple it is to configure CANopen devices remotely at the SPS/IPC/Drives booth of the company. Their configuration tool was connected to a standard TCP/IP network to the central controller from Sigmatek. The controller was linked via a Varan Ethernet network to a CANopen gateway. The gateway communicated via CANopen to hydraulic valves from Moog. Using Ethernet-based network technologies with CANopen profiles and combining them with costeffective CANopen-based subsystems in the front-end is a general trend in production machinery. CANopen is dedicated to embedded and deeply embedded control networks, but could also be used as machine backbone network, if bandwidth requirements are not to high.

Standardised Interface Production processes require dedicated production machinery. In order to reduce design effort, modular machine architectures are used. These production machine building blocks should be as easily configurable and inter-linkable as possible. At the SPS/ IPC/Drives conference, Baumüller presented a very interesting approach to this.

Normally, and particularly in the case of centralised machine architectures, the application software must be www.iaasiaonline.com

completely redesigned, if the machine functionality is changed or extended.

In order to reduce time-to-market and design costs, distributed control architectures with logical machine functions are necessary. The proposed approach is based on mechatronic (mechanics controlled by electronics) modules, which implement a common software architecture.

By configuring instead of reprogramming the modules are linked.

If this approach was standardised, modules from different machine manufacturers could be integrated very easily indeed. Each software module representing the machine module has the same structure and consists of configuration, safety, job, and process interface functions.

The system designer configures the machine system with multi-dimensional tables and parameterises the module via the network interface. The system software automatically checks the safety and job requirements with the current module states.

Wago and Wifag developed a method to synchronise Sercos and CANopen for printing machine networks

In all parts of the production process, including packaging, there is a trend that electronics and software substitute the mechanical control units. Modern machines consist of as little mechanics as possible. The mechanics part is as simple as possible, which makes it possible to copy the machine design very easily. However, the invisible and not as easily copied programmable hardware and the embedded software protect the machine from unauthorised copying.

The Present And Beyond Standardised embedded network technologies help to interconnect the machine modules. IPS International Packaging Systems located in Crailsheim, Germany, has developed such a control system for its toploading machines. Just seven different machine modules are available. The machine manufacturer combines and configures them in order to meet the its specific packaging task.

Most of the production machinery require motion controllers and drives.

For sophisticated system architectures such as described above, ‘intelligent’ devices are required. In particular, the German drive manufacturers benefit from this trend. Most of the marketleading manufacturers provide a local network based on CAN or CANopen. This local network is used to interconnect several drives and some additional I/O functions.

Implementing a second communication interface would make them an ‘intelligent’ module controller. The only thing missing is a standardised profile for machine modules. This could be the next level of standardisation: First a framework for machine modules, and then application-specific profiles for different kinds of production machinery such as injection or blow moulding machines, textile machines, wood processing machines or any other production machinery.

ENQUIRY NO. 0221 Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 19

w

Recalling 2007 Achievements The Fieldbus Foundation had many important achievements in 2007. Tens of thousands of Foundation-compliant control systems, and over a million field devices, are now in service around the world. ARC Advisory Group reported our technology is now ‘mainstream,’ holding a 68 percent market share in the process industries. ARC predicts our market leadership will increase with a double-digit growth rate.

The coming year will see progress on many key projects benefiting the automation industry. For example, the Foundation for Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) development, which has achieved TÜV Type Approval, will help meet the growing worldwide demand for commercial, standardsbased safety instrumentation incorporating Foundation fieldbus. Our SIF working group will conduct a series of technology demonstrations at end user sites around the world, including Shell Global Solutions, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; BP, Gelsenkirchen, Germany; and Chevron, Houston, Texas, USA. The Fieldbus Foundation has joined the Hart Communication Foundation and Profibus Nutzerorganisation eV (PNO) in launching a cooperative initiative to develop a specification for a common interface to a wireless gateway. The intent of this collaboration is to facilitate full, scalable integration of both wired and wireless technology in industrial automation.

In addition, we will accelerate our work defining the structure for interfacing remote I/O over our High Speed Ethernet (HSE) control backbone. The addition of remote I/O further tightens the integration of process instrumentation within the Foundation system solution.

The foundation’s board of directors has also mandated rigorous host testing, which will strengthen fieldbus interoperability and system integration. Under our new host registration program, hosts successfully completing the test requirements will be authorized to bear the official Foundation product registration symbol.

A new End User Council (EUC) was launched in India to support the huge demand of Foundation-based systems to address the growing demand for the best technology in this economically dynamic region. Our inaugural seminar in Mumbai attracted over 300 end users in August, further evidence of our growing market share within the industry.

I would like to thank the member companies and the hundreds of end users who dedicate their time and efforts to further the growth and adoption of the technology. All in all, 2008 looks bright, and busy, for those of us involved with Foundation technology.

Best Regards,

Rich Timoney

President and CEO Fieldbus Foundation

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Introduction To Foundation Fieldbus The one-day, vendor-neutral courses are designed for developers, end users, marketing professionals, applications engineers, system integrators, and others interested in obtaining a fundamental knowledge of Foundation technology.

Students will become familiar with the basic concepts and new terminology related to the Foundation integrated architecture. The technology introduces new terminology that control personnel must understand to be successful. Students will learn key strategies for wiring and installing a fieldbus network. Design issues such as power requirements, device types, and topologies will be emphasised.

Advanced Principles Of Foundation Fieldbus The three-day, vendor-neutral courses are designed for manufacturers and developers of Foundation hardware and software. It is intended for development engineers, test engineers, and those who wish to understand the detailed, inner workings of a Foundation device. The course covers major tools used by fieldbus device developers. Students will learn bus monitor basics and participate in interactive exercises demonstrating fieldbus communications and the use of filters for network troubleshooting.

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20 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

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Wonderware of Singapore Pte Ltd 15 Changi Business Park Central 1, Level 4 Singapore 486057 DID: (65) 6829 8181 Fax: (65) 6829 8402 info.singapore@wonderware.com ©2008 Invensys Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Invensys and Wonderware are trademarks of Invensys plc, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies. All other brands and product names may be the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

ENQUIRY NO. 745

There’s a reason it’s called Wonderware.

Asia EtherCAT Plug Fest

The recent EtherCAT Plug Fest was well attended by developers from Asia, Europe, and North America: 10 Master and 22 Slave Device Vendors tested the interoperability of their devices at this “kind of LAN party for developers”, as one participant attempted to describe the event to his colleagues. Not a bad comparison, even though Plugfests don’t focus on PC games, but on interoperability between devices.

The EtherCAT Technology Group holds these interoperability meetings several times a year. In turns each master device is tested with each slave device, individually and in groups. Plugfests provide an excellent pragmatic interoperability and implementation test and offer developers valuable information and ideas. Devices tested at a Plugfest merit a high degree of confidence.

Plugfests also contribute to the further development of specifications by enabling interpretation gaps to be detected and closed.

Conformance Test Tool & Test Lab In parallel to the Plug Fest activities a Conformance Test Tool for the 22 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

News Updates EtherCAT For Embedded Systems

individual device test has been developed. In February, the beta-test phase of the tool ends, and the first official EtherCAT Conformance Test Lab goes into service. It is located at the ETG headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany. For 2008, it is intended to establish another test lab in Germany, and later official test centres in Asia and North America will follow.

The Conformance Test Tool enables the ETG member companies to pre-test their devices in their facilities first and then approach the test lab well prepared. “Only if the official test tool is available at the ETG member’s labs as well, it is also used during development. And only then future releases of these devices are reliably conformance tested as well.” says Dipl-Ing Florian Häfele, who is in charge of establishing the test lab at the ETG. “For two reasons we decided to start with a lab at the ETG headquarters: First of all we want to make sure that the experiences with the test process can directly and without delay be picked up by the test tool, and we also want to provide first hand support and test consultancy to our members.” ■

The bandwidth and performance of common embedded network technologies such as CAN, LIN, LonWorks, etc is suitable for many embedded applications. However, with the ever-increasing processing power of embedded controllers and more demanding applications, there is a growing desire for more communication performance.

For quite some time Ethernet has been a candidate, but lack of deterministic real time performance, hardware costs, software stack complexity, memory requirements and topology limitations were showstoppers.

With EtherCAT these obstacles are gone: EtherCAT provides high end real time performance with shortest cycle times and full device synchronisation. The slave controller implementation as FPGA or ASIC guarantees longterm availability, the chips are also available with extended temperature ranges. Low hardware costs both on the master and slave side, together with small software footprint and simple implementation, make the technology economically suitable as well. EtherCAT furthermore provides virtually unlimited line, tree, ring and star topology options.

The Group has started an initiative to make it better known in the embedded systems market.

A new brochure ‘EtherCAT for Embedded Systems’ is being prepared and will be available in time for the ETG booth at the Embedded World trade show held end of February in Germany. The trade show is accompanied by a conference where several EtherCAT papers will be presented. ■ www.iaasiaonline.com

IEC Standard The IEC standards 61158, 61784-2 and 61800-7 have passed the final voting unanimously: EtherCAT now is an official IEC standard. This is the positive result of more than four years of IEC committee work, during which the EtherCAT Technology Group was declared an official IEC standardisation partner. As early as 2005 the EtherCAT specification was published by IEC as IEC/PAS 62407, which is now being replaced by the International Standards.

In IEC 61158, the EtherCAT protocols and services are standardised, while IEC 61784-2 defines profiles for specific device classes.

IEC 61800-7 is particularly important for Motion Control applications, since it makes EtherCAT a standardised communication technology for the SERCOS and CANopen drive profiles,

Regional Network Hitachi Asia Ltd Hitachi Asia (Thailand) Co. Ltd Hitachi Asia (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd Hitachi Asia Ltd – Philippines Branch

on an equal footing with SERCOS I-III and CANopen respectively.

The drive parameters and state machines as well as the process data layout of the device profiles remain untouched when mapped to EtherCAT. Hence, the user interface does not change when moving from SERCOS and CANopen to EtherCAT, and device manufacturers can re-use major parts of their firmware.

“The international standardisation that was now completed successfully is an important milestone for EtherCAT. It helps us machine builders to further increase the acceptance of

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this superior technology in particular with our key-account customers.

The device vendors get a complete specification which was written according to international rules,” said Erich Hutflesz, ETG board member and manager of control systems at Schuler.

The EtherCAT Technology Group continues to actively participate in IEC standardisation. Safety over EtherCAT has been introduced to the appropriate work groups in order to include it into the next revision of IEC 61784-3, which is scheduled for 2009. ■

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www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar | industrial automation asia 23

Allan Ferreira, Brazil

issues & insights

Face The

Of

Change Meeting the changing needs of manufacturers through advanced system integration practices. By John Nichols, Apex Manufacturing Solutions

S

24 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

monitoring software, and PC-based reporting systems.

Traditionally, the function of a manufacturing system integrator (SI) was to engineer, install, and configure systems that enabled automated, high-speed production of enough consistently good products that companies could meet their customer quantity and quality demands.

Therein lay the major value add: enable companies to make enough product at acceptable quality levels in order to reduce scrap product and keep volume fulfillment high.

To meet this need, manufacturing software vendors have recently introduced products that enable rapid identification of true manufacturing cost saving and response improving opportunities.

This category of solution, often known as Manufacturing Intelligence (MI), allows manufacturing companies to ‘mine’ data from disparate (control,

Ehsan Namavar, Mashhad, Iran

ystem integration is the bringing together of the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system. In information technology, systems integration is the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally.

System integration is also about value adding to the system, capabilities that are possible because of interactions between subsystems.

In the case of manufacturing, system integration is often thought of as the linking together of specialised computer-based control systems, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), manufacturing

manufacturing competition, North American and Western European manufacturers expanded their methods and practices to include making the right products, at the right time, at the right cost.

In post 2000, operational excellence initiatives were being adopted on a broad scale at threatened manufacturing enterprises of all sizes. To give an idea of the size of the problem, industry analysts estimate global manufacturing companies will spend in excess of US$10 billion per year (2007) to solve these problems, growing at a rate of 10 – 15 percent per year.

Just throwing money at these problems will not achieve the desired results, however. Initiatives, separately and in combination, that were being investigated and deployed include: • Lean Manufacturing • Six Sigma • Total Productive Maintenance • Overall Equipment Effectiveness

A New Era of Manufacturing Things started to change in 2000. Due to a pronounced decline in product demand and a rise in offshore www.iaasiaonline.com

issues & insights

New Breed Of Manufacturing SI To meet the needs of manufacturers, today’s manufacturing SI not only adds value through traditional automation systems, but also by integrating control systems, quality systems, supply chain networks, enterprise documentation systems, asset management systems, business systems, and intra/internets to provide a holistic view of all aspects

of a manufacturing company’s business.

Thus, the SI is changing from an engineering services-only provider to that of a consultative partner that identifies opportunities for improvement while recommending solutions for achieving manufacturing operational excellence.

To do so requires more than technical proficiency with a given set of products. Today’s progressive SI also partakes in continuing education on existing and emerging continuous process improvement initiatives, methods, and practices.

SIs must then combine their knowledge with practical, fieldproven expertise to solve today’s (and tomorrow’s) manufacturing problems. And, as consultants, today’s SIs enters into long-term relationships with customers, ensuring clients’ ongoing operational efficiency.

In order to provide long-term true

value to end-users and remain pricecompetitive with other alternatives, today’s SI must make use of standards and virtual technology, and provide new value-add service offerings.

Standards Using standards greatly reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for end users. By using commonly accepted standards-compliant tools, nomenclature, and service providers, the following manufacturers’ costs can be significantly reduced: • Training support personnel • Training end users • Costs associated with failure (downtime) • Development and engineering expenses • Testing infrastructure and expenses • Required IS/IT support • On-going systems maintenance and expansion

Get more information on

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©2008 ADLINK TECHNOLOGY INC. All rights reserved. All specifications are subject to change without further notice. All products and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 25

ENQUIRY NO. 734

process data gathering, laboratory, asset management, production scheduling, resource planning, and accounting) systems, then analyse, correlate, and act on manufacturing anomalies.

