CE_21_10

The Productivity ®Open UL/CE-certified open-source CPU mimics the Arduino ® MKRZero microcontroller, seamlessly supporting both standard 3rd-party MKR shields and industrial PLC I/O. Use the Arduino IDE (C++) or the ProductivityBlocks graphical programming interface (below) to quickly code the P1AM-100 controller for your application.

With the ProductivityOpen platform you get all the features of a standard Arduino plus the power and reliability of an industrial controller for only $52!

P1AM-100 CPU is a blank canvas and with the right know-how, you can make it do almost anything.

3rd party opensource MKR shields

Stuck on a Jobsite Waiting For a Motor?

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Be part of the Energy Efficiency Movement

Did you know there are more than 50 million industrial and commercial motor-driven systems in the US, and 70% of electricity consumed by industry is used in those systems?

By installing the highest efficiency motor and drive technologies available today, each of us can immediately achieve significant energy savings and create a positive impact on our climate.

Together we can keep the world turning, while saving energy every day. energyefficiencymovement.com

ON THE COVER: Upgrading control platforms can protect against future obsolescence, increase system flexibility, enhance technology or meet

INSIGHTS

Market Update: Automation mergers, acquisitions, capital: Curry, Fetch, Revere, Zebra 10 |

Update: Empowering a standardized web user

ANSWERS

21 | Machine control migrations hinge on system openness

27 | Finite-state machine for embedded systems

31 | Updated SCADA system brings easier compliance, more data for operations

33 | SCADA can accelerate automation, IIoT implementation

35 | Developing a SCADA master plan framework

41 | How to properly size surge protective devices

8 | Vol. 68 Number 10

43 | Case study: System integrator fixes food processing equipment from 3 OEMs

44 | Abstraction to reduce machine integration

INSIDE MACHINES

NEWS

ONLINE | For more online highlights on pages 6 and www.controleng.com in September 2021.

• Top 5 Control Engineering articles September 20-26, 2021: COVID-19 testing, Engineering Leaders Under 40, hydraulic actuators, multipoint temperature profiling and COVID-19 and manufacturers

CONTROL ENGINEERING (ISSN 0010-8049, Vol. 68, No. 10, GST #123397457) is published Monthly except in November by CFE Media, LLC, 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325 Downers Grove, IL 60515. Periodicals postage paid at Downers Grove, IL 60515 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CONTROL ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Jim Langhenry, Group Publisher/Co-Founder; Steve Rourke CEO/COO/Co-Founder. CONTROL ENGINEERING copyright 2021 by CFE Media, LLC. All rights reserved. CONTROL ENGINEERING is a registered trademark of CFE Media, LLC used under license. Circulation records are maintained at 3010 Highland Parkway, Suite #325 Downers Grove, IL 60515. Telephone: 630/571-4070. E-mail: ctle@omeda.com. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40685520. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Email: ctle@omeda.com. Rates for nonqualified subscriptions, including all issues: USA, $165/yr; Canada/Mexico, $200/yr (includes 7% GST, GST#123397457); International air delivery $350/ yr. Except for special issues where price changes are indicated, single copies are available for $30 US and $35 foreign. Please address all subscription mail to CONTROL ENGINEERING, PO Box 348, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Printed in the USA. CFE Media, LLC does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident or any other cause whatsoever.

cost-of-ownership requirements.

Beckhoff Automation

25 | Machine control migration goals and risks

INNOVATIONS

50 | 2022 Engineers’ Choice Finalists: Vote now!

The official ballot is open for voting for the 35th Engineers’ Choice Awards. Control Engineering North American print and digital edition subscribers go to: www.controleng.com/EngineersChoice.

NEW

PRODUCTS FOR ENGINEERS

52 | Automation software, machine learning, displays, sensors

Automation software tools; Digitization system for virtual microscopy, machine learning; High-capacitive touch displays; Rotary position sensor; Noncontact differential measuring system; Interface modules for automation, signals; more. Also see www.controleng.com/NPE.

BACK TO BASICS

54 | Selecting the right wireless sensor network

Use a reliable wireless sensor network for process applications.

NEWSLETTER: Safety & Cybersecurity

• Engineering Leaders Under 40, Class of 2021

• How to achieve effective process safety

• Importance of operational resilience in a threat landscape

• Merging process safety and digital transformation

• Upgrading industrial PC cybersecurity in manufacturing

Keep up with emerging trends: subscribe. www.controleng.com/newsletters.

CFE EDU: Virtual Training Week, Oct. 18-22

Virtual Training Week

fall edition is planned for Oct. 18-22. Learn more at the link below. Register and receive full access to exclusive content planned Oct. 18-22 and on-demand afterward offered by industry experts with Q&A sessions! https://cfeedu.cfemedia.com/learning-paths/ cfe-media-technology-virtual-training-week

Control Engineering eBook series: AI & Machine Learning

Fall Edition

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are more crucial to manufacturing’s success. How a machine and an industrial network learn and adapt to surroundings are important for machines and humans; eBook articles include how raw data is made ready for applying analytics, predictive maintenance value, and APM 4.0 with predictive and prescriptive analytics.

www.controleng.com/ebooks

Global System Integrator Report

How system integrators make remote automation work, Migrating legacy PLCs to modern PLCs, Replacing seven SCADA systems with one and More advice in a Supplement to Control Engineering and Plant Engineering

www.controleng.com/GSIR

Control Engineering

digital edition

The tablet and digital editions provide links to additional article images and text online and links to other related, useful resources.

www.controleng.com/magazine

controleng.com provides new, relevant automation, controls, and instrumentation content daily, access to databases for new products and system integrators, and online training.

Wireless connectivity trends and considerations

WELL-ENGINEERED design, which takes into account the physical environment, safety and security can help make wireless control the new normal in factories and plants around the globe.

Advances in wireless network speed and reductions in latency over the past couple of decades have fundamentally altered communication globally. Wireless cellular technology has moved from 3G at 20 Mbit/sec speed in the

2000s to 5G at up to 20 Gbit/sec speed today, with generational advances taking place approximately every decade. The past three Wi-Fi specifications have been released about five years apart, with Wi-Fi 4 allowing download speeds of 600 Mbit/s and Wi-Fi 6 enabling speeds of up to 9.6 Gbit/sec. While the generation advancements for both of these technologies have taken place at a constant linear rate, the

Model advances incorporating 3D printing into supply chains

RESEARCHERS from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and North Carolina State University developed a model to help determine how to incorporate additive manufacturing (AM) technologies into spare part supply chains.

Getting spare parts where they need to go in a quick, reliable way is a logistical challenge for military and industrial supply chains. Researchers from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and North Carolina State University have developed a computational model to help determine how best to incorporate additive manufac-

turing (AM) technologies into these spare parts supply chains.

AM technologies, or “3D printers,” hold tremendous potential for alleviating some of the logistical challenges associated with providing spare parts when and where they are needed. However, AM technologies can be expensive and tricky to transport. They also require personnel who have specialized training. What’s more, spare parts supply chains can be particularly complicated, because there is

speed has increased at an exponential rate. This dramatic decrease in communication time has enabled remote connectivity of machines such as palletizers in packaging facilities and isolated instrumentation in oil and gas fields to allow remote monitoring for maintenance support as well as plant wide networks in automotive for advanced diagnostic analysis. ce

Control Engineering Europe

usually intermittent demand – meaning you likely don’t know when you’ll need to provide a particular part or how many parts might be needed at any point in time. ce

Matt Shipman, North Carolina State University

Connecting wireless applications effectively

IO-LINK WIRELESS and 5G can offer many benefits for industrial manufacturing applications.

Wireless applications have become an indispensable part of our everyday lives with users no longer being concerned about how these wireless connections are established and whether they are stable. It is only when the connection is interrupted that we take a closer look at the technology.

In industrial environments, however, wireless technology is still met with reservations, primarily due to the need for high machine availability.

However, with wired solutions machine communications cannot be physically tested, which means that a potential failure quickly becomes a challenge. Collisions of the packets with relevant information from other packets in the same frequency band, as well as

shielding/reflection of the nodes by components in the immediate vicinity, for example, can occur. This can result in a communication breakdown and a possible control malfunction after just a few. Traditionally, such problems have been difficult to prevent using, often proprietary, wireless technologies. This has also hindered the adoption of wireless components in industrial automation. ce

Alexander Weber, Profibus International

Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology

Get articles pushed to you at www.controleng.com/Newsletters

this

Know your PLC programming audience effectively

PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC controller (PLC) code should never be a bottleneck when troubleshooting and should be designed to address the needs and knowledge of as many engineers as possible.

It is in every programmer’s nature to write sparkling, efficient code that reflects their years of experience and prowess. With the assortment of commands that seasoned pros have in their working knowledge, it is tempting – alluring, even – to write 15 lines of pristine code when it might take a less experienced programmer 100 lines to achieve the same functionality.

Remember time is money in manufacturing. And during a hectic, stressful breakdown event, the last thing you want is a technician struggling to understand how your code is manipulating the signals, particularly if that struggle is the difference between 5 minutes of downtime and 45 minutes of downtime. Programmable logic controller (PLC) code should never be a bottleneck when troubleshooting. ce

Mike Blenman, RedViking

Five OT vision planning steps

THE OPERATIONAL technology (OT) world is moving fast and manufacturers and system integrators need to keep up. A vision plan can help provide guidance for the future. OT is moving so fast that many struggle to clean up yesterday’s messes while trying to manage today’s challenges. Few can consider tomorrow or plan 5 years ahead. Industry 4.0 proliferation, obsolescence of existing technology, and risk of technology failing will be here soon. Baby boomers are retiring quickly, causing a brain drain. Applying Internet of Things solutions, data visualization and plans for leveraging machine learning need to be addressed. The C-Suite asks: “What are we doing about our OT future to minimize risks to our company and capitalize on opportunities?” ce

Matt Ruth, Avanceon

IIoT platform helps in automation use cases

FDT GROUP’S updated FDT 3.0 standard is designed to meet demands for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications in the process, hybrid and discrete manufacturing sectors.

FDT Group’s updated FDT 3.0 standard is designed to meet demands for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 applications. The technology’s IIoT ecosystem will unlock universal device integration with mobility and remote access optimizing automated processes and connectivity in the process, hybrid and discrete manufacturing sectors.

FDT 3.0 empowers the intelligent industrial enterprise with native integration of the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), as well as Control and Web Services interfaces for mobile applications. The technology also employs robust, multi-layered security to safeguard critical automation information and operating data.

With the FDT 3.0 standard, the

FDT solution has become platform independent by evolving the fundamental technology on which it is built from the Windows based .NET Framework to an open .NET Core as well as HTML5 and JavaScript. The

use of HTML5-based development will allow FDT to be deployed on a much broader range of devices than in the past. ce

FDT 3.0 Server – Distributed Architecture. Courtesy: FDT Group

Dr. Vivek Hajarnavis, FDT Group

Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology

INSIGHTS

Many automation mergers, acquisitions

GLOBAL AUTOMATION is expected to expand 51% from 2020 to 2025, driven by personal shortages, remote monitoring and increased records requirements and productivity demands. Robust mergers and acquisition investments to enhance margins validate the growth.

Automation markets, investments and mergers and acquisitions are hot globally to meet personnel shortages, monitoring requirements and productivity needs. Bundy Group, an investment bank and advisory firm, has followed robust mergers and acquisitions and capital placement activities in the automation market.

The automation sector is experiencing significant expansion, and the business community is noticing. A report on the dynamic industrial automation and market-compelling investment opportunities, Florian Funke, L.E.K. Consulting and Harris Williams said the global automation market is projected to increase 51% from $175 billion in 2020 to $265 billion in 2025.

Drivers for the growth include companies filling in the void created by a shortage of personnel, managing monitoring requirements driven by regulation, and generating productivity improvements to enhance margins. This sizable and growing automation market’s value

has been further validated by the robust mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in industrial automation markets.

Automation industry resilience

While the automation market has experienced a significant amount of M&A and investment activity over the past decade, this continued pace of acquisitions and capital placements since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the resilience of the industry. The pandemic reinforced the mission-critical nature of the automation market as controls and automation markets prepare for growth in the post-pandemic age. Automation end-users as well as buyers and investors are realizing opportunities.

Automation plays a vital role in the global economy, which is further driving an appetite to acquire and invest in businesses that provide automation services, products and solutions. Aggressive buyer and investor demands place automation-related business owners in a preferred category, and automation companies positioned in a sale or capital raise process maximize chances for significant interest and premium valuations. Before the pandemic, buyers and investors were taking advantage of controls and automa-

tion and Internet of Things (IoT) markets growing. Business sale and capital placement transactions through August 2021 are reflective of heightened interests in the automation industry.