Although MI tools are powerful, the scope of deployment is often too complex or too large for manufacturing enterprises, which must then rely on qualified manufacturing solutions providers to install, configure, and train users to get the most value from the systems.

issues & insights One such manufacturing standard is ISA 95 (an international standard for developing an automated interface between enterprise and control systems). This standard has been developed for global manufacturers.

The objectives of ISA-95 are to provide consistent terminology, which is a foundation for supplier and manufacturer communications.

In addition to using ISA 95-based products, value-add SIs create and utilise their own ISA-95-based toolsets, application and object libraries, and documentation sets.

Robert Parzychowski, Plock, Poland

SIs must combine their knowledge with practical, field-proven expertise to solve today’s (and tomorrow’s) manufacturing problems.

26 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Ehsan Namavar, Mashhad, Iran

Virtual Technology Today’s virtual tools such as webbased collaboration, remote desktop software, virtual private networks, and virtual machine software greatly reduce system and travel costs. Now only commissioning and start-up typically require an on-site presence from the SI. The advantages to the customer are at least four-fold: 1) reduced travel fees, 2) faster time-to implement resulting in lower fees, 3) faster realisation of the system benefits and concomitant return on investment, and 4) access to value-added solutions providers no matter their location.

Traditionally, the function of a manufacturing SI was to enable companies to make enough product at acceptable quality levels in order to reduce scrap product and keep volume fulfillment high.

New Service Offerings In addition to providing efficient automation systems and improvements to manufacturing operations, today’s SIs also provide services that increase return on assets (ROA) on existing systems as well as lower TCO of existing and new systems.

from adding comments to code, through upgrading to up-to-date standards-based terminology, all the way to system drawing and wiring diagrams. Once again, end-users can often achieve better ROA and lower TCO rather than leaving the system as-is or replacing it.

Performance Audits: Performance audits of existing control systems can provide immediate value to manufacturers. Manufacturing system performance improvements can often be obtained with reprogramming, upgrading and incremental expansion instead of wholesale replacement of existing systems or mechanical modifications to manufacturing lines.

Today’s qualified and experienced SIs can quickly identify and implement needed changes, resulting in optimum ROA and low TCO.

Software Version Audits & Updates: Today, manufacturers can call on qualified SIs to conduct software audits and provide system update and security patch upgrade services.

Usually priced on an annual subscription basis, these services tend to cost the end-user less than if the systems are untended and out of compliance.

System Documentation: Having a qualified SI examine and document a system provides the end user with a system that can be maintained and upgraded by themselves or the SI. Documentation runs the gamut

About the Author John Nichols, is a director of Business Development at Apex Manufacturing Solutions, a US-based manufacturing systems integrator with extensive implementing control, monitoring, and reporting systems in a broad range of manufacturing and process industries. He is a veteran with over 25 years of experience in manufacturing automation and optimisation solutions.

ENQUIRY NO. 0230

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Belden:

Revitalised Recharged

Belden’s looking towards an accelerated revenue growth in industrial markets with its expanding global reach and a strong portfolio. By Derek Rodriguez

N

President and CEO

John Stroup

e w Ye a r, n e w p l a n s . Fo r signal transmission products manufacturer Belden, plans are in the pipeline for further improvements in its fundamentals.

To position Belden for profitable growth, its 2008 plans for expansion consist of several components. The first: The management of the product portfolio and the brand. Essentially, it involves the leveraging of the Belden brand. As president and CEO of the company, John Stroup, explained: “To re-position the company to be a comprehensive signal solutions provider.”

In a press conference held on January 9, Mr Stroup added that improving the operating efficiency of the company was other component he was looking at. According to him, this can be achieved through “eliminating waste” and “reducing cycle time”. The final element in his multi-tier strategy revolves around the growth of its business in the emerging markets of Asia. Besides offering a broader set of products, “We plan to reorganise the vertical market and offer complete solutions,” he said.

Its month-long US$588.4 million shopping spree from March to April of last year brought Hirschmann Automation and Control, LTK Wiring Co Ltd and Lumberg Automation

Components GmbH to its fold. Now armed with an added industrial connectivity portfolio, it seeks to reinforce its leadership position in industrial market.

With the acquisitions of the two German companies, Lumberg and Hirschmann, Belden was able to leverage on the acquired companys’ connector capabilities, eliminating a past weakness of the company. As for LTK, a Hong Kong based company, the acquisition gave Belden a larger foothold of the Asian market as well as the advantage of localised production.

Significantly, the acquisitions have improved Belden’s average market growth from 4 percent (two years ago prior to the acquisitions) to 6 percent after the acquisitions.

Armed with an estimated US$1.65 billion war chest buoyed by a higher borrowing capacity and a larger free cash flow, Belden is definitely not lacking in the financial department.

According to Mr Stroup, the company will be continuing its quest for more procurement opportunities this year. Some requisites of potential purchases suggested included connectivity companies, companies that would improve Belden’s market position in Asia, and any attractive market verticals.

It looks like 2008 will be a good year for Belden with revenues hitting some US$2.2 billion to US$2.3 billion.

Excluding restructuring costs and nonrecurring charges, Belden expects that its operating profit margin will be between 12 percent and 14 percent of revenue.

To further catalyse the growth of the company, Belden has put in place several share capture priorities. First off, there is to be a tweaking of vertical orientation. Mr Stroup said: “This is to stimulate organic growth and top line growth.” Belden has already started execution of this by expanding its product and application portfolio.

As Mr Stroup eloquently puts it: “Improvement in fundamentals positions Belden for profitable growth.”

ENQUIRY NO. 0231

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ENQUIRY NO. 724

control point

Programmable Automation Controllers:

Power PAC Of The

Craig Jewell Brisbane, QLD, Australia

A PAC can be used as in a wide variety of applications in a wide set of domains within the manufacturing enterprise. By Billy Piovesan, Field Sales Engineer, Advantech eAutomation

I

n the beginning there was the relay and the timer. And in the process industries, there was the hardwired controller. A generation ago, digital electronics made the hardwired relay and controller obsolete in favour of the PLC, the programmable logic controller.

Made to be fully deterministic and have limited control functions, PLCs were able to sweep hardwiring into the dustbin because they were easy to programme in the ‘ladder’ style of electrical wiring diagrams, and they were easily re-programmable so that they could accommodate changes on assembly lines and in batch processes.

But PLCs are limited. Ladderlogic programming cannot be used for complex mathematical formula, 30 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

such as the basic PID algorithm found in every single loop controller in a process plant, for example. Then, along came the PC. Inexpensive computing power became ubiquitous and easily affordable. PCs were tried early on in industrial control, but early operating systems and hardware were not up to the stresses and standards of the industrial workplace.

One of the biggest issues was determinism. In many industrial automation environments, especially in motion control and other discrete automation applications, it is absolutely required that an instruction gets where it is supposed to go, when it is supposed to get there. PC operating systems are non-deterministic and have variable

latency, depending on processor loading or the requirements of the operating program.

Rise Of The PAC Several companies have produced a powerful and useful hybrid of the programmable controller and the PC. This device is generally called a PAC, or programmable automation controller. ARC Advisory Group is generally credited with coining the name PAC, and analyst Craig Resnick defines a PAC as having these characteristics: • Multi-domain functionality, including logic, motion, drives and process on a single platform.

• Common tagging and a single database. www.iaasiaonline.com

control point • Software tools that allow design by process flow across several machines or process units.

• Open, modular architectures that mirror industry applications from machine layouts in factories to unit operations in process plants.

• De-facto standards for network interfaces and languages, etc, allowing data exchange as part of networked multi-vendor systems.

These characteristics taken alone or together are the reasons why PAC devices have grown dramatically in market acceptance since 2001.

High speed, powerful processors drawn from the PC world and more sophisticated operating systems have made it possible for PACs to operate in various modes and with different deterministic speeds.

PACs combine Real-Time Operating Systems (based on Windows CE 5.0 or its successors) with the ability to conduct multiple loop operation, and

handle execution priorities in a much more sophisticated manner than a PLC, but with all of the deterministic safety and reliability by means of built in system triggers and a more complex and useful way of handling I/O and system timing.

This makes it possible to have both the deterministic safety, reliability and speed of the PLC combined with the power and reliance on COTS and standards-based products of the PC. The modern controller for automation applications has emerged as the PAC. One Platform, Multiple Domains Many OEMs and end users of automation systems and controls work in more than one domain. For example, even a highly process oriented plant such as a fine chemical manufacturer or a pharmaceuticals manufacturer has requirements within the plant for motion control, packaging, inventory management,

and automated identification systems, as well as continuous and batch process control requirements.

The need to integrate Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) and Process Analyser Technology (PAT) Initiatives, and sampling initiatives around the plant have made it necessary to network multiple domains.

In addition, increasing emphasis on quality and conformance management systems as well as the need to conform to increasingly detailed requirements for records and validation, such as the US government’s 21 CFR Part 11 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, have made companies’ desire for fewer and more networkable systems grow in intensity.

A PAC can be used as in a wide variety of applications in a wide set of domains within the manufacturing enterprise from inside the facility management system,

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Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 31

control point

PACs can be interconnected using standard networks from Modbus and Modbus/TCP on the factory floor to Ethernet throughout the plant, to TCP/IP and .NET to connect to the Web and the enterprise.

in the environmental monitoring and handling system, in the factory automation systems themselves, and in the networks necessary to transfer the data from the plant floor and auxiliary control systems to the automation software and control centers and from there to the enterprise management systems themselves.

One of the significant differences between PLCs and PACs is the way they handle input/output functions.

PLCs constantly scan all the I/O in their systems continuously at a very high scan rate. While this enables very fast I/O response, it also limits the number of I/O points a PLC system can handle. PACs, by contrast, use a logical address system and a single tagname database very similar to traditional SCADA and DCS systems.

Thus, a PAC can identify and map I/O points as needed.

The fact that PACs handle I/O and data in the same manner as traditional SCADA and DCS systems means they can more easily be interfaced directly with those systems. PACs are often used as substitutes for SCADA RTUs (remote terminal units) and DCS field controllers, just because they work in a logically similar manner with data.

Powerful Software Tools To extend the capabilities of field automation controllers, the IEC has created programming software 32  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

A PAC can be used inside the facility management system, in the environmental monitoring and handling system and in the factory automation systems

standards, IEC 61131-3 and others.

These standards take the ability of programming in about twenty ladderlogic commands and replace it with a full featured programming capability.

In addition, there’s the concept of function blocks. A late addition to the world of PLCs, function blocks come directly from the Distributed Control System (DCS) world. PACs are designed to utilise function blocks and function block programming rather than the more limited ladderlogic programming of the PLC. Because PACs are in essence PCs, they are capable of being programmed in a variety of higher order programming languages. Suppliers of PACs have produced complete suites of programming software tools to enable very sophisticated operations to be controlled by PACs. PACs are based on open architectures that permit a variety of form factors to be used yet the devices themselves are the same or similar. A PAC can be used as a motion controller, a data logger, a process controller, and other devices with a minimum of design and configuration changes. And the PAC can handle control, communications, data logging and can communicate multiple types of information through multiple information gateways simultaneously.

PACs can be interconnected using standard networks from Modbus and

Modbus/TCP on the factory floor to Ethernet throughout the plant, to TCP/IP and .NET to connect to the Web and the enterprise. It is this ability of the PAC to use standard and standards-based networking and communications that has driven the PAC to its pre-eminence as the factory automation controller of the future.

Thus, a machine control PAC can communicate with its sensors or other I/O via Modbus, with other PACs in the same factory cell with Modbus/TCP, or CANbus or CANopen, or Profibus.

It can communicate with other PACs or HMI/SCADA or DCS via Ethernet or through the use of an OPC Server, and with the enterprise through the use of various OPC or .NET services, depending on what data it is serving and to where, simultaneously.

Power Of Open Systems The PAC has provided incredible power to OEMs, system integrators, and end users interested in procuring the best possible automation solution using best of breed products and software. PACs can be used for data acquisition, for communication control, for process control, etc, for nearly any control related task in the manufacturing environment. Data can be acquired, processed, used for fieldlevel control, and reported higher in the enterprise using integrated hardware and software.

ENQUIRY NO. 0232

www.iaasiaonline.com

Nicolas Raymond, Montreal, QC, Canada

software & networks

Lower bandwidth mesh networking devices based on protocols such as Zigbee are a viable tool for the end points of an AMI network. By Jerry Armes, Consulting Engineer, Micronet Communications Inc

Mesh Networks:

The Future of AMI T he concept of a mesh network is to make each home or business the location of a transponder, each of which can originate data messages and/or pass messages from a nearby transponder to another nearby transponder. Clearly mesh configurations have the potential for a very high number of data delivery paths, and require some type of spanning tree protocol to prioritise delivery paths and minimise looping.

Mesh radios can be extremely low power devices, and can be readily integrated into meters, making them attractive candidates for the implementation of Automatic Metering Infrastructure (AMI) networks. Industry vendor, CellNet, is using spread spectrum technology in the 902-928MHz licence-free band, 34  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

to implement mesh networks, and has validated the technology as a viable alternative in those markets where it applies.

The use of spread spectrum technology has both advantages and disadvantages. It is quite helpful in mitigating the effects of interference in licence-free spectrum, but does tend to reduce the data bandwidth, typically to 19.2kbps or below.

Because of the wide distribution of transponders, and propagation over both buildings and severe variations in terrain, design of a mesh network is not a trivial exercise.

Network Architecture The mesh network architecture is a logical starting point for AMI applications for a number of reasons:

the radio transponders are simple to build and inexpensive to purchase, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard specifies a physical layer that supports mesh applications in the 902-928MHz and 2.400-2483.5MHz bands, and the Zigbee wireless networking protocol sits above the IEEE 802.15.4 to provide the spanning tree and network management support required in a mesh network application.