Curry, Fetch, Revere, Zebra

In August 2021, control system integrator Revere Control Systems’ acquired Florida-based Curry Controls, which solidifies Revere as an automation leader in the Southeast. A series of 2021 automation manufacturing acquisitions was led by Audax, a Bostonbased financial sponsor, which started with the acquisition of SJE followed by acquisition of control systems manufacturer LW Allen.

In the robotics industry, a subsegment of the broader automation space, Zebra Technologies acquired Fetch Robotics in a $290 million transaction. The transaction value / revenue multiple for the Fetch Robotics deal was 30.0x, which further validates the premium value assigned to many robotics companies.

2021 continues as a robust M&A and capital placement year in for automation. See other 2021 automation transactions with this article online. ce

Clint Bundy is managing director, Bundy Group, which helps with mergers, acquisitions and raising capital. Bundy Group is a Control Engineering content partner. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

MMore INSIGHTS

KEYWORDS: Automation mergers and acquisitions

Automation industry sees growth and resilience through the pandemic. Correctly positioned automation companies can see premium valuations.

CONSIDER THIS

Drivers pushing growth for automation, controls and instrumentation-related companies include workforce shortages, increase digitalization, monitoring requirements, productivity demands, market education and automation goals, according to Clint Bundy, managing director, Bundy Group, which helps with mergers, acquisitions and raising capital. Courtesy: Bundy Group

Are you advising filling in automation, controls and instrumentation needs?

ONLINE

See more on 13 M&A transactions with this article online. Search market update at www.controleng.com for related news.

INSIGHTS

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: INTEROPERABILITY

Dr. Vivek

Dr. Vivek Hajarnavis, FDT Group

Empowering a standardized web user interface

The user interface (UI) design for measurement and control applications has critical importance within modern industrial operations.

In the industrial automation sector, the humanmachine interface (HMI) for plant or factory operations must be optimized to ensure the best possible user experience. New HMI’s must blend graphic design, human psychology and machine technology all while maintaining a uniform look and feel across all supplier solutions to execute effective asset management practices. The user interface (UI) design for measurement and control applications has critical importance within modern industrial operations, as it leverages operator behavior and machine communication together delivering the best “humancentric” user interface experience possible.

User interface design for today’s web-based environment isn’t just about buttons and menus; it’s about the interaction between the user and the application or device, and in many cases, it involves the interaction between multiple users through that device.

MMore INSIGHTS

KEYWORDS: web user interface, human-machine interface

The human-machine interface (HMI) must be optimized to ensure the best possible user experience. Recent FDT technology advances have helped to optimize HMI solutions.

Experience has shown that a well configured UI is key to ensuring an effective user experience (UX) with industrial automation systems. The design of an optimized web UI requires adherence to a style guide, which is a development tool that brings cohesion to a digital product’s user interface experience. Style guides employed for Web UIs focus on intuitive user interactions – ensuring that the interface has elements that are consistent, uniform, and easy to access and understand. Recent advancements of FDT technology have helped to optimize HMI solutions as part of new, innovative business models for automation suppliers. They enable secure remote access, real-time remote operations and modernized asset management strategies for industrial end users.

The FDT 3.0 Style Guide gives device type manager (DTM) developers templates for responsive designs.

ONLINE

See more details in this article online and more FDT Group articles at www.controleng.com.

This article appeared on the FDT group site.

CONSIDER THIS

What considerations are most important for your HMI?

FDT 3.0 standard

The FDT Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) ecosystem consists of a platform agnostic FDT server and FDT device type manager (FDT/DTM). Both components are essential to unlocking universal device integration and a data-centric platform to mobilize the industrial workforce with modern and diverse deployment options, including cloud, enterprise, edge, on-premise, and

single-user desktop environments.

The FDT Server is a pivotal IIoT hub empowering the intelligent enterprise. This distributive, multiuser server solution employs a web services portal allowing access from authenticated mobile devices or any major browser along with an OPC UA Server for enterprise access to real-time plant floor data. Its rich features ensure any industrial communication protocol or vendor device can be seamlessly integrated as part of smart manufacturing practices.

Style guide, DTM visualization

The FDT user interface is tried and proven for efficiency due to its ease of use. Recent technology developments have enhanced the FDT’s UI overall UX with a standardized web UI, which optimizes visualization of DTMs and enables the implementation of robust remote monitoring and control solutions within industrial plants and factories.

The new generation of FDT DTM-based Web UIs combine the best features of traditional HMI solutions with the utilization of modern open-source hardware, software, and networking technologies to address long-standing developer issues related to proprietary hardware and software, and maintainability. Web UIs allow developers to implement state-of-the art functionality such as touch-capable virtual keyboards, touchpads and mouse-and-keyboard solutions. In addition, a set of frameworks to integrate dynamic variables employing modern HTML technology allows for less writing of code and more functionality.

With the FDT 3.0 standard and its updated Style Guide, the approach to the DTM interface includes a uniform, responsive design to mobilize secure remote access independent of the device, system, browser, phone, operating system, etc. The Style Guide describes elements of the automation interface in the HTML5 JavaScript world, so it is based on a state-ofthe-art approach. The FDT 3.0 Web UI is suited to a new generation of workers who are digital natives and expect to use web-oriented technologies. ce

Dr. Vivek Hajarnavis, technical marketing, FDT Group, a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

More automation software, more productivity: Expert interview series, John Krajewski, Aveva

What’s better than HMI, SCADA, MES, historian, or cloud automation software? A productivity suite of software with one site license, says John Krajewski, vice president product management, Aveva.

HEAR the interview, click the photo in the digital edition.

John Krajewski, vice president product management, Aveva, discusses how manufacturing and industrial facility software increases competitiveness, with Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, content manager. Courtesy: Control Engineering

When information is needed to improve manufacturing competitiveness, and it’s delivered days later in a spreadsheet, there’s a better way. When company after company has cybersecurity breaches for lack of upgrades, there’s a better way. When workforce turnover and software license complexity, hinder productivity, there’s a better way. These are among the topics covered with John Krajewski, vice president product management, Aveva, in a discussion of how a platform of human-machine interface (HMI), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), manufacturing execution system (MES), historian and cloud software helps automation, monitoring and control.

Software makes manufacturers, other industrial facilities more competitive

Software makes manufacturers and other indus-

trial facilities more competitive, Krajewski explained in an interview with Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering content manager. Aveva integrates capabilities from well-known software brands, such as Wonderware, OSIsoft, Citect, InduSoft and others, into Aveva Operations Control, addressing the edge, supervisory and enterprise levels.

“We talked to customers about what challenges were holding them back from meeting their strategic objectives in operations, and one of the most common responses we heard is the way data gets siloed in organizations,” Krajewski said. “Customers often have dozens of data systems siloed so that key people who need access to that data do not. That’s one of the key challenges we’re helping customers overcome.” Other areas of the interview, which runs about 30 minutes, include overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), software integration, ease of use, collaboration and cybersecurity. ce

Digital transformation, smarter manufacturing: Expert interview series, Bernd Raithel, Siemens

Gain digital transformation and smart manufacturing inspiration from Bernd Raithel, director of product marketing and deployment of new technologies at Siemens Factory Automation in the U.S.

Smart manufacturing can use artificial intelligence (AI), industrial edge computing and cloud computing to enable highly efficient production, such as at the Siemens Electronics Works Amberg (EWA) plant in Germany, and at other Siemens’ manufacturing sites globally.

HEAR the interview, click the photo in the digital edition.

Bernd Raithel, director of product marketing and deployment of new technologies at Siemens Factory Automation in the U.S., discussed smart manufacturing with Control Engineering’s Mark T. Hoske, content manager.

Bernd Raithel, director of product marketing and deployment of new technologies at Siemens Factory Automation in the U.S. In the video, Raithel talked about trends, challenges, metrics and advice for digital transformation, the journey toward smart manufacturing. Learn from an automation manufacturer, how manufacturing can be more efficient, flexible and productive.

Identifying, prioritizing smart manufacturing projects

The Siemens Electronics Works Amberg plant, built in 1990, retains about the same footprint and

same level of employment now with 13 times greater efficiency, to get more products out of the factory. It’s highly automated, with a lot of control systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, manufacturing execution systems (MES) to optimize operations, workflow throughput and flexibility in the best possible way with very high quality.

Virtual commissioning is used to validate and test a production line before it is built to show points of constriction and optimize up front. Predictive maintenance in machines, for instance, reduces downtime for $200,000 per year savings and increases throughput. A simulation of the whole factory helps with product changeovers to get the most output. About 1,200 automation products are made in the plant, with total output of 17 million products per year. Among topics discussed is how people can identify and prioritize digital transformation projects for smart manufacturing. ce

Advanced capabilities, simple integration: Beckhoff measurement technology

Extreme measurement accuracy: down to 25 ppm

Wide measuring range: 10 mΩ to 10 MΩ

Highly precise vibration analysis: up to 50 kHz

High resolution: 24-bit precision

High sampling rate: 100,000 samples/s

Channels synchronized at < 1 μs

Through a wide range of EtherCAT Terminals with advanced functionality, Beckhoff integrates measurement technology in a standard I/O system. This delivers high speed, high bandwidth and precise synchronization capabilities in a DIN rail-mounted form factor. Modular measurement terminals empower applications ranging from temperature, power, current and voltage measurement up to complex mains monitoring or Condition Monitoring. The signals are acquired via electrically isolated channels and sent to the controller for further processing. To promote more efficient engineering in these applications, Beckhoff offers numerous time-saving TwinCAT software libraries.

Five ways to improve operational excellence in robotic welding automation

When it comes to any manufacturing process and not just improving robotic welding automation, companies should be asking what their goals are.

“People starting doing things without knowing what the end goal is and that can be very costly,” said Will Healy III, industry strategy manager at Balluff, in his presentation “5 Steps to Creating Operational Excellence in Robotic Welding Automation,” which was given at Fabtech Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The four things companies should be asking before jumping in headfirst are:

1. Improve asset utilization and machine availability

2. Shorten planned downtimes, setup and changeovers

3. Stop fighting fires and doing last-minute bootstrap repairs

4. Reduce unplanned downtime and small stops.

“Downtime is killing us in robotic welding.” Healy said. He cited a few sources saying that it can be anywhere from $17,000 per incident to $22,000 per minute in the automotive industry. He highlighted this by mentioning a car manufacturer that produces a new vehicle every 50 seconds. Working that out to an hour, that’s over $1 million this company would end up losing because a system went down.

Common robotic welding automation problems, best practices

Healy highlighted many aspects in robotic welding automation that can cause problems for robotic welding. These include weld spatter, loading impact, sensor damage, improper cylinder position detection, broken nut detection and noncontact coupling. Each issue, unchecked, can cause significant damage to the machine and cause severe downtime.

Will Healy III, industry strategy manager at Balluff, at his presentation “5 Steps to Creating Operational Excellence in Robotic Welding Automation,” which was given at Fabtech Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology

“There is a lot of maintenance and awareness required because robotic welding is a very rough industry. Wear and tear is a given.”

Manufacturing has taken many steps forward in the technologies available as well as the materials. Metals are not made of one substance anymore; they come in different composites designed to be lighter and tougher. They can withstand the abuse better. Sensor technology has followed suit and can now detect items at greater distances. They don’t need to be right on top of the machine, which could damage the sensor and the machine because of weld spatter or a cable getting burned through.

Operators also have more information available at their fingertips thanks to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and input/output (I/O) architectures such as IO-Link, which Healy likened to USB for automation. Faster and more reliable communication is a must in an industry that is producing goods at greater rates than before.

“If we want to keep downtime to a minimum, I want my diagnostics to always communicate,” Healy said.

Using this data can help improve predictive maintenance and condition monitoring by giving operations the information they need ahead of time. Knowing what might or will likely happen, particularly in an industry that produces heavy wear and tear, can keep operations running smoothly.

Healy also cited machine vision and traceability, particularly radio frequency identification (RFID) as ways to give out information wirelessly and ensure the right information is going to the right people.

Five steps to creating operational excellence

There are many challenges and solutions in robotic welding automation, but knowing where and how to start is among the biggest. While it can be daunting, Healy laid out five steps for companies to use to improve their automation and plant-floor strategy.

STEP 1: Get started. No seriously, right now. Healy said the best place to start is with something small. Identify the most troublesome workcell and perform an audit. What area has the most downtime, quality issues and changeouts? After identifying this, go out and ask the operators and maintenance crews and gather as much data as possible.