This communications protocol is not the only way to implement a mesh network. It is however, easily implemented in inexpensive radio modules and enjoys contemporary lower level protocol support. Furthermore, the technology also utilises a form of spread spectrum to withstand interference in a highly congested licenced-free spectrum environment. www.iaasiaonline.com

software & networks A logical way to implement an AMI network is a combination of mesh subnetworks, small and large base stations, augmented by the PLC connections to really remote locations to the degree that the business case can be made. The rationale supporting this is as follows.

Within any market area, if all subscribers were taking a service from a given utility, it would be a relatively simple matter to place small data collector sites using Zigbee or a comparable protocol on the top of every light pole in a neighbourhood.

In a competitive marketplace, no supplier can expect to have every home and every business as a customer, and there are not as many light poles as there are homes and businesses.

A mesh network based on a protocol can generally be constructed such that the transponders are at eye level on the side of each

customer premise. Therefore, if a data collection site is located on a power pole or light pole three or four houses away from a particular customer, the transponders in each customer premise location can pass packets among themselves to reach the nearest base station.

The fact that IEC 68150 supports Ethernet means that Zigbee packets can be aggregated at collection sites and mapped to Ethernet frames, providing a backhaul solution that is standard compliant throughout, and compatible with a variety of wireless transmission standards such as WiMax and WiFi. Designing a Mesh Network Considering that the mesh networks will necessarily communicate between homes and office buildings, the modelling of propagation quickly becomes a serious challenge. A review of popular propagation models will

quickly show limitations on minimum base station heights and minimum propagation path lengths.

For example, the standard propagation tool used by the FCC and the frequency coordination community is the Longley-Rice model. The minimum path length for Longley-Rice is 1km, rendering it unsuitable for the planning of communications paths between homes/businesses located within 100-200m of one another.

The more logical way to plan mesh networks is to utilise an appropriate parametric model to establish a representative inter-site distance over which an acceptable bit error rate (BER) can be maintained. Then the customer sites can be analysed on an individual basis for their proximity to a neighbour, using cluster analysis.

For the inter-transponder paths contemplated herein, most of the parametric propagation models such

ZigBee Smart Energy Profile

T

he ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile offers utility companies a global open standard for implementing secure, easyto-use wireless home area networks for managing energy.

The profile also offers product manufacturers access to a burgeoning green marketplace by establishing a standards-based technology for new products.

ZigBee Smart Energy enables wireless communication between utility companies and common household devices.

It allows consumers to choose interoperable products from different manufacturers giving them the means to manage their energy consumption more precisely using automation and near real-time information. It

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also helps utility companies implement new advanced metering and demand response programs to drive greater energy management and efficiency, while responding to changing government requirements.

Many countries are facing energy supply and demand imbalances that will require alternative energy management and efficiency solutions. For example, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reported that electricity demand in the United States is expected to increase by 135,000 megawatts in the next decade yet only 77,000 megawatts of new resources have been identified, creating a shortfall of 58,000 megawatts.

Energy management and

efficiency solutions can bridge the gap. For example, the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory released the results of a year long study two weeks ago showing that households with digital tools controlling temperature and price preferences saved on average 10 percent on utility bills. The study also showed that if households have digital tools to control temperature and price preferences, peak loads on utility grids can be cut by up to 15 percent translating into US$70 billion dollars saved over a 20 year period on new power plants and infrastructure expenditures. �ZigBee Smart Energy provides a critical piece to many energy management and efficiency programs

underway today because it creates a global, open standard allowing energy consumers information and control over their energy use and helps utility companies expand relations with their customers while planning for a greener future,� said Bob Heile, Chairman of the ZigBee Alliance.

Bob Heile, Chairman, ZigBee

ENQUIRY NO. 0233

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia  35

software & networks that each cluster covers.

Knowledge of the clusters is immensely helpful, as Zigbee collector sites can be placed at low levels on lamp posts, signal lights, power poles, etc. at periodic points throughout the cluster, thus minimising the number of hops required to get from any given home/business transponder to a collector site. Zigbee has a maximum hop count which can be used to minimise the chances of loops.

A hypothetical AMI mesh network is postulated in the San Francisco Bay area. Each member of a given cluster exhibits both the number and colour of that cluster.

as Okumura, Hata and COST 231 are not appropriate as they are based on minimum base station heights of 30m, and a minimum path length of 1km, the same as Longley-Rice. The only one that comes close to fitting this requirement is the COST 231 Walfisch-Ikegami model. The COST Walfisch-Ikegami Model is included in Report 567-4 by ITU-R, and shows results that compare favourably

path length of this model is 20m.

The Cluster Analysis When such a separation distance has been established, a cluster analysis programme can be utilised to define those neighbourhoods where members of each cluster are within the average separation distance of at least one other member of the cluster.

The mesh network architecture is a logical starting point for AMI applications

Mesh Networks in AMI Considering the extremely high number of potential data gathering points at homes and businesses in some systems, the use of lower cost and lower bandwidth mesh networking devices based on protocols such as Zigbee, are shown to be a logical tool for the end points of an AMI network.

Data frames from the protocol, carrying data from electrical, gas or water metering instrumentation, have been shown to require a logical node in IEC 68150 to accept the data at the applications layer after a physical mapping to an Ethernet format is accomplished at the Zigbee data collection points. That node does not exist today. However, IEC 68150 is object oriented and has a substantial library of primitives, making the task of creating such a node relatively straightforward.

About the Author

ENQUIRY engineering NO. 1400 Jerry Armes provides consulting services to Micronet Communications Inc through his company, Aurastar Information Systems. He has extensive communications systems planning

with a modified Hata Model on propagation paths long enough to apply to both models, on the reference web site.

Formally, Walfisch-Ikegami was originally derived for situations where the base station was a minimum of 4m above ground level, and the subscriber station fell in the range of 1-3m. This is quite close to the situation being analysed whether both ends of the path are assumed to be at a height of 2m. The minimum 36  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

In short, each cluster represents a set of transponders where any member on one extreme edge could pass a packet through successive members locations, and arrive at the other side of the cluster with an acceptably low BER. Micronet finds Google Earth to be an excellent tool for presentation of cluster analysis results, since it is possible to take the clusters down to the individual transponder if desired, yet also sees the composite areas

and regulatory experience, and has built a variety of SCADA, satellite and other turnkey systems.

Micronet

provides

communications

planning

services covering microwave, satellite, and wireless technologies. These include frequency planning,

frequency

coordination,

frequency

protection, propagation studies, path and site surveys,

microwave

backhaul

studies,

link

analysis, radiation hazard studies, reliability analyses,

area

coverage

maps,

AMI

site

cluster analysis, and network architecture consulting.

ENQUIRY NO. 0234

www.iaasiaonline.com

5th annual

World Asia 2008 9 - 11 April 2008, Level 6, SUNTEC Singapore Come face to face with more than 120 leading technology leaders and over 5,000 buyers from across the Asia Pacific and all aspects of this increasingly important technology this April.

An extraordinary experience, centered on RFID: RFID World Asia is the ultimate destination for a global audience seeking to re-innovate business and increase profits with the latest innovations Join us to discover a fascinating and provocative new array of educational seminars, creative networking, and conferencing opportunities.

Pre-register online at

www.terrapinn.com/2008/rfid before 31 March 2008 Event sponsors and endorsers Held in conjunction with:

13th annual

2008

Supported by:

Organised by:

Held in:

ENQUIRY NO. 730

2nd annual

Rodolfo Clix, Sao Paulo, Brazil

software & networks

Industrial Ethernet: Future prospects for traditional, non-Ethernet based industrial device networks look increasingly narrow as industrial Ethernet applications continues to migrate to lower levels of the industrial automation hierarchy. By Augustine Quek

A

s the machinery markets in China and the rest of Asia continue to grow rapidly through the end of the decade, the increasing use of Ethernet device networks in these regions will drive its global development, dramatically lower wiring costs and increase network functionality.

From its early and comparatively simple concept (see side box), Ethernet has evolved into the complex networking technology that today underlies most LANs. The coaxial 38  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Staying Ahead

Pack Of The

cable was replaced with point-topoint links connected by hubs and/ or switches to reduce installation costs, increase reliability, and enable point-to-point management and troubleshooting. This was first developed in the mid-80s, beginning with StarLAN, but becoming widely known with 10BASE-T. These systems helped Ethernet evolved from a coaxial cable bus to a hub-managed, twisted-pair network.

They replaced the coaxial cable on which early Ethernets were deployed

with a system of hubs linked with unshielded twisted pair (UTP), ultimately replacing the CSMA/CD scheme in favour of a switched full duplex system, which offered higher performance. The advent of twistedpair wiring dramatically lowered installation costs relative to competing technologies, including proprietary systems such as token ring, ARCNET, and the older Ethernet technologies.

Despite the significant changes in Ethernet from a thick coaxial cable bus running at 10 Mbps to point-to-point www.iaasiaonline.com

software & networks links running at 1 Gbps and beyond, all generations of Ethernet (excluding early experimental versions) share the same frame formats (and hence the same interface for higher layers), and can be readily interconnected.

For example, the Harting mCon 7100 is a managed Ethernet switch that includes up to ten ports for connection over IEC 802.3 shielded twisted-pair cabling and is compatible with both Ethernet (10Mbit/s) and Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s). The unit is mounted in a die-cast metal housing with protection to IP65/IP67, and can operate over temperatures from -40C to +70C, according to Harting.

In addition, the switch includes a unit with an external configuration memory. The configuration memory is mounted in a standard Han 3A robust metal housing and is designed to remain in place if the switch needs to be exchanged during service. It retains all the switch settings so that, when a new switch is connected,

it starts up automatically without reconfiguration.

Wireless LAN The combination of the twisted pair versions of Ethernet for connecting end systems to the network, along with the fibre optic versions for site backbones, is the most widespreadwired LAN technology, since the 1990s to the present. In recent years, Wi-Fi, the wireless LAN standardised by IEEE 802.11, is prevalent in home and small office networks and augmenting Ethernet in larger installations.

For example, the OWSPA311gi/x, a WLAN Serial Port Adapter from Swedish company connectBlue. The module is claimed to be a complete communication unit featuring IEEE802.11b/g Wireless LAN with a high performing TCP/IP stack. The WLAN Serial Port Adapter are based on a NXP Semiconductor solution with extreme low power consumption and extended temperature range.

All I/O components can be integrated directly in the EtherCAT communication, so that no subordinate communication systems (sub bus) are required

The Wireless LAN Modules are compatible with the Bluetooth Modules from connectBlue, which means a high degree of flexibility where customers can design their products to fit either Bluetooth

Intel: Fibre Channel Over Ethernet Code

I

ntel Corp has a software initiator package to drive the development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions for Linux. FCoE is a proposed specification that will allow Fibre Channel SAN traffic to run over Ethernet.

By consolidating LAN and SAN traffic onto a single fabric, FCoE will simplify network infrastructure in the datacenter.

The FCoE software package is now available for download at www.Open-FCoE.org and can be modified according to

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the terms of the GPLv2 license.

As part of the package, Intel has included a target simulator, so Linux developers can test and modify the FCoE software stack. Open-FCoE.org is open to all FCoE developers for source code download, code contribution and feedback.

“Server virtualisation, database growth and compliance requirements have created a greater need for network storage,” said Pat Gelsinger, Senior VPand GM of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group. “FCoE makes it easier

and less expensive to connect servers to the SAN. We’re taking a leadership role by releasing this stack and supporting industry standardisation efforts. We expect the open source community to use this initiator stack to create reliable, standards-based FCoE solutions for their customers.”

Cisco Systems submitted the initial FCoE proposal to the Fibre Channel standards body, T11, in April 2007. As a member of the T11, Intel is committed to working with Cisco and other

companies to drive industry enablement of FCoE. “Fiber Channel over Ethernet will be a key capability for our customers offering seamless server and storage access in the data center,” said Jayshree Ullal, Senior Vice President of the Data Center, Switching and Services Group at Cisco Systems. “The emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth combined with Cisco’s proposed extensions to Ethernet, enables a lossless and resilient fabric for Data Center I/O consolidation. Cisco is pleased to see Intel taking a leadership role in FCoE.” The new FCoE initiator code is based on a specification being developed by the T11 in the FC-BB-5 work group. The FCoE specification is expected to be completed in 2008.

ENQUIRY NO. 0235

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 39

software & networks or WLAN modules. According to connectBlue, the compact module is ideal for portable industrial devices and is designed for a straight forward wireless upgrade. It combines ease of use and state-of-the-art low power features.

Another recent innovation in wireless Ethernet is the Falcon Industrial Wireless series Taiwan– based Ethernet Direct. The Falcon Industrial Wireless series comes with true robust housing with IP-68 protection on FWO-710, FWO-711, FWO-712 and FWO-713 and IP-66 protection on FWI-701 and FWI-702.

According to Ethernet Direct, the extreme form factor protection makes the products weatherproof, waterproof, dust proof, endure high resistant to shock, vibration and with wide operating temperature of -30 to 70 deg C, suitable for harsh outdoor installation environment.

The products are also equipped with WEP encryption and WAP feature, and are WI-FI compliant.

The IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards compliant products also come in different radio modules ranging from 2.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz. To accommodate various wireless LAN deployment, Falcon Wireless products support five operating modes: Access Point (AP), Point-

There are clear benefits for industrial applications to send electrical power over Ethernet cables. This avoids a separate power cord for things like Internet phones and wireless access points.

to-Point Bridge (PtP), Point-toMultipoint (PtMP) Bridge, Wireless Client, or Repeater. Ethernet Direct has also integrated 802.3af Power over Ethernet technology in its Falcon Wireless products.