“The data doesn’t have to be perfect,” Healy said. “and identifying them and getting a general idea of what is going wrong. Data provides answers and potential solutions and what’s causing problems and why it is happening.”

STEP 2: Attack individual sensing applications.

Once a workcell has been chosen and the basic information has been gathered, it’s time to look at individual sensors and learn what is and isn’t working. Healy outlined this as a four-step process.

1. Select the right sensor. This is a trial-and-error process and the best technology may require some testing before the correct one can be determined. Users can narrow this down by asking how the sensor is being used, the environment it’s

being exposed to and why the current installation keeps failing.

2. Protect the sensor. The best accessory for the specific application may require some adapting to get the best results. Users should learn how much protection is needed and whether physical damage is harming the sensor. They also should determine available space and what the sensor is being exposed to.

3. Connect with protection. Doing this correctly can extend the life of a product many-fold because the right coating or seal is protecting the sensor. Knowing whether the sensor is being exposed to elements or is being damaged due to high temperatures is critical.

4. Learn with continuous improvement. Healy says this is the most important and the hardest step. Taking the lessons from what failed and what went wrong and applying them to other aspects is not a given. Sometimes the lessons are specific and sometimes they can be applied in many different circumstances.

STEP 3: Fix the now. MRO purchasing and tool crib improvements. Commonizing inventory and reducing clutter by simplifying purchasing and reducing stockouts is another trial-and-error process. Many maintenance departments might not be a model of cleanliness and order, but getting a working idea of what is on hand and narrowing it down can reduce headaches and give a better understanding of total cost of ownership (TCO) and the return on investment (ROI).

STEP 4: Create a mindset of responsibility. Healy admitted this might be the hardest part of the process. It’s one thing to document the challenges and give recommendations, but implementing them and keeping it consistent is another matter. Workforce culture, particularly in engineering, is about consistency. Many of the practices established have become ingrained. Changing that won’t happen overnight.

Documenting the ROI in specific detail can help. This gives others a concrete idea of how severe the problem is and convince others of the value of changing protocols.

If there is a general agreement on making these culture changes, continuous improvement training can help manufacturers identify issues such as:

• What are the common failures and agreed solutions to these problems?

• What are the best technologies for specific processes in the plant?

• How do you install and replace a sensor when it fails?

• What is done to avoid repeated failures?

“For manufacturers who really embrace these steps, it does get better if you do it,” Healy said.

STEP 5: Fix the future. New equipment specifications

If users don’t change their machine specifications, the next machine installed will have the same problems all over again. Luckily, many manufacturers are specifying down to the methodology level so everything is spelled out. Getting everyone on the same page can be a challenge, though. Healy said companies need to be clear with and shift expectations accordingly. Know the TCO and ensure the best practices being applied are inside the equipment.

Achieve operational excellence, workplace culture

Operationalexcellencecomesin many forms and there are many aspects, but companies can start by asking how to reduce costs, boost productivity and

establishinglong-termpartnerships. These are already top of mind for many companies, but it’s an even greater priority now.

Improving automation and efficiency through concepts such as IIoT and asset management, are no longer a “want-tohave.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic creating a paradigm shift in how things are created, it’s become a “must-have” to stay competitive.

Healy said of the priority change, “I think that’s part of it, yes, but it’s not just COVID-19 by itself. I think the workforce shortage and many other issues affecting manufacturing had a role in this. I think many who attended this event realize they have to do something different. They can’t keep doing the same things.”

Starting might seem daunting, but Healy said it’s all about recognizing things cannot be the same and starting from there.

“Pick something you saw today that you can get started with,” he said. “Everything is about the first step.”

Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

Creating a mindset of responsibility requires constant improvement on every level to make changes in the workplace culture. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media and Technology

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings Aug. 37.6% YoY

BillingsforNorthAmerican-based semiconductor equipment in August 2021 exceeded August 2020 by 37.6%, according to the Sept. 20 SEMI Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) billings report.

“After an extraordinary eight-month run of record-breaking results, billings of North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers expectedly softened in August compared to July,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. “Nonetheless, billings continue to reflect strong demand for semiconductor equipment and solid year-over-year growth.”

Powered by digital transformation and other technology trends, global semiconductor equipment investments for front end fabs in 2022 are expected to reach nearly $100 billion to meet soaring demand for electronics after topping a projected $90 billion in 2021, both new records, SEMI said in its World Fab Fore-

cast report, Sept. 14.

The SEMI EMDS report uses threemonth moving averages of worldwide billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Below, figures are in millions of dollars.

N.Am. semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings (3-mo. avg., 2021, YoY % increases)

$3,650.0 August, prelim., 37.6%

July, final, 49.8%

June, 59.2%

May, 53.1%

April, 50.3%

March, 47.9%

Source: SEMI, www.semi.org

Edited from press releases from SEMI, a CFE Media content partner.

Headlines online

Top 5 Control Engineering articles

September 13-19, 2021

Featured articles included stories on the 2021 Engineering Leaders Under 40, digital transformation ROI, scaling machine learning, linear servo motors and the factory of the future.

3D-printed objects that sense user interactivity

MIT researchers are integrating sensing capabilities into 3D printable structures comprised of repetitive cells, which enables designers to rapidly prototype interactive input devices.

Digital manufacturing needs TSN

Time-sensitive networking (TSN) can help reshape industrial communications and factory operations and futureproof digital manufacturing.

Securing the future of industrial controls against cyber threats

The Fortinet OT Symposium, Energy Day, on Aug. 31, provided expert advice and best practices on how to secure the future of industrial controls in the energy sector.

Smoother machine designs, better integration

Integration of motion control, robotics and high-powered processing capabilities enable smoother, more secure machine designs.

Automation advances make it easier for machine designs to run more smoothly, integrate more easily into fast moving processes and lines, and enable more flexibility, cybersecurity and information use in packaging and other industries. Pack Expo Las Vegas, Sept. 27-29, is helping demonstrate how automation enables packaging machines with faster and smoother movements, so machine designers can think again about capabilities for customers.

Levitating motion control

Machine designers have the opportunity to rethink packaging machines with highpowered PC-based automation and flying motion controls with 6 degrees of freedom. XPlanar Flying Motion from Beckhoff Automation can be used for diverse processing, packaging and end-of-line applications, enabling non-linear and lotsize-1 production. It has automatic collision avoidance, path planning, anti-slosh, 360-degree rotation and performs instant changeovers via TwinCAT software and can reduce machine footprint up to 50% by eliminating outdated mechanical components. XPlanar tiles can be covered with stainless steel, plastic or glass surfaces in clean-room or washdown environments.