Power Over Ethernet (PoE) Power over Ethernet (PoE) has been standardised with IEEE standard 802.3af describing Ethernet powersourcing equipment and powered terminals. This specification describes

delivering 48 volts of DC power over unshielded twisted-pair wiring.

There are clear benefits for industrial applications to send electrical power over Ethernet cables. This avoids a separate power cord for things like Internet phones and wireless access points. The so-called PoE injects power into an Ethernet cable at the source and receives that power at the destination. Both the injector and receiver are embedded into the device.

History Of Ethernet

E

thernet is a family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). It was originally based on the idea of computers communicating over a shared coaxial cable acting as a broadcast transmission medium. The methods used are similar in some ways to radio systems, although there are fundamental differences, such as the fact that it is much easier to detect collisions in a cable broadcast system than a radio broadcast.

The name comes from the common cable providing the communication channel, which was likened to the concept of ether, from which the name ‘Ethernet’ was derived.

The original Ethernet was developed as an experimental coaxial cable network from 1973–1975 by Xerox Corporation. The inventors, Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs, wrote and presented their ‘Draft Ethernet Overview’ before March 1974. The experimental Ethernet described

40 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

in that paper ran at 3 Megabit per second, using a carrier sense multiple access collision detect (CSMA/CD) protocol for LANs with sporadic but occasionally heavy traffic requirements. It had 8-bit destination and source address fields, as Ethernet addresses did not yet have the global addresses like they are today.

In 1975, Xerox filed a patent application listing Metcalfe and Boggs, plus Chuck Thacker and Butler Lampson, as inventors (US Patent 4,063,220: Multipoint

data communication system with collision detection).

The success of the project allowed Metcalfe to convince DEC, Intel, and Xerox to work together to promote Ethernet as a standard, the so-called DIX standard, for Digital/Intel/ Xerox. This led to the 1980 joint development and standardisation of the 10-Mbps Ethernet Version 1.0 specification, with 48-bit destination and source addresses and a global 16-bit type field, first published on September 30, 1980.

www.iaasiaonline.com

Natalie Souprounovich, Melbourne, Australia

software & networks

The Wireless LAN Modules are compatible with the Bluetooth Modules from connectBlue, which means a high degree of flexibility where customers can design their products to fit either Bluetooth or WLAN modules.

Take for example, Ethernet Direct’s CUE-411 and CUE-413 Industrial PoE Switch, a 4-Port 10/100 TX with built in PoE injectors and one port 100FX uplink port delivering 15.4W power per port. As such, CUE-411 and CUE-413 combines signal and power in one Ethernet cable connection to accommodate Ethernet based control systems. CUE-411 and CUE-413 has a DC 48V redundant power input to back up DC power source in case one of the power inputs fails.

Other features include: RJ-45 port support Auto MDI/MDI-X function, EFT protection 3000 VDC for power line, and supports 4000 VDC Ethernet ESD protection.

Industrial standard PoE switches can thus power devices such as IP telephones, wireless LAN access points, www.iaasiaonline.com

Network cameras, Ethernet hubs, embedded computers, sensors, card readers as well as transferring data at the remote edges. An example would be connecting a V0IP phone, a PoE powered digital clock and an IP badge reader in an outdoor environment to an indoor LAN using standard Ethernet twisted-pair copper cable.

Another application would be connecting IP wireless access points in a production facility or warehouse into the factory LAN network. In remote application, the need for surveillance system to connect video cameras located outdoors to a LAN network is also typical.

Ultra Fast Ethernet The growth of Ethernet devices in factories and plant floors has meant

greater amounts of communication consuming available bandwidth.

Data from the plant floor will feed up to SCADA and Enterprise systems, while application servers will provide distributed information down to coordinate automation systems.

Multicast messages and Peerto-Peer synchronisation generate additional traffic as more real time applications are run over Ethernet.

Therefore, higher speeds are required to be supported in an infrastructure in order to handle increasing traffic.

One recent innovation is eXtreme Fast Control (XFC) technology, hailed as an ultra-fast control solution that is the ultimate combination of the vendor’s PC-based and Industrial Ethernet technologies. Compared with current PC-based controllers, XFC offers performance improvements by a factor of 10 and enables cycle times of 100 microseconds (μs) without having to give up central intelligence and the associated high-performance algorithms. In addition, XFC also offers improved temporal accuracy and enhanced resolution.

For example, the architecture from Beckoff comprises an advanced Industrial PC, ultra-fast I/O terminals with extended real-time characteristics, the EtherCAT highspeed Ethernet system, and the TwinCAT automation software. Beckoff claims this system can achieve I/O response times of less than 100 μs. One reason is because all I/O components can be integrated directly in the EtherCAT communication, so that no subordinate communication systems (sub bus) are required.

According to an ARC Advisory Group study, although growth in shipments of traditional industrial device networks will continue through the end of the decade, the rate of growth will slow from the double-digit annual gains to more modest singledigit increases. The need for device networks to co-exist with other types of industrial interfaces, including industrial Ethernet, is increasingly obvious.

ENQUIRY NO. 0236 Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 41

software & networks

Hilde Vanstraelen, Hasselt, Belgium

Next Big Thing?

Open Source Business Applications:

The

With over 70 percent of the websites powered by Apache web server and a good proportion of them running in Linux, it is undeniable that open source movement has a leading role in powering the Internet revolution. By (L) Jeremy Yap and (R) Varun Shrestha, both Directors at PBA Solutions.

I

n enterprise business applications ie: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Business Intelligence (BI), adoption of open source software has not been as prevalent, with CIO’s and IT Managers 42 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

shunning them for commercial systems from established vendors.

CIO’s could not imagine running their business systems relying entirely on a loose band of fanatics that provided support primarily through Internet forums. Open source business applications (OSBA)

also carried the impression of not having been tried, tested and proven, a characteristic extremely important for risk adverse CIO’s. Then there was the branding issue, with os softwares being perceived as fit only for hackers and computer enthusiasts and not for those in business suits.

There is, however, a revolution of some sort happening in the os business applications field. The ecosystems around os business applications are constantly in a flux and it has responded to the primary need of all business managers to have a comprehensive, reliable and fully supported business system at the lowest cost possible.

In our experience, business managers and CIO’s are willing to give os business applications a second look with many embracing it wholeheartedly in full belief that they deliver along the dimensions of Cost, Quality, Support and Strategic Advantage.

Support Support is of primary importance in any deployment of business www.iaasiaonline.com

software & networks application. Depending on the nature of the application and the organisation using it, the quality and response time required may far exceed that achievable through Internet forums and emails. This was a major grouse of all managers considering OSBA. With increasing maturity of OSBA IT vendors have realised that a highly profitable practise can be built out of consulting for and supporting OSBA. It is not uncommon nowadays to find established system integrators offering service level agreements for various OSBA. The open source nature of OSBA also means that the customer has full access to the entire source code of the application. This allows larger organisations with a sizeable IT team to manage all the support in-house.

Even if they do not have an IT team, having the source code gives them the flexibility to switch support vendors as and when they like it. They just

have to pass the source code to the next vendor.

Access to the source code also allows organisations to continue using the application even when the main developers have officially discontinued support for it. They just have to find programmers who know the programming language that the application is written on. With commercial applications they would be forced to upgrade to a supported version at a cost dictated by the vendor.

Market consolidation is a potential risk with commercial software when products become obsolete overnight.

With no ownership of the code they would have no choice but to change the system altogether, a costly exercise that most managers do not want to go through. Using OSBA eliminates that risk. Customers can always take the source code to a vendor that has expertise in the code and sign them up for support delivery.

The open source nature of OSBA also means that the customer has full access to the entire source code of the application

With the right ecosystem of supporting vendors, OSBA are no more risky. It in fact provides full insurance against market consolidation and vendor underperformance.

Total Cost of Ownership It was often argued that even though OSBA do not have upfront license cost, customers often incurred huge support and business disruption

Business Intelligence Market To Exceed US$600 Million Mark

V

alued at an estimated US$188.19 million for just the first six months of 2007, IDC found that the total business intelligence (BI) tools market in the Asia/ Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region grew by 18 percent year on year on the back of increasing competition, globalisation, compliance and corporate governance related issues.

IDC’s Asia/Pacific Semiannual Business Intelligence Software Tracker, September 2007, found that adoption of

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BI tools by small to medium sized businesses (businesses with less than 500 employees) have increased by more than 40 percent over the past 12 months in the APEJ region, albeit from a modest base.

“Although large businesses are expected to continue being the largest BI adopters, SMBs are gaining traction. SMBs are estimated to contribute about a quarter of the total BI market in terms of software revenue in the first half of 2007. Our end user research revealed that about 48 percent of respondents

with less than 500 employees in key APEJ countries (Australia, India, Korea and PRC) claimed to have deployed BI solutions in 2006 alone. By the end of the decade, IDC expects SMBs to contribute to nearly a third of the BI pie in APEJ,” says Sharon Tan, Senior Market Analyst of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Application Tools Software Research.

“Currently, most of the SMB adoption derives from medium and medium large businesses (with 100–499 employees). Many of these

companies have maturing IT infrastructure, steady levels of applications deployment, and increasing business requirements that renders ad hoc analysis through other means (such as using only spreadsheets) slow and increasingly unreliable for decision making purposes,” she further adds.

Going forward, the APEJ BI market is expected to exceed the US$600 million mark by 2011.

The recent flurry of consolidation in the BI market is expected to contribute to downward pricing pressures as vendors increasingly bundle BI technologies as part of a larger offering or a more comprehensive solution.

However, increasing volume adoption as solutions become more affordable is expected to help mitigate this risk.

ENQUIRY NO. 0237

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 43

software & networks cost because reliable support is not available. Perhaps that was true until a few years ago. With a strong ecosystem of vendors around most OSBA, that argument does not hold much ground.

There is now a clear cost of ownership advantage of OSBA over commercial applications that charge per user license fees typically starting at US$1,000. Consequently OSBA can be deployed at 50 - 60 percent of the total cost incurred for an equivalent commercial application.

Open source projects are often guided by the non-commercial objective of creating technically elegant software systems. That may not always be true for commercial systems that must as a rule put profitability above everything else. When there’s a significant technological innovation, as in a new programming paradigm or framework, open source projects can afford to ditch the old architecture altogether and start anew from scratch. Commercial vendors are not able to do so until they have at least recovered most of the sunk cost. It is for this reason that we often find OSBA a lot more elegant in their technical architecture.

Maturity of the software in terms of the breadth and reliability of functions provided is another important measure of quality. Until a few years ago, a mature open source ERP was practically non-existent. Compiere, the leading open source ERP in the market today was only half-baked then. Most of its implementations were plagued with unfulfilled requirements, limiting

its use to basic functions within the organisation.

Now that leading OSBA in the market today have matured into fullfledged applications of enterprise grade, the immaturity issue has been mostly eliminated. Compiere and SugarCRM for example compete with the likes of Microsoft Navision, SAP B-One and Salesforce today.

Strategic Advantage OSBA are increasingly being seen as a tool for gaining strategic advantage in a market where everyone uses the same kind of software system to run their operations. The reasoning goes that if you are using the same kind of standard, so-called the best practises systems, as your competitors, then you do not have any operational advantage over your competitor.

Every business is unique in the way it is run; what is generally accepted as best practises may not really be best for your organisation.

It is difficult to derive business benefits out of systems that are not effectively aligned with the organisation’s business model, people, processes and other technologies that the organisation is already using. Extracting business value from business applications calls for extending or modifying systems to fit into the business rather than the other way round.

The Open nature of OSBA greatly facilitates such an approach to system deployment. Even if an entirely new type of system, unique

to an organisation’s unique set of processes are to be developed, the time to deployment can be siginificantly shortened by building on top of modules and components that mature OSBA already offer. Such flexibility is certainly not available with commercial applications.

Value Proposition Oracle and SAP are undoubtedly the market leader in the large enterprise segment of business applications market. It is improbable that OSBA will displace Oracle and SAP from their leadership position in that segment. There is currently no single OSBA that offers the same breadth and depth of functionalities as Oracle or SAP’s enterprise applications.

Within the mid-tier and small business segment, however, the value proposition of OSBA is very compelling and it has indeed made significant inroads into this market segment. As OSBA and their ecosystems mature further, the distinction between OSBA and their commercial counterparts will blur further, leading to more IT vendors gaining expertise in OSBA and this in turn leading to more adoption of OSBA. The long overdue open source wave in business application is starting to gain momentum and, with a strengthening ecosystem of vendors, developers and enthusiasts supporting them, it is certainly not a passing phenomenon.

ENQUIRY NO. 0238

Leading OSBA in the market today have matured into full-fledged applications of enterprise grade

44 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

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ENQUIRY NO. 729

instrumentation & Measurement

Back Ultrasonic Level Sensors:

To Basics An introduction to ultrasonic level sensors and some difficulties faced when using them. By Derek Rodriguez

T

he operating theorem of ultrasonic level sensors is a simple one. These devices produce a high frequency acoustic pulse of 20 kHz to 200 kHz. The reflection of this pulse against the process medium creates an echo which is received by the same sensor.

The time taken for this entire process to happen is also recorded. Measuring the distance from the sensor to the surface of the liquid, for example, is just the result of elementary arithmetic.

According to Migatron Corp, a US based specialist in the ultrasonic sensing field, there are certain advantages to using such a sensor.

They have the ability to detect and measure discrete distances to moving objects, they possess a resistance to external disturbances such as vibration, infrared radiation, ambient noise, and EMI radiation, and they are less affected by target materials and surfaces, and not affected by colour. Solid-state units have virtually unlimited, maintenance free lives.

Obstacles To Measurement Because the speed of sound in air is partially dependent on changes in temperature, pressure, and moisture levels, ultrasonic level sensor readings are affected by several factors that include turbulence, foam, and vapour, as stated by Flowline Inc, 46  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

a recognised ultrasonic level sensor company.