Automation, machine builders

Lenze offers the packaging industry complete system solutions and automation portfolio for the machine builders and end users. The i950 servo inverter has improved computing power, and the integrated EtherCAT-Port make it possible to control multiple axes synchronously at high speed, to complete complex tasks. c500 Controllers - Growing machine requirements and new challenges in the field of Digital Services increase the demands on control units in automa-

ONLINE: For more coverage, search on Pack Expo at www.controleng.com.

tion systems. New controllers provide high computing power for complex control tasks, and are maintenance-free and more resistant – with a battery-free design and extended ambient operating temperature up to 140 °F (60 °C).

Motors, motion, cybersecurity

The increasing variety of individualized and personalized packaging requires plants to offer maximum flexibility, dynamic response, and reliability in the material and manufacturing flow. From series production down to a batch size of 1: Modular solutions from Siemens Digital Enterprise offerings combined with easy-to-integrate standard applications for the packaging industry reduce the time to market and boost plant availability with efficient engineering and less complexity. A Siberprotect cybersecurity solution and Industrial Edge for the packaging industry were shown, with the new Simotics S-1FS2 servomotors for food, beverage, sterile packaging, pharmaceutical and other process applications with stainless steel housings; three sizes to 2kW (2.68 hp) power range.

Robotics, motion control

Yaskawa has a wide variety of robots and other technologies to help manufacturers solve workforce and production challenges. Simple-to-use tools and efficient programming methods with intelligent capability make it easier to configure and integrate an ideal robotic solution. The industry’s first IP67-rated collaborative robot has an easy-to-clean surface and NSF H1 certified foodgrade grease for use in sanitary environments. Precise, high-speed SCARA robot enables extremely fast and precise operation for small part processing. Easy-toprogram, direct-teach collaborative robot demonstrates easy programming.

Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media.

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Content Specialists/Editorial

Mark T. Hoske, Content Manager 630-571-4070, x2227, MHoske@CFEMedia.com

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Gary Cohen, Senior Editor GCohen@CFEMedia.com

Chris Vavra, Web Content Manager CVavra@CFEMedia.com

Contributing Content Specialists

Suzanne Gill, Control Engineering Europe suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk

Ekaterina Kosareva, Control Engineering Russia ekaterina.kosareva@fsmedia.ru

Agata Abramczyk, Control Engineering Poland agata.abramczyk@trademedia.pl

Lukáš Smelík, Control Engineering Czech Republic lukas.smelik@trademedia.cz

Aileen Jin, Control Engineering China aileenjin@cechina.cn

Editorial Advisory Board

www.controleng.com/EAB

Doug Bell, president, InterConnecting Automation, www.interconnectingautomation.com

David Bishop, chairman and a founder Matrix Technologies, www.matrixti.com

Daniel E. Capano, senior project manager, Gannett Fleming Engineers and Architects, www.gannettfleming.com

Frank Lamb, founder and owner Automation Consulting LLC, www.automationllc.com

Joe Martin, president and founder Martin Control Systems, www.martincsi.com

Rick Pierro, president and co-founder Superior Controls, www.superiorcontrols.com

Mark Voigtmann, partner, automation practice lead Faegre Baker Daniels, www.FaegreBD.com

CFE Media and Technology

Contributor Guidelines Overview

Content For Engineers. That’s what CFE Media stands for, and what CFE Media is all about –engineers sharing with their peers. We welcome content submissions for all interested parties in engineering. We will use those materials online, on our website, in print and in newsletters to keep engineers informed about the products, solutions and industry trends.

www.controleng.com/contribute explains how to submit press releases, products, images, feature articles, case studies, white papers, and other media.

* Content should focus on helping engineers solve problems. Articles that are commercial or are critical of other products or organizations will be rejected. (Technology discussions and comparative tables may be accepted if non-promotional and if contributor corroborates information with sources cited.)

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* Deadlines for feature articles for the print magazines are at least two months in advance of the publication date. It is best to discuss all feature articles with the appropriate content manager prior to submission. Learn more at: www.controleng.com/contribute

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• Mix and match technologies on the same rail and share accessories(jumpers, marking, etc.) due to the same profile

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Compass Minerals success story

A new crystallizer and compaction plant in Ogden, Utah, USA

The challenge: Integrate new and existing processes

Compass Minerals’ sulfate of potash (SOP) project included a new crystallizer and compaction plant. Compass Minerals wanted its new SOP operation ready for production with minimum start-up delays, a quick rampup to full production, and minimal impact to existing operations.

Commissioning new equipment alongside the existing operation required finding innovative ways to program the controls, train operators, and provide power. The aggressive schedule and need to integrate equipment from several vendors led Compass Minerals to ANDRITZ.

ANDRITZ AUTOMATION had previous experience dynamically modeling crystallizers and demonstrated this capability to Compass Minerals’ management team.

Based on this and on ANDRITZ’s record of successfully delivering simulation, advanced process control, power distribution, and training solutions to its clients, ANDRITZ was awarded the contract.

Our solution: Simulation-driven engineering that reduces project risks

Drawing on its prior potash experience and focus on simulation-driven engineering, ANDRITZ offered an innovative way to minimize start-up risks, reduce implementation costs, and predict impact on the existing operation. In addition to modeling the compaction process, ANDRITZ AUTOMATION proposed simulating the SOP crystallizer (including the saturation curves) using the IDEAS process simulator in order to accurately predict the crystallizer’s behavior.

The simulator was also used for P&ID validation, operator training, and development of the process controls. The latter included configuration of the BrainWave advanced control system.

COVER: MACHINE CONTROL MIGRATION

Doug Schuchart, Beckhoff Automation

Machine control migrations hinge on system openness

When upgrading controllers and automation platforms consider increasing flexibility and adding capabilities while being cost conscious. Four controller selection questions are highlighted.

Equipment and controls upgrades are an important, inevitable and often painful part of maintaining effective operations in any industry and especially in fulfillment and parcel applications. These upgrades are important in ensuring the highest performance, guaranteeing equipment can keep up with increasing demands. Controls upgrades also provide the latest operational effectiveness and functionality, ultimately protecting and extending equipment investments and even the technology itself through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for Industry 4.0 initiatives.

While controls upgrades are inevitable due to lifecycle considerations for electronics and processors, the pain associated with controls upgrades is not. Engineers can mitigate headaches with good planning and sound decision making and eliminate the rip-and-replace scenario that so many companies cringe at when deciding whether to extend the life of a piece of equipment.

Explore four key questions when upgrading machine controls

When planning a controls upgrade, first consider goals for the upgraded system. Is the company trying to protect against future obsolescence, increase system flexibility, enhance technology or meet budgetary or cost-of-ownership requirements? Also consider available downtime for the controls upgrade. All of these aspects can play a key factor in choices about enhancing system characteristics and the overall solutions for the upgrade.

1. Will your control system upgrade protect against future obsolescence?

This comes first for an important reason. Considering the architecture of the control platform and even the history of a control supplier’s lifecycle can ensure control application won’t face another controls upgrade in just a few short years. The architecture of the control platform also plays a

key factor in the flexibility of the system, which is important to ensure equipment can flexibly adapt to industry trends and changing consumer demands. When choosing a replacement control platform, companies should look for:

• Ease of future replacement/upgrades of processors to eliminate the vicious cycle of re-engineering, added costs and future downtime associated with processor and system obsolescence

• Scalability and portability of the control software for future extension of functions and support across the current and future controller portfolio to further eliminate engineering effort when a processor reaches end-of-life

• Connectivity of local inputs/outputs (I/ Os), reducing cost and labor associated with replacing local I/O and re-wiring all sensors when a processor reaches end-of-life

COVER: Beckhoffcontrols-upgrade-1: Upgrading control platforms can protect against future obsolescence, increase system flexibility, enhance technology or meet budgetary or cost-ofownership requirements. Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

COVER: MACHINE CONTROL MIGRATION

A distributed approach with a central integrated controller offers the highest amount of system flexibility and protection from obsolescence. If the current control system is hardwired back to the main control cabinet, the budget and tolerance for downtime to convert to a distributed approach should be evaluated.

A fully integrated system architecture provides optimal protection against obsolescence and protection of investments. The basis for such a flexible architecture should be the wide scalability of PLCs and industrial PCs (IPCs) ranging from micro-controllers to powerful many-core machine controllers with up to 40 cores. Look for vendors that ensure their controllers support a standard automation software platform that integrates all control system functions. This platform should be able to run on one powerful integrated machine controller, even on next-generation controllers, and support separating PLC tasks in separate cores of the powerful multi-core machine controllers.

Beckhoff-controlsupgrade-2: With support for all open communication protocols, TwinCAT software establishes secure data transfer to the enterprise level or the cloud.

Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

•System openness that supports legacy protocols, which may be present in the current control solution, as well as support of many modern protocols required for both horizontal communication with other equipment and sensors, as well as vertical communication to support digitization and IIoT initiatives.

In general, identify all of the current control platform’s limitations. This includes the fieldbus as well as any control platform and fieldbus being considered for the upgrade. Any limitation can become a weak link in the chain of current and future systems, so carefully considering limitations is crucial to avoid costly mistakes.

When looking at a controller’s limits, consider performance, number of devices that can be connected to the controller or fieldbus, the topology supported by the fieldbus and the fieldbus and controller’s connectivity to other open protocols required for horizontal and vertical communication. Also consider local data acquisition (DAQ) capabilities, available RAM and even analytics if that fits into predictive maintenance goals.

2. Are you increasing control system flexibility?

When evaluating gains in control system flexibility, a key area to explore is distributed control capabilities versus non-distributed, or centralized, which is where fieldbus evaluation becomes even more critical. I don’t mean the distribution of control code via multiple programmable logic controllers (PLCs), but instead the distribution of I/Os, drives, scanners, cameras, robots and other devices in the control system. Careful evaluation of the fieldbus should eliminate distributed PLCs from consideration, which just bolsters fieldbus and PLC limits.

Single-purpose “black box” controllers are no longer necessary for hosting separate functions of the control system, which create a circulating end-oflife cycle throughout the system. Instead, one powerful machine controller can synchronously execute all functions: PLC, motion control, human-machine interface (HMI), robotics, vision, safety, speech, measurement, analytics, machine learning (ML), condition monitoring and even mechatronic solutions such as linear transport and levitating planar motion technology. This all-in-one philosophy enhances the control system and eliminates the brutal re-engineering required by traditional control platforms.

3. Are you trying to enhance control system technology?

Companies make investments in new controls technology for many reasons. These include, but are not limited to:

• Eliminating performance limitations

• Adding integrated safety functions

• Incorporating Industrie 4.0 concepts and predictive maintenance

• Improving diagnostics for maximum uptime

• Appending the system with robotics and vision systems

• Improving the machine’s operator interface, such as extended HMI graphics and animations, tablet and mobile phone interface, cloud and web connectivity, etc.

Accomplishing these goals requires flexible controller hardware, but it also needs more open software and networking solutions. To achieve this connectivity, the automation software platform should support all open legacy and modern field-

Continued on page 24

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COVER: MACHINE CONTROL MIGRATION

I/O hardware for both remote I/O racks as well as for the local PLC racks. This eliminates the rip, replace and re-wiring that is common with other control platforms when the local PLC I/O becomes obsolete as the PLC processor reaches end-of-life. In those other platforms that means a significant amount of re-wiring during a controls upgrade. As one final point, users should check that the vendor makes all firmware backwards compatible, so replacement of an I/O terminal requires no firmware upgrade in the controller, even if the I/O terminal supports a newer firmware than the one being replaced.

Beckhoff-controlsupgrade-3: EtherCAT offers the optimal industrial Ethernet fieldbus for communication across mixed networks in brownfield applications.

Courtesy: Beckhoff Automation

Continued from page 22

bus protocols as well as all open vertical protocols for easy connection to enterprise systems, warehouse execution and warehouse control systems, and even cloud systems. OPC UA, MQTT, AMQP, HTTPS/REST, Real-time TCP and Modbus TCP are a few of the optional protocols the software should support. The same goes for industrial networking: The control platform should support all open fieldbuses, industrial Ethernet systems such as EtherCAT from Ethernet Technology Group, EtherNet/ IP from ODVA and Profinet from PI North America and device-level networks also. This ensures easy integration into an existing system being upgraded or a new system in a modern facility.

The benefits of the integrated system approach go even further, in terms of flexibility and stability for technology enhancements.