Turbulence, foam, and chemical mists in a tank are the consequences of agitation during the transfer of fluid to or from the tank.

Turbulence has the potential to disrupt some, or even all of the pulses produced from the sensor. One method of dealing with turbulence is to relocate the sensor to a place of lower proximity to the turbulent area. Another is using a sensor with double the measurement range of what is required in ideal conditions.

Foam occurs on the surface of a liquid and varies in quantity from very thick to very thin. The difficulty surrounding the presence of foam is the fact that it performs poorly as a reflective surface. Some, or even all of the pulse energy could be absorbed by the foam, resulting in a diminished or even non-existent echo. One way of countering this is, as with turbulence, using a sensor with double the measurement range.

Another involves the employment of a stand pipe in order to isolate the sensor from the foam.

Chemical mists, also known as vapour, present a relatively more complicated challenge. One issue associated to vapour is the possible absorption of pulse energy. To add

Ultrasonic sensors have the ability to detect and measure discrete distances to moving objects.

to this, the proliferation of vapour might also result in reduced sensor reading accuracy due to the effect vapour has on the speed of sound.

Again, to resolve this would mean the deployment of a sensor with double the measurement range power of the height of the tank.

Ensuring Reading Accuracy There are general steps that can be followed to increase the accuracy of sensor readings. For instance, the sensor must be installed so as to ensure that the pulses are reflected perpendicularly back to the sensor.

Moreover, the tank should not have any physical barriers within it, such as brackets, which could adversely affect the accuracy of the readings.

Also, the ultrasonic transducer used to emit the pulses should not still be ringing when the echo from the transmitted pulses are received.

Due to its ease of use and affordability, as said by Banner Engineering Corp, a technology innovation firm based in Minnesota, ultrasonic sensors are widely utilised in industrial applications. They are routinely used to buff the quality of the product in process monitoring, to detect defects, and to determine presence of absence.

ENQUIRY NO. 0250

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Flowmeters:

Strong Growth

For Pressure Transmitter

Market

he worldwide pressure transmitter market totalled US$1.93 billion in 2006, with a projected yearly growth of 6.1 percent through 2011.

The most rapid growth is occurring where new process plants are being built, primarily in China, the Middle East, and in developing countries in Asia.

Pressure transmitters are widely used in the oil and gas industry, which is currently undergoing rapid growth.

Increases in the price of crude oil have generated a major increase in upstream oil and gas activity. It is now profitable to drill for oil in many locations that were previously too expensive for oil exploration and production. Other industries where pressure transmitters are widely used include refining, chemical, and power.

48  industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Rapid growth in the multivariable transmitter market is also driving growth in the pressure transmitter market. The market for multivariable

About the Author‌ Jesse Yoder, PhD, is president of Flow Research Inc in Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA. He has 20 years of experience as an analyst and writer in process control.

ENQUIRY NO. 0251

Total Shipments of Pressure Transmitters Worldwide 3000.0 2500.0 (Millions of Dollars)

T

Strong growth for the worldwide pressure transmitter market is predicted. By Dr Jesse Yoder, president of Flow Research Inc.

pressure transmitters for flow more than doubled in the past four years. In addition, a large number of current users reluctant to abandon their investment assures sustained growth in the differential pressure transmitter market. Even when faced with a need for higher performance levels, many of these users will choose to stick with differential pressure transmitter technology as suppliers provide advanced features.

A need for higher performance also encourages users to move up the ladder from pressure transducers to pressure transmitters.

Instrumentation markets are riding a wave of capital expansion in the process industries that began in 2004. Pressure transmitters are benefiting from that expansion.

Growth in the process industries, together with increased activity in the oil and gas industry, is expected to drive the pressure transmitter market to new revenue levels in the next several years.

The chart below shows the projected growth of the worldwide pressure transmitter market from 2006 to 2011.

2000.0 1500.0 1000.0 500.0 0.0

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) = 6.1%

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instrumentation & measurement

Product Highlights Emerson: Rosemount Wireless Instrumentation The unique scalable design of the Rosemount 3051S Series of Instrumentation from Emerson has now enabled new wireless capabilities. This addition to the Smart Wireless portfolio provides cost-effective implementation of new pressure, DP flow, and DP level application solutions. In addition, the proven 3051S SuperModule Platform ensures unprecedented reliability and performance for your wireless measurements.

The equipment boasts robust security features like data security encryption, Join and Network Keys for network security, and anti-jamming technology for greater reliability. Present are also a large 3-line display, local push buttons for diagnostics, a bar graph for connectivity indication, and an alert/diagnostics local indicator.

Enquiry no. 0252

Turck: Magnetic-inductive Flow meter Turck has extended the range of its flow sensor family with a magnetic-inductive model, the FCMI. With its measuring principle, the new flow sensor is perfectly suited for the detection of electrically conductive liquids with a certain minimum conductivity.

Concerning the measuring range, the FCMI is characterised by a very high dynamic performance between 0-40 litres per minute and features a measuring accuracy of 2 percent. As moving mechnical parts in the flow volume are no longer required, the flow sensor is resistant to all sorts of contamination in the medium.

Moreover, in contrast to other procedures, the pipe diameter need not be reduced. So a pressure drop can practically be avoided.

Enquiry no. 0254

Ifm: Flow Switch The flow sensors of the S15 series can be integrated into almost every application by means of a wide selection of process adapters. The robust stainless steel housing provides high reliability even in cases of harsh environmental conditions. The unit is unaffected by the orientation of the sensing face with respect to the direction of flow, providing increased flexibility of installation.

Adjustment to the flow and setting of the switch points are carried out using push buttons. Current flow and switch point are indicated with the local multi-coloured LEDs. Electronic locking of the settings and factory reset of the parameters provide additional safety.

Enquiry no. 0253

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Yamatake: Micro Flow Sensor Manufactured by silicon micro-machining and thin-film technologies, this thermal type flow sensor is a mere 1.7mm (squared) and 0.5mm thickness. The use of ultra-precision machining technology minimises variations in element layout and thermal capacity. High resolution of 1mm/s in flow velocity and high-speed response of approximately 1ms are achieved at the sensor chip level.

Other key features include a quick response time of 1ms, high range-ability (300 vs 1), the availability of counter flow measurement, and low power consumption.

Enquiry no. 0255

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia  49

sector spotlight

Water & Wastewater:

Water World Lower total cost of ownership by implementing build-in redundancy, while retaining existing hardware investment. By Christine Lesher, Communications Specialist, Citect.

PAL (Empresa Portuguesa de Águas Livres) is the successor to the Lisbon Water Supply Company, which has been in charge of water supply to Lisbon since 1868. Its daily production is sold directly to approximately 330,000 domestic consumers throughout Lisbon and indirectly through municipal services and distributors to 23 neighbouring municipalities. The total population serviced is approximately 3.1 million

inhabitants.

With over 100 years experience in carrying out this essential service, EPAL has the most important water production and distribution structure in Portugal. It manages three sub-systems with the following production capacities: • Water spring of 70,000 m3/day • Underground catchments of 270,000 m3/day 50 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

• Surface catchments of 740,000 m3/day After restructuring its operations to include new PLCs at each station as well as new sensors and final command systems, EPAL created two major business areas within the company that divided the existing command centre in two. One would be concerned with water production, transportation and distribution of water to the municipalities north of Lisbon while the other would manage the direct water distribution to consumers in Lisbon.

The Challenge The old EPAL tele-management system ran on DEC ALFA AXP computers. The reports were processed on a single computer. Generally, the old system

showed slow response times and was limited in terms of expansion.

The development project required: • Redundancy in the system’s main services: communications, alarms, trends and reports and all the supervisory systems’ services • Compatibility with the existing field PLCs Integration with all PLCs via optic fibre network • Ability to keep the existing graphic interface structure and integrate new functionalities at the command centre level • Guarantee of display refresh times of <3 secs • Integration of existing projection systems • Interconnection of the 2 command centres There was a five-month deadline for developing the distribution system followed by two months to develop the production and transport system.

Application Integration Te c n i l a b Po r t u g a l a l o n g w i t h www.iaasiaonline.com

sector spotlight CitectSCADA software were chosen for the application integration. The system was based on CitectSCADA with Microsoft Windows NT for the operating system. Microsoft SQL Server and Visual Basic (VB) are used for reports.

work simultaneously on the same project • Scalability that allows the system to be expanded to incorporate other servers and clients • Access via Internet

CitectSCADA provided the following solutions for the project: • Service distribution through several servers • Redundancy for each of the communication services, alarms and trends • A communication capacity higher than 16 RS- 232 ports, with redundancy for each piece of communication equipment • Communications protocol compatible with existing PLCs graphic capacities • Displays with automatic adjustment when re-dimensioned to allow various displays on the same screen • Ability for various technicians to

As a result of the short development time frame, the team relied on the systems attributes to complete the project on time. Various technicians worked simultaneously on the same project and re-utilised resources like animated objects (genies and supergenies) and templates to meet tight deadlines.

Redundant I/O servers assured communications’ functionality. If the primary I/server stops working, the redundant I/server automatically initiates the communications management of all field equipment. It is also possible to divide the system load between the two I/servers to maintain a more balanced system and ensure the total redundancy of communications.

Transfer times between the I/ servers was significantly improved so in the event of a communications fault, the network clients can continue to operate normally. The graphic interface is very information rich. The general displays often exceed 1,000 animation points, and there is direct access to any controllable equipment from the general displays. The displays allow operators to navigate inside the installations to obtain detailed information, such as the number of manoeuvres of a valve or the amount of energy consumption.

The equipment itself allows direct access to the command display of the respective equipment. The whole PLC network is represented in several displays showing the status of each communication line.

There are two redundant servers in each centre to process alarms. If a server fails, the second server takes on the alarm process.

Alarms for equipment are

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hali@idc-online.com For information on IDC Technologies conferences or workshops, please visit www.idc-online.com www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 51

ENQUIRY NO. 741

Are you a professional in the safety industry?

sector spotlight represented by colour. The analogue gauges show alarm information and permit the operator to change the alarm set points when necessary.

The alarms can be acknowledged individually or collectively, and the last three alarms are always displayed.

The operator can also check alarm records and events as well as define filters to select information by date, hour, type, value, operator, etc.

which incorporates tables obtained from direct access to databases and calculation formulas.

All reports are run-time generated and processed, enabling more simplified maintenance both in the alteration and in the implementation of new reports.

Any report can be exported to Excel or HTML. During data acquisition for the primary server, a data replica is made to the secondary server.

In Sync There are two redundant servers in each command centre to process trends. If a server fails, the second server takes on data processing and recording.

When the faulty server returns online, the information that is collected while it is offline is automatically backfilled.

This way the two servers are always synchronised.

During analysis, the operator can navigate in time, check the value of each variable for each time period, add and remove variables, carry out zooming, change the scale and print, or export to Microsoft Excel.

The report engine was developed in Visual Basic with SQL server and generates in run-time any kind of report for EPAL. There are over 50 reports (each report being one to several pages in length) with daily, monthly and annual checking possibilities.

The reports are stored on two redundant servers, allowing the operators to consult each of the servers. The reports process information goes into detail about flows, pressures, energy consumption, operating times, conductivity, pH, turbidity, weight and other information.

Stored on an hourly basis, the reports present information in several ways: values of sample collections in the period, variations in the period, accumulated totals, and various calculations like power factor maximum, minimum, averages, totals, specific consumption and variations against previous reports, functioning times, etc. As well as the main body of the report, in the lower display area a set of summary information about the whole report is presented,

Reliable Solution With CitectSCADA, Tecnilab, EPAL now ha s rea l - time control over the whole network in its two new command centres. EPAL now has a

52â&#x20AC;&#x192; industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

reliable solution that lowers life-cycle costs through improved operator efficiency and easy maintenance.

Business decisions for deliver y, treatment and distribution have been improved by better report data for process evaluation.

Redundant servers, communication and network architecture resolve any hardware failure issues. Overall, EPAL has lowered its total cost of ownership, instituted redundancy, retained its hardware investment and achieved display refresh times of 1.5 seconds on average.

ENQUIRY NO. 0260

EPAL operating centre 1

EPAL operating centre 2 www.iaasiaonline.com

sector spotlight

Market Report:

Australian Water Treatment Chemicals Market to Double By 2014

Sherry Wil, Ohio, USA

It has been estimated that total spending on the water and wastewater treatment sector is US$5.5 billion and this is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5 per cent until 2009.

By Sarah Wang, Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan.

ue to unprecedented droughts in past years, the Australian government has been seeking alternative water sources including used water and seawater. Water reuse and desalination have been proven to be feasible solutions for tackling the issue and both methods have boost demand for water treatment chemicals.

Frost & Sullivan’s Strategic Analysis of the Australian Water Treatment Chemicals Market, finds that revenues in this market totalled AU$468.1 million (US$409.4 million) in 2006 and is expected to increase by a CAGR of 8.1 per cent to reach AU$872.1 million in 2014.

Water reuse across the municipal and industrial sectors has been the main contributor to

the growth of the Australian water treatment chemicals market. While there is still some resistance to the use of recycled water as a potential drinking water source, water reuse for other purposes especially in the industrial sector has increasingly become common practice.

Water Treatment Chemicals The construction of desalination plants in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales has provided another new consumption sector for water treatment chemicals.

It has been estimated that total sp e n d i n g o n t h e w a te r a n d wastewater treatment sector is AU$6.3 billion and this is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5 per cent until 2009.

The total Australian water treatment chemicals revenue grew at a CAGR of 11 per cent from 2004 to 2006, with the coagulants and flocculants sector and the pH adjustors and other commodity chemicals sector growing faster than this average. Although alternative technologies such as membrane technology and UV filtration have been much talked about, chemicals continue to provide unmatched performance in critical roles.

As a consequence of intense competition in the water treatment service industry, providers have been forced to reduce the price of chemicals in order to make their bundled offer more attractive. This price pressure has been invariably passed onto chemicals.

Bundled Packages Customers tend to favour a service provider who is able to provide a customised combination of chemica ls a nd ser v ices. This combination is formulated to suit the unique needs of each customer – providing high value addition to the customer in the face of intense price competition in the chemicals market.

Hence, suppliers of water treatment chemicals need to build lasting relationships and partnerships with customers. By understanding customers’ needs and tailoring the provision of bundled packages of services and chemicals as per their requirements, suppliers can differentiate themselves, increase market share, and improve margins.

Suppliers can also ensure growth by establishing regional presence in Australia. With intense price competition in the chemicals market and the resourcing challenges that arise from supplying Australia’s dispersed customer base, suppliers are finding opportunities through the provision of bundles services and chemicals.

ENQUIRY NO. 0261

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Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 53

In business

E

nd users are finding it increasingly difficult to justify automation purchases. Technology alone is no longer sufficient to justify automation.

Instead, automation must provide solid business value benefits based on a combination of metrics, such as enhanced asset availability, return on assets, reduced lifecycle cost, and many other strategic and financial objectives.

In most cases, manufacturing assets are capable of performing to design specifications. Reliability and utilisation, however, are suffering from constrained human performance.

Over US$20 billion or almost five percent of production in the process industries is lost to unscheduled downtime. Up to 78 percent of that is readily preventable. Forty percent is a result of human error, primarily operator error. This can be addressed by using both the operator and the automation more effectively.

The biggest change in plant performance improvement for the 21st century and a key vehicle for reducing this unplanned downtime will come from the empowerment of the knowledge worker. Operators of the future will play a pivotal role in operations decision-making.

Manufacturing will undergo fundamental organisational changes because of operators becoming knowledge workers empowered with information. This proliferation of information is causing organisational structures to flatten, pushing down the authority and responsibility associated with the distribution of information.

A higher level of coordination at lower levels is also required.

ABB’s Industrial IT solutions enable knowledge workers in several key ways, but probably the most important factors include providing information in context and providing a unified platform for plant and asset maintenance management that also automates the transactions between the automation system and computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS), also known as Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) platforms.

54 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Strategies For

Growth Improving productivity across the enterprise, not just the plant. By Larry O’Brien, analyst with the ARC Advisory Group.

Information & The Data Model Information empowerment leads to internal synchronisation and supportiveness. Supportiveness simply refers to each employee’s accurate understanding of their responsibility in the context of the big picture and ability to understand their contribution in the context of the success of the overall enterprise.

Information empowerment should elevate the role of the operator and significantly change his future contribution. The CPAS needs to support the operator in this new role, and therefore information empowerment is a fundamental CPAS issue. In order to achieve information empower-

ment, information must be provided in context. In other words, the right information gets to the right people when they need it, regardless of where that information resides in the system.

Industrial IT provides information empowerment and provides information in context by providing a unified framework, which includes process data from ABB and third party controllers, OPC servers, and intelligent instrumentation and fieldbus networks including Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus, and HART. ABB is also unique in its ability to integrate information from drives and motor control centres. www.iaasiaonline.com

In business the system. Instead, one object is modelled at a time. This means that the model object serves as a container of references to different aspects in the system that contains the data (or aspects). Each aspect in turn is implemented by the various software systems that store, manage, and present information in a way that is optimised for the user. These software systems are referred to as aspect systems, and the result is a system of integrated yet independent software systems.

The System 800xA Operations environment also provides a high degree of familiarity to any operator knowledgeable with Windows operating systems. A common environment also significantly reduces training time and reduces the likelihood of operator error. The interface has the same basic look on every screen in the plant, so engineering, maintenance, and operations all have consistent views.

Information is also provided from engineering tools, batch management systems, production management systems, and asset optimization systems. All of these applications are managed in System 800xA Operations allowing contextual views of objects in the system that are only relevant to the user that needs them.

Maintenance personnel, for example, only see the relevant maintenance data that they need to see, but they have an expanded view of this data from multiple sources throughout the plant.

ABB does not create one single data model, or object model, to represent the real world object in www.iaasiaonline.com

An Integrated Approach Implementation of predictive and preventative maintenance strategies is a key component of reducing unplanned downtime. According to the CPAS vision, anything in the manufacturing process that can be automated should be automated. This includes not just basic automation of the sensor/actuator type, but automation of work processes, including maintenance.

Maintenance is one of the most significant and untapped areas of cost savings in plants today, and also one of the most overlooked.

According to DuPont, for example, maintenance is the largest single controllable expenditure in the plant, with maintenance budgets accounting for around two-thirds of annual net profit. According to Dow, the cost of unnecessary maintenance is about the same size as the total plant profit.

Shell Global Solutions estimates that about 63 percent of maintenance labour results in no action at all.

In most enterprises today, tight, real-time coordination between the control system and maintenance system is seldom achieved. These

systems have been designed to support different functional environments with very different objectives and constraints. One of the issues that inhibits free interchange between these functional areas is their different naming conventions.

An asset often has one name in the operations environment and another in the maintenance environment. This is because these systems have vastly different focuses, purposes, and needs that their naming conventions must satisfy.

ABBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to plant maintenance is to provide an environment where information is transparently accessible to users in both the process control system and the maintenance system environments, regardless of where the information has originated. This is consistent with ARCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view that information should be provided in context, so the maintenance personnel have access to all the information they need when they need it, regardless of its source or location.

Anything in the manufacturing process that can be automated should be automated Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x192; 55

in business ABB’s Reliability Integrated Solution provides complete asset optimisation of automation devices, plant infrastructure, plant equipment, and production processes. Features such as asset condition monitoring and reporting enable proactive implementation of corrective measures.

Integrating the CMMS system with the real-time domain of CPAS also optimises the maintenance cycle.

By linking assets as represented or controlled by System 800xA with the representations of these assets in the CMMS system, it is possible to provide System 800xA users with access to maintenance-specific information such as active work orders, work order history, maintenance schedule, and spare parts availability. Users can use the graphical views of System 800xA to navigate items and access them directly from the CMMS system without explicitly needing to log on.

ABB’s Reliability Integrated Dashboard also provides business level information and KPIs about the real time performance of the plant. Incorporating this type of information into the daily activities of operators, production managers, and maintenance engineers brings a new level of visibility into plant performance. It is this type of visibility that enables both sustained and increased performance over time.

56 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

company audited the maintenance organisation and its systems to identify their financial and environmental impact. Recommendations were made and implemented that changed the entire maintenance culture.

The Result The maintenance organisation was pared down to one main contractor overseeing seven sub-contractors, with a combined staff of 140. As

Maintenance is the largest single controllable expenditure in the plant, with maintenance budgets accounting for around two-thirds of annual net profit standardization took hold, costs were significantly reduced, with maintenance costs falling 20 percent in the first year. No industrial actions have occurred on site since ABB’s arrival. Injuries have fallen, from 78 per 200,000 person-hours to less than half that amount, culminating in 500 days with no injuries at all.

Peter Lammers, Tilburg, the Netherlands

Joint Maintenance ABB Streamlines Plant Maintenance at Botany Complex Six plants owned by three separate companies (Orica, Huntsman Corporation, and Qenos) share one of Australia’s largest chemical and industrial sites – the Botany complex. These plants produce chemicals and specialty surfactants, including raw materials for the automobile, mining, agricultural, plastics, and rubber industries. The plant owners all shared similar concerns over plant downtime, safety, health, and the environment, and eventually joined forces to streamline and upgrade their maintenance operations.

ABB was chosen to direct this effort for many reasons, especially

the company’s experience in change management, ability to handle health and environmental problems, and commitment and expertise in safety.

Before ABB’s involvement with the Botany complex, each plant was responsible for its own maintenance.

Forty independent contractors oversaw a staff of 200, generated reams of incompatible reports and invoices, with a budget of over US$10 million annually.

ABB’s task was to improve overall performance and safety, identify weaknesses, standardise on strengths, cut downtime, and cut costs. This began with a review of mechanical and electrical maintenance, shutdowns, and capital works at all six plants. ABB’s review encompassed equipment reliability and the effectiveness of reporting procedures, working methods, and organisational structure. The

The benefits from new maintenance procedures and tools have been felt throughout the plant. Plant administrators, for example, no longer have to deal with dozens of separate invoices. ABB introduced Maximo software and the maintenance organisation now produces one invoice per plant per month. Plant management can now access information that lets them monitor and analyse the maintenance function. This information is enabling management at each plant to recognise opportunities for further improvements in productivity and efficiency: the potential to save energy, upgrade equipment, automate, and consolidate.

ENQUIRY NO. 0262

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design focus

2

CAD/ERP Data Integration:

Ways About It

omputer Aided Design (CAD) applications enable engineers and designers to easily and efficiently create and view 3D product de sig ns on a computer. Today, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions are used to manage CAD data within engineering and other departments. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions control the production planning and financials at the corporate level, drawing data from CAD/PLM and other sources. The need to improve management of this data has reached a critical point.

58 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

Enabling manufacturing companies to extract and transfer metadata from CAD/ PLM systems directly into ERP.

By Ricardo Talbot, Science Officer of Elmo Solutions Inc

Driven by the need to break down information barriers between departments, companies have attempted to build bridges between these disparate system ‘silos’ – with varying degrees of success.

One of the most important elements of product information in a manufacturing enterprise is the Bill of Materials (BoM). Built around data usually produced using a CAD application, the BoM specifies which and how many parts and materials are needed to complete the manufacturing process, and contains

data about the components and their relationship to one another. Because of its important role tracking product configuration, most companies need to transfer BoM data to their ERP system, bidirectionally in many cases, on a regular basis.

Integration Issues Many manufacturing companies do not have a solution in place that can safely, easily and efficiently integrate CAD data into their ERP system.

Problems in this area include: • Data between CAD and ERP is continually out of sync.

• Costly and error-prone re-keying of data into ERP system • Lost time and delayed time to market • Decreased operational efficiency and disorganised workflow processes www.iaasiaonline.com

design focus In response to the critical need to ensure data synchronisation between design and manufacturing intensive departments, two approaches exist that enable manufacturing companies to extract and transfer metadata from CAD/PLM systems directly into ERP.

Ideally, the live approach should be able to process a wide range of data from CAD and ERP, including part/component/assembly data, BoM, and routing instructions. Bidirectional capabilities provide ‘live’, accurate, real-time updates propagated instantly to your CAD and ERP systems. With a live approach to data integration, ERP and CAD data is always in sync.

ENQUIRY NO. 728

• The Live Approach A live approach to data integration ensures real-time, bidirectional synchronisation between your • The Batch Approach CAD and ERP data. Preferably, this A batch approach to data approach should support a comintegration enables you to extract plete range of CAD platforms. When and export metadata from CAD saving a drawing, component or to ERP systems, while providing assembly, the user may enter or options for reviewing and edit both CAD and ERP data, using approving the data before it is possible values taken ‘live’ from integrated into the ERP system. the ERP application. Following In this approach, the exconfirmation from the end-user, act composition of each asthe data is updated in real-time sembly or component found in both the CAD system and the in the CAD documents should ERP database, ensuring complete be directly exported, as well as synchronisation between both the relevant metadata associated PCA’08_MagAd(175x125mm)p 18/9/07 4:43 PM Page 1to it. sets of data.

This includes the attributes and/or properties of each component, including custom, userdefined properties. After the user decides where to search and output the data, the specified storage location should be scanned and the metadata extracted into an XML or tab-delimited text file.

Ideally, data can be exported to an ERP system in one single, unattended operation. Preferably, the Bill of Materials (BoM) in the ERP system can be automatically updated in batch mode. Some technologies allow data to be exported on a regular basis without any human interaction.

Ideally, exported data can be used for a wide range of applications, such as building the BoM, importing the BoM from CAD into ERP systems, importing data into cost product calculation systems, creating user activity reports, and product and spare parts catalogs.

www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 59

design focus

The Advantages Both of these approaches introduce a whole new level of CAD to ERP i n te g r a t i o n to m a n u f a c t u r e r s , enabling you to effectively bridge the data silos between your design and manufacturing teams and reduce costly manufacturing errors. Benefits of using these approaches include: • Synchronisation This ensures that your design and manufacturing teams both have access to identical data at the same time.

• Elimination Of Data Entry By virtually eliminating the need for manually re-keying metadata from CAD into ERP, the technology typically pays for itself in 60-90 days.

• Reduced Errors Manually retyping data inevitably leads to transcribing errors.

Kishore N C, Chennai, India

The technology should be versatile enough to support a variety of different CAD formats, ensuring that the customer is not locked into a specific product configuration. It should also allow the comprehensive extraction of data of all supported document formats in one single unattended operation. This approach may also require custom software development. This is usually in the form of a metadata post- processor that filters out unnecessary data and converts information to the format required by the target application.

Inability to safely, easily and efficiently integrate CAD data into ERP systems leads to lost time and delayed time to market.

Product data is the lifeblood of the manufacturing organisation.

The fewer obstacles there are to its flow, the better.

• Data Management With these new approaches, you can quickly and easily share product data with users in different departments across an extended enterprise, regardless of geographic location.

• Improved Productivity Creating a bridge between design and manufacturing information silos helps streamline workflow

processes and ensures improved time to market.

• Supports Multiple CAD Formats A number of these solutions are designed to support multiple CAD formats, ensuring that customers do not need to stay locked into a specific product configuration.

• Supports Multiple ERP Systems Some CAD-to-ERP integration solutions are designed to offer the same functionality across a wide variety of ERP platforms.

• Bidirectional Link (Live approach) The first of its kind, this technology enables users to make changes in either CAD or ERP and instantly propagate these changes to the companion system.

Product data is the lifeblood of the manufacturing organisation. The fewer obstacles there are to its flow, the better. The good news is clear: solutions exist that guarantee true integration of CAD and ERP data.

Data synchronisation between design and manufacturing intensive departments is critical 60 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

ENQUIRY NO. 0263

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ENQUIRY NO. 746

products & Services

Latest products and software available in the market

Banner Engineering: LED Panel Lights

New three-colour LED indicators for industrial control panels and enclosures last longer and require less space than traditional single-colour panel lights. The Model K30L Ez-Light from US-based Banner Engineering is a fully encapsulated 30mm indicator light threaded to fit the standard 22.5mm mounting hole found in many industrial machinery systems.

The enclosure is IP67 rated for use in harsh industrial environments and wash-down locations. With appropriate cabling and connectors, the indicators can be rated IP69K for food and beverage installations. Other applications include control systems for packaging machinery, automotive assembly, car washes and general manufacturing.

Enquiry no. 0270

ESI Group: CFD-ACE+ V2008.0 Software Update

ESI Group has released version 2008.0 of its CFD-ACE+ software platform. With the addition of polyhedralhoneycomb technology in the CFD-GEOM application, the V2008.0 release marks a major milestone in CFD-ACE+ meshing capabilities. A tetrahedral mesh system can be turned into a high quality polyhedral-honeycomb mesh with lower cell counts and more robust convergence, resulting in improved overall cell quality.

Other new additions include multi-step electro-chemistry for fuel cell modelling, which utilises the full form of the Butler-Volmer equation which is an industry first and a new boundary layer meshing option, allowing the creation of either highly stretched prismatic or hexahedral layers near desired surfaces prior to tetrahedral mesh generation.

Enquiry no. 0272

Baumer: Miniature Optical Sensor

Hirschmann: Hiper Ring Protocol

Baumer has, with the FHDK 04, introduced the newest addition to the family of optical sensors onto the market.

A major feature of the sensor is its compact dimensions (4 x 6 x 45mm). It also has a highly efficient and precise background suppression.

The directed-beam property permits even the smallest objects to be reproducibly detected at distances of up to 50mm. Detection is independent of the objectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colour or surface characteristics. Several sensors can operate next to one another without any optical interference among them. The FHDK 04 also supports the IO-Link communication standard and is thus very well prepared for future requirements. The FHDK 04 is available for sensing distances of 30mm or 50mm (fixed).

With the Fast Hiper Ring protocol, identically configured switches can be connected in a ring. The managed Fast/ Gigabit Ethernet switches of the Mach 1000 and RSR series are designed for ambient conditions with electrostatic discharges, magnetic fields or strong vibrations. Whilst the Mach 1000 devices are designed for use in the switch cabinet, the RSR switches can be mounted on DIN rails or on the wall. Complete network solutions can be implemented for transformer stations in this way.

Enquiry no. 0271

62â&#x20AC;&#x192; industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

The Fast Hiper Ring guarantees a recovery time of less than 10 milliseconds. The ring structure allows both a cost optimised implementation of a redundant network as well as maintenance and network extension during operation.

This makes Fast Hiper Ring especially suitable for complex applications such as a combined transmission of video, audio and data information.

Enquiry no. 0273

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products & Services

Huba Control: Differential Pressure Transmitter

Igus: Bearing Polymer Iglidur H1

Huba Control’s new Type 692 pressure transmitters have a unique, well proven, ceramic technology. There are a variety of pressure and electrical connections available, together with several standardised output signals. The wide variety of options makes these transmitters ideal for applications across a broad spectrum of industries.

Some advantages of the pressure transmitter are a very low temperature sensitivity, a high resistance to extreme temperatures, no mechanical creepage, and a modular system and choice of materials to suit individual applications.

Enquiry no. 0274

Ifm: Temperature Switch

Ifm Electronic has added a new temperature switch to its repertoire of products, one that offers little installation complexity and maximum reliability. This switching temperature sensor is the first of its kind with intuitive handling, utilising two radial setting rings on the sensor to enable quick and precise setting of the switch points for the users, also without system temperature being applied.

The switch points are freely adjustable from -25°C to 140°C. The switch also has a mechanical locking that prevents inadvertent manipulation. The protective cap, which can be obtained as an option, ensures protection against tampering. Other features include gold-plated contacts, vibration and shock resistance, and an IP67 rating.

Enquiry no. 0275

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The expert for plastic plain bearings, igus GmbH, Cologne, has developed a new material called iglidur H1. Plain bearings made from this new, high-performance polymer are ideal when a long service life under extreme conditions is required. These plain bearings are lubrication-free, wearresistant, and low friction – even when exposed to heat, moisture, and chemicals.

The iglidur H1 plain bearings have an upper long-term application temperature of 200C. They are also vibrationdamping and corrosive-resistant. In addition to featuring good chemical resistance, even when PES cleaning agents are used, these plain bearings can be hose- and steamcleaned. They also possess high wear resistance, even when run on soft stainless steel shafts.

Enquiry no. 0276

Infineon: Security & Convenience For NFC Applications

Infineon Technologies AG will be bringing out a 32-bit high-security flash microcontroller for mobile applications based on NFC (Near Field Communication) in the second quarter of 2008, with production quantities by mid-2008.

The NFC-enabled SIM card microcontroller combines a Single Wire Protocol (SWP) interface with contactless Mifare technology, enabling new services on mobile devices, such as ticketing, secure banking and loyalty programmes. Users of such mobile phones will be able to make payments or access public transportation by holding the mobile phone in front of a contactless terminal.

Enquiry no. 0277

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 63

products & Services

Mitsubishi Electric: Small Control Terminals

Mitsubishi Electric has four new entry-level control terminals in the GT10 line.

The new GT1030 models are the successors to the popular F930GOT control terminals.

In addition to these four new products, the GT10 line also includes the smaller GT1020 line of control terminals, with a choice of six models featuring 3.7” displays with a resolution of 160 x 64pixels. These small terminals also have a choice of two colour combinations for the backlight and two serial ports (RS-232 and RS-422). Two versions without power supply units are also available – they can draw their 5V power supply from the base units of the MELSEC FX3U controller.

The GOT1000 series also includes the GT11 and GT15 lines, which are designed for more demanding control and visualisation tasks. These lines include both powerful standard serial communications control terminals with 5.7” displays and more high-end network-capable terminals with up to 15” (diagonal) screens and an optional MES function.

Enquiry no. 0278

Moxa: UC-7101 Embedded Computer

The UC-7101 comes with one RS-232/422/485 serial port and a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN. It uses the Moxa Art ARM9 192 MHz RISC CPU. Other features include a built-in 8 MB NOR Flash ROM and 16 MB SDRAM, and an SD socket. The LAN port built into the ARM9 CPU allows the UC-7101 computer to be used as a communication platform for basic data acquisition and protocol conversion applications, and the computer’s RS-232/422/485 serial port allows you to connect one serial device for data acquisition applications.

The UC-7101 comes with the µClinux operating system pre-installed. Software written for desktop PCs is easily ported to the UC-7101 computer with a GNU cross complier. A wide temperature model is also available. It supports an operating temperature range of -40 to 75°C, making it suitable for any harsh environment.

Enquiry no. 0279

64 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

National Instruments: RF Power Meter

National Instruments today announced the company’s first USB-controlled true RMS RF power meter, which provides a highly flexible solution for automated test, measurement and monitoring applications in a small footprint. Powered solely from the USB cable, the new power meter is also ideal for portable applications because it consumes only 100mA of current without an external power supply.

Traditional power meters feature a power sensor or head located close to the unit under test and connect via cable to an accurate A/D converter located in conventional instrumentation housing. Using the latest PC and A/D converter technologies, the USB-5680 combines both the sensor and the A/D converter in one package occupying less than 9.6 cubic inches. The USB-5680 simply connects directly to an available USB port on any PC or PXI controller.

Enquiry no. 0280

RAE Systems: MiniRAE Lite

RAE Systems Inc has introduced the MiniRAE Lite, the third in a series of third-generation photoionisation detector (PID) based instruments. The MiniRAE Lite is a nonintrinsically safe instrument intended for outdoor environmental and construction site use where hydrocarbon-based volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and chemicals pose a toxic threat.

The MiniRAE Lite has a measurement range of 0 to 5,000 parts per million (ppm).

Offering results in real time with a measurement response time of under three seconds, it comes with a three-button interface designed to be easily used with up to three layers of gloves.

The built-in 12-language support helps make it a versatile tool for the growing global environmental remediation market.

Enquiry no. 0281

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products & Services

Renishaw: Linear Magnetic Encoder

The new LM10 linear magnetic encoder brings 100m travel reliability to demanding high-speed, precision applications.

The solid-state, non-contact design features a compact IP68 rated readhead that rides at up to 1.5mm from the selfadhesive magnetic strip scale.

The non-contact magnetic sensor delivers reliability in applications too dusty, dirty, greasy or destructive for optical encoders. The linear magnetic encoder comes in digital or analogue output variants and delivers high-speed operation of up to 25m/s (4m/s at 1µm resolution).

Engineered for service in extreme conditions, the solidstate LM10 linear encoder offers operating temperatures from -20 °C to 85 °C, water-proof sealing to IP68, together with high resistance to shock, vibrations, and pressure.

The Mathworks: New Version SystemTest

Test management and analysis software for system verification and validation, SystemTest by The Mathworks, enables engineers to automatically distribute independent tests or simulation runs of Simulink models to multiple processors, without requiring manual coding.

The enhancements reduces the time needed for testing, leading to faster production of quality system designs. The tool analyses multi-dimensional data sets to give designers a picture of the system being tested. SystemTest 2 also provides the ability to reload the results of simulations and measurement sequences for further analysis and comparison.

Enquiry no. 0284

Enquiry no. 0282

Siemens: Profinet Connection For VS720A

Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) has added a Profinet connection to its new simatic VS720A camera series or industrial image processing.

The seven new cameras for monochrome and colour image processing possess improved image recording features for brilliant pictures, a larger memory to accommodate more inspection programs and data, and a new processor architecture for shorter inspection times.

The seven cameras are scalable with regard to performance, resolution and colour or monochrome image processing, and they are suitable for the most diverse requirements – from automatic inspection, through quality checking and production monitoring, right up to parts recognition. The new VS726A colour camera offers a resolution of 640x480 pixels and a frame rate of 30fps.

Enquiry no. 0283

www.iaasiaonline.com

Vega: Plicsradio

Plicsradio was developed for the wireless application of Vega products for measurement of level, limit level and pressure. Radiosupported communication is especially advantageous in situations where traditional wiring would require considerably more work and expense.

Plicsradio enables simple wireless transmission of 4 … 20 mA/HART signals and switching conditions.

An emitting unit records the measured values and can simultaneously be used as intrinsically safe power supply for sensors connected via cable.

A receiving unit picks up the measured values via the radio link and, depending on the version, transfers them to a 4 … 20 mA output or a processing unit. An indicating unit located within the radio range can also be used to display the measurement data.

Enquiry no. 0285

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 65

eVENT REVIEW

NIDays 2008:

Parallel Innovation This one-day event showcased the latest software tools, hardware platforms, and commercial technologies impacting system development. By Derek Rodriguez. he NIDays 2008 event held on January 11 in St Regis Hotel, Singapore, opened with a keynote speech by Chandran Nair, Managing Director of National Instruments South East Asia. In his presentation, Mr Nair discussed the emergence of parallel technologies, and the difficulties faced when combining parallelism with computing, and in related applications of measurement and control applications.

Mr Nair talked about the trends associated with parallelism and examined the latest technologies that will enable engineers and scientists to run test, measurement and control applications in parallel to maximise the use of current multicore

Demo Pavilion

Intelligent DAQ Dance Revolution This demonstration showed the high performance and flexibility of R Series Intelligent DAQ hardware and the National Instruments Labview FPGA module, through an arcade style dance simulation game. The game involved showing dance steps on the screen while players were graded based on how well they could keep up with the beat of the song. Using a single PXI-7833R R Series Intelligent DAQ module, it was possible to generate all audio

and video output signals, communicate with 2 dance sensor pads, and implement scoring and synchronisation logic on the FPGA chip.

66 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

CPU and distributed embedded computing technologies.

Interspersed within the keynote speech were demonstrations by engineers from National Instruments as well as a short introduction of the NUS Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) by Dr Seah Kar Heng, Head of Manufacturing, National University of Singapore.

Chandran Nair

Graphical Design Mr Nair pointed out the need for a shift in software technologies to parallel ones. He said: “The subsequent impact that this has on engineers and scientists is the need for them to create multithreaded applications.”

Using NI CompactDAQ to Crash Test Safety Helmets The NI CompactDAQ was used to acquire data related to what a person’s head would be subjected to upon impact. To

begin, the helmet was raised to a height to provide an impact as well as to initiate the drop sequence. the helmet was falling, a sensor passed through a velocity gate, and the counter/timer function was used to measure the helmet velocity just prior to impact. This triggered the data acquisition system, which measured the acceleration that the head feels during impact. www.iaasiaonline.com

event review

However, programming threads, such as text-based multi-threading, is far from an easy task. A more viable option would be to graphically simplify multithreading. According to Mr Nair: “The graphical approach intuitively exposes thread opportunities.” The advantage of using Labview in this application is its ability to automatically create multiple threads. He continued: “In a parallel system, the entire system must be parallel; part of this is having software that can do parallel.”

Mr Nair also emphasised the need to shift to Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. Several reasons were given; besides the fact that FPGAs are reconfigurable, display true parallelism and high determinism, they are also independently operative and have unique functional cores or IP

Solving The Rubik’s Cube With NI Vision And Lego Mindstorm In this demonstration, the Rubik’s Cube puzzle was solved with NI Vision Development Module and Labview toolkit for Lego Mindstorm. Imaging of the faces was done with the USB Webcam, the image was then processed with NI Vision Development Module and instructions sent to the Lego Minstorm hardware to execute the next moves. www.iaasiaonline.com

cores. However, implementing logic on FPGAs presents a barrier against the shift. The problem is the design entry language for FPGAs, VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL). Few engineers, currently at least, know how to use this.

Digital Data Transfer Other presentations were also held in the Main Track, one of which was about Digital Interfacing and Test Fundamentals. The key problem

discussed here was the difficulty in designing digital circuits and communicating at high data rates in today’s world. The content also consisted of the basics behind synchronous and asynchronous transfer configurations. Challenges involved with digital interfacing such as terminating and probing digital signals at high speeds were also examined.

ENQUIRY NO. 0290

NI Elvis Inverted Pendulum The National Instruments Elvis/ Quanser Rotary Inverted Pendulum contains all the components needed to set up a control design, simulation, and mechatronics lab. The Quanser QNET rotary inverted pendulum offered the opportunity to balance a vertical rod at the tip of a rotating arm using a DC motor.

This classic pendulum control experiment that was performed using the NI Elvis Workstation and Labview software.

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 67

eVENT preview

PIA & ProPak Vietnam 2008 An event showcasing Process Engineering, Instrumentation, Laboratory and Scientific Equipment

Attractive FDI Destination With consistent annual economic growth exceeding 8.5 percent anticipated over the next few years and a population of more than 85 million.

Vietnam is one of the world’s leading emerging markets. As a member of ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) Vietnam has free access to a combined market area approaching 600 million people and a GDP of US$580 billion.

A major part of the growth impetus is derived from Foreign Direct Investment, which is expected in 2007 to exceed the US$11 billion 2006 figure as companies look to diversify their Asian investment strategies and take advantage of a competitive and well educated labour force.

March 5 – 8, 2008 HIECC, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

T

he transition of Vietnam’s economy from state controlled to incorporate international standard business practices is on a fast forward track.

Following access to the World Trade Organisation in December 2006 Vietnam’s industry faces new competitive forces as international investment takes off and organisations seek to transform their manufacturing and processing capabilities.

investment in growing aquacultural products forecast to reach US$1.1 billion by 2010 the business opportunities are growing at an impressive rate.

domestic consumer market and an extensive programme of infrastructure based investments.

Vietnam is looking towards international standard solutions to build on its growth potential. With food exports expected to reach US$8 billion in 2007 and with total

Joint Showing The PIA 2008 show will target to reach professional specifiers from Vietnam’s process engineering, instrumentation, laboratory and scientific equipment industries. It is held in conjunction with the 4th ProPak Vietnam show.

The combined ProPak/PIA event will take place over four days from March 5–8, 2008 and will be held at the Ho Chi Minh International Exhibition & Convention Centre (HIECC).

ENQUIRY NO. 0291

Growth Potential In the oil and gas sector Vietnam currently exports the majority of its petroleum for refining overseas and imports all refined oil products.

Two oil refineries are in the process of being built with a third recently approved for which the completion date is 2015.

In the agricultural sector Vietnam is a world top 3 producer of pepper, cashew nuts and coffee and leads the way in terms of upgrading standards to a global standard. With a burgeoning 68 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

www.iaasiaonline.com

event preview

Safety Control & Instrumentation Systems Conference March 12 – 13, 2008 Rendezvous Hotel Singapore

O

rganised by IDC Technologies, this conference will focus on the technology and application of safety-related control and instrumentation systems in the chemicals, energy, mining and manufacturing industries. It will examine the complex and challenging issues of using control systems technology to maintain and improve the safety of people and plant whilst ensuring profitability. The Safety Controls & Instrumentation Systems Conference will provide an opportunity to promote and showcase the presenters’ companys’ vision, knowledge and expertise in

the chemicals, mining, manufacturing and utilities industries as they apply to safety technology.

The Safety Control & Instrumentation Systems Conference 2008 will focus

on delegates being active participants throughout the two days. Delegates will have the opportunity to participate in interactive discussions and interviews with all presenters.

RFID World Asia 2008 April 9 – 11, 2008 Suntec Singapore

T

he 5th Annual RFID Asia Summit 2008, held from April 9–11, 2008 in Suntec Singapore, is targeted at senior-level executives looking to

understand and reap the benefits of this new business tool.

Visitors and participants can expect to discover the business transformation movement in four hot growth RFID sectors:Healthcare/ Pharmaceuticals, Logistics/SCM, Aviation and Retail/Lifestyle.

It also presents an opportunity to network and form new partnerships with other RFID professionals, practitioners and vendors in Asia.

As an Asia show, the regional context requires special treatment. An understanding of Asia’s RFID landscape is never complete without input on government initiatives and projects which compliment and often drive private sector efforts. Also featured are country-by-country updates and a PanAsia panel featuring Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Korea.

ENQUIRY NO. 0292

www.iaasiaonline.com

Feb/Mar 2008 | industrial automation asia 69

eVENT preview

PIA & ProPak Vietnam 2008 An event showcasing Process Engineering, Instrumentation, Laboratory and Scientific Equipment

Attractive FDI Destination With consistent annual economic growth exceeding 8.5 percent anticipated over the next few years and a population of more than 85 million.

Vietnam is one of the world’s leading emerging markets. As a member of ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) Vietnam has free access to a combined market area approaching 600 million people and a GDP of US$580 billion.

A major part of the growth impetus is derived from Foreign Direct Investment, which is expected in 2007 to exceed the US$11 billion 2006 figure as companies look to diversify their Asian investment strategies and take advantage of a competitive and well educated labour force.

March 5 – 8, 2008 HIECC, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

T

he transition of Vietnam’s economy from state controlled to incorporate international standard business practices is on a fast forward track.

Following access to the World Trade Organisation in December 2006 Vietnam’s industry faces new competitive forces as international investment takes off and organisations seek to transform their manufacturing and processing capabilities.

investment in growing aquacultural products forecast to reach US$1.1 billion by 2010 the business opportunities are growing at an impressive rate.

domestic consumer market and an extensive programme of infrastructure based investments.

Vietnam is looking towards international standard solutions to build on its growth potential. With food exports expected to reach US$8 billion in 2007 and with total

Joint Showing The PIA 2008 show will target to reach professional specifiers from Vietnam’s process engineering, instrumentation, laboratory and scientific equipment industries. It is held in conjunction with the 4th ProPak Vietnam show.

The combined ProPak/PIA event will take place over four days from March 5–8, 2008 and will be held at the Ho Chi Minh International Exhibition & Convention Centre (HIECC).

ENQUIRY NO. 0292

Growth Potential In the oil and gas sector Vietnam currently exports the majority of its petroleum for refining overseas and imports all refined oil products.

Two oil refineries are in the process of being built with a third recently approved for which the completion date is 2015.

In the agricultural sector Vietnam is a world top 3 producer of pepper, cashew nuts and coffee and leads the way in terms of upgrading standards to a global standard. With a burgeoning 70 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

www.iaasiaonline.com

CalendarOf Events2008 FEBRUARY 2008 20 – 22 Componex Nepcon India

Pragati Maiden New Delhi, India Reed Exhibitions Tel: 91 124 4686 326 Fax: 91 124 4686 309 Email: sachindev.sharma@reedexpo.co.uk Web: www.componex-nepcon.com

27 – 29 Fieldbus Foundation General Assembly 2008

Antwerp Hilton Hotel Antwerp, Belgium Fieldbus Foundation Tel: 512 794 8890 Fax: 512 794 8893 Email: emea_info@fieldbus.org Web: www.fieldbus.org

MARCH 2008 5 – 8 PIA Vietnam 2008

HIECC Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd. Tel: 66 0 2 617 1475 Fax: 66 0 2 271 3223, 2 617 1406 7 Email: vietnam@besallworld.com Web: www.piavietnam.com

12 – 13 Safety Control & Instrumentation Systems Conference Rendezvous Hotel Singapore Singapore IDC Technologies Tel: 60 3 5192 3800 Fax: 60 3 5192 3801 Email: hali@idc-online.com Web: www.idc-online.com

12 – 13 12th International CAN Conference

Barcelona, Spain CAN in Automation (CiA) GmbH Tel: 49 9131 69086 0 Fax: 49 9131 69086 79 Email: headquarters@can-cia.org Web: www.can-cia.org

70 industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2008

20 – 23 Intrenasionale Industrial Expo 2008

Penang, Malaysia Intrenasionale Tel: 04 646 7866 Fax: 04 646 7877 Email: info@intrenasionale.com Web: www.iex.com.my

APRIL 2008

MAY 2008 1 – 5 Robot Taiwan 2008

Taipei WTC Exhibition Hall Taiwan External Trade Development Council Tel: 886 2 2725 5200 Fax: 886 2 2725 1959 Email: robot@taitra.org.tw Web: www.robotaiwan.com

1 – 3 AsiaWater 2008, Malaysia

5 – 7 Semicon Singapore 2008

7 – 10 Yokogawa Annual Technology Fair & User Conference

7 – 11 Metaltech 2008, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia AMB Exhibitions Sdn Bhd Tel: 603 4045 4993 Fax: 603 4045 4989 Email: support@ambexpo.com Web: www.asiawater.org

Hilton Americas Houston, Texas, USA Yokogawa Corp of America Tel: 281 340 3867 Fax: 281 340 3971 Email: kari.mitchell@us.yokogawa.com Web: www.yokogawa.com/us

9 – 11 RFID World Asia 2008

Suntec, Singapore Terrapin Pte Ltd Tel: 65 6322 2768 Fax: 65 6226 3264 Email: wendy.tay@terrapin.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/2008/rfid/

Suntec, Singapore Semi Singapore Pte Ltd Tel: 65 6339 6361 Fax: 65 6339 6637 Email: ccchan@semi.org Web: www.semiconsingapore.semi.org Putra World Trade Center Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Trade-Link Exhibition Services Tel: 603 5635 6086 Fax: 603 5635 6199 Email: info@tradelink.com.my Web: www.tradelink.com.my/metaltech/

JUNE 2008 5 – 8 Manufacturing Hanoi 2008 Hanoi, Vietnam Chan Chao Int’l Co Ltd Tel: 886 2 2659 6000 Fax: 886 2 2659 7000 Email: mis@chanchao.com.tw Web: www.chanchao.com.tw

13 – 16 Citect 7th Global Partner Conference Collaborate 2008

10 – 13 ICA 2008

22 – 24 China EPower ‘08

11 – 14 Propak Asia 2008, Thailand

Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal Budapest, Hungary Citect Tel: 65 6482 2212 Fax: 65 6482 2252 Email: partnernews@citect.com Web: www.citect.com Intex, Shanghai MP Asia Pte Ltd Tel: 65 6393 0221 Fax: 65 6296 2670 Email: janeloh@mpinetwork.com Web: www.china-epower.com

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Facon Exhibitions Sdn Bhd Tel: 603 7981 8766 Fax: 603 7981 8771 Email: sales@faconex.com Web: www.faconex.com

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd Tel: 66 2617 1475 Fax: 66 2271 3223 or 66 2617 1406 7 Email: propak@besallworld.com Web: www.besallworld.com

www.iaasiaonline.com

ADVERTISING Advertising Index

64

ADVERTISER

PAGE NO

ENQ NO

ADLINK TECHNOLOGY SINGAPORE PTE LTD

25

734

ADVANTECH CO SINGAPORE PTE LTD

9

743

ASEAN CC LINK PROMOTION CENTRE

1

648

BANGKOK EXHIBITION SERVICES LTD

29

724

CARLO GAVAZZI AUTOMATION SINGAPORE PTE LTD

27

740

CITECT PTE LTD

3

742

EXXON MOBIL ASIA PACIFIC

17

647

FA CONTROLS SDN BHD

10

736

FACON EXHIBITIONS SDN BHD

47

757

FLUKE SOUTH EAST ASIA PTE LTD

14

751

FUJI ELECTRIC FA SINGAPORE PTE LTD

IBC

748

HITACHI ASIA LTD

23

737

HONG KONG EXHIBITION SERVICES LTD

61

746

HUBA CONTROL AG (REP OFFICE SPORE)

13

738

IDC TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD

51

741

IED COMMUNICATIONS LTD

71

732

|

IndustrialAutomationAsia

I N D E X

ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES HEAD OFFICE SINGAPORE Eastern TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-02 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: 65-6379 2888 Fax: 65-6379 2805/6379 2806 SINGAPORE: Caroline Yee carolyee@epl.com.sg

MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES JAPAN:

Ted Asoshina Echo Japan Corporation Tel: 81-3-32635065 Fax: 81-3-32342064 aso@echo-japan.co.jp

ifm ELECTRONIC PTE LTD

12

739

IGUS SINGAPORE PTE LTD

10/14

749/750

INTRENASIONALE INDUSTRIAL EXPO

33

731

INVENSYS PROCESS SYSTEMS (S) PTE LTD

7

756

45/59

729/728

N-TRON

15

752

ROCKWELL AUTOMATION SOUTHEAST ASIA PTE LTD

IFC

678

OBC

747

TERRAPINN PTE LTD

37

730

TRADE-LINK EXHIBITION SERVICES SDN BHD

57

755

TURCK SINGAPORE PTE LTD

11

754

VEGA INSTRUMENTS (SEA) PTE LTD

5

744

Robert Yu Worldwide Services Co Ltd Tel: 886-4-23251784 Fax: 886-4-23252967 sales@wwstaiwan.com

WONDERWARE OF SINGAPORE PTE LTD

21

745

The closing date for placing advertisements is not less than

YAMATAKE CONTROLS SINGAPORE PTE LTD

8

735

FOUR WEEKS before the date of publication.

FC

753

MP INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD

SIEMENS PTE LTD - AUTOMATION AND DRIVES

YOKOGAWA ENGINEERING ASIA PTE LTD

KOREA: Young-Seoh Chinn Jes Media International Tel: 82-2-481 3411/3 Fax: 82-2-481 3414 jesmedia@unitel.co.kr

TAIWAN:

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