More ANSWERS M

KEYWORDS: EtherCAT, control system migration, machine control migration Control system upgrades are inevitable, but manufacturers can make the process easier.

Manufacturers should ask whether this upgrade will prevent obsolencence and improve overall system flexibility.

Picking the right communication protocol is also important.

ONLINE

www.controleng.com/controlsystems/embedded-systemsedge-computing/

See additional stories about industrial networking at www.controleng.com.

CONSIDER THIS

What are the biggest challenges you face when upgrading a control system?

Integrating industrial communications, safety, I/O

EtherCAT, when used as the basis for fieldbus communication, also can integrate all legacy and modern fieldbus protocols into the EtherCAT network. This improves the performance of the fieldbus.

EtherCAT also improves upon system flexibility with the growing importance of machine safety. Fail Safe over EtherCAT (FSoE), an international standard according to IEC 61784-3, enables e-stops, limit switches, safety mats and other safety devices to be wired into EtherCAT safety I/Os and communicated across the same Ethernet cable that connects with all other standard machine sensor and drive signals.

An integrated control architecture can use EtherCAT as the communication for all local and remote I/O racks instead of proprietary backplane protocols used across the industry. The use of the open EtherCAT communication for the backplane protocol reduces cost, improves performance, greatly increases diagnostics and extends the topology possibilities. Further, some vendors offer the same

4. Are you trying to meet control system budgetary and ownership cost requirements?

A straightforward approach to the integrated control system architecture and EtherCAT helps ensure the system supports current and future machine requirements with system openness and protection from obsolescence. It also helps with the budget for the upgrade by eliminating many CPUs and switches. Expenses for software engineering tools, phone support and online training can factor heavily in cost of ownership associated with many controls platforms. However, it doesn’t have to be this way; some vendors offer these for free.

Drive technology selection also can aid in the upgrade of existing systems. Some vendors’ EtherCAT drives support the control of existing third-party motors, so motor replacements are not required in the controls upgrade, significantly reducing cost and upgrade time. These drives can also be effectively used to control varying types of motors, including servos or induction motors. And with FSoE safe motion functions integrated into the EtherCAT drive technology, further advances in machine safety are possible while reducing the significant cost of contactors, wiring and additional safety I/Os. Intuitive drive technology furthers the ease of an upgrade, reduces cost and required downtime, and helps modernize the machine’s safety functions.

So whether a company is planning a controls upgrade or considering a next-generation control platform, an integrated control architecture with EtherCAT provides significant advantages and protection from obsolescence. With the flexible architecture and support for all legacy and modern protocols, a graduated migration of the field-installed systems and your new equipment is possible. This mitigates risk and advances the team’s learning through the evolution of the control system towards the complete benefits of a fully integrated platform. ce

Doug Schuchart, material handling and intralogistics manager, Beckhoff Automation LLC. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

MACHINE CONTROL MIGRATION ANSWERS

Pratul Singh, Masimo

Machine control migration goals and risks

Upgrading control systems can be a difficult process. Finding answers to seven highlighted questions can help.

Legacy systems tend to suffer from various challenges like obsolete components, failing to meet modern safety standards, cybersecurity risks, skills gap and hence poor contributions towards a company’s business needs.

Not upgrading a legacy system can lead to many risks including:

• Critical components being obsolete

• Failing to meet modern safety codes

• Cybersecurity risks

• Growing legacy software skills gap

• Ending support on legacy control systems

• Data silos due to legacy communication protocols

• Remote monitoring not possible.

Seven questions to ask during upgrade

Generic risks extend beyond the list above, specific to the machine’s application. Following are some questions that you may want to ask prior to starting a machine controls upgrade.

1. Are we upgrading critical components that are obsolete or will be obsolete soon?

Users need to find out if any safety controllers, relays or other safety components are outdated. How old are the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and human-machine interfaces (HMIs)? Are there any PCs running that may need critical software?

After the control system upgrade, look at the big picture look and ask whether or not the associated mechanical and electrical components can sustain the efficient operation of the machine until the system upgrade.

2. Are we closing an organization’s skills gap by upgrading the machine controls?

Users need to consider whether or not replacing a legacy component with the latest one be beneficial to close the “skills gap” within a manufacturing team. Is there a digital version of a hardware component like a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, temperature controller, etc., that can be implemented in software? Is the update helping with removing any tribal knowledge for a component that required “special care” over the years?

3. How to reduce downtime required for upgrade?

Downtime of running systems usually is one of the most expensive things during an upgrade. However, with careful planning, downtime can be minimized to reap the benefits of an upgrade. Users need to know what component of the controls requires replacement and if the control engineer has narrowed down the number of steps required for the upgrade. Users also need to know how much downtime is needed during the upgrade and the cost-benefit analysis. They also need to know if the remaining life of the machine less than the lifecycle obsolescence of its components. Considering other risks, not upgrading the system may be an acceptable option.

4. Does the machine comply with modern safety standards?

Users need to know whether or not the upgrade mitigates legal liability issues for any past or future safety audits for not meeting modern safety stan-

‘

Is the remaining life of the machine less than the lifecycle obsolescence of its components?’

MACHINE CONTROL MIGRATION

dards. Does integration of the latest technologies like a robot require upgrading legacy safety components as a part of the safety system (SRP/CS)? If needed, users should work with an external machine safety partner if the manufacturing team does not possess expertise in safety assessment for upgrading legacy systems.

5. Are there cybersecurity risks due to obsolete hardware or software?

Users need to know if there any systems running operating systems or application software that are no longer supported by their manufacturers. With legacy devices, users need to know if the network communication protocols are secure. Users should also ask if upgrades to obsolete standards require an upgrade to legacy hardware.

7 risks of not upgrading legacy machine controls

‘

6. Will upgrades lead to improvements in machine efficiency?

When upgrading, be mindful of if incremental hardware and software improvements over the life of the machine become too unwieldy to manage. It’s also worth considering if upgrades will reduce downtime and improve data accessibility. Also ask if remote monitoring and debugging can help improve the overall effectiveness and availability of the equipment.

7. Will there be significant energy savings due to upgrades?

Will replacing endpoints like PLCs, remote terminal units (RTUs) or PCs provide the advantage of the newest energy-saving hardware and algorithms? Also ask if the facility temperature, humidity, and air supply infrastructure use energy efficient controls that monitor consumption.

Six additional benefits for users

After resolving primarily upgrade issues, significant secondary benefits may be available that users many not recognize.

1. Upgrading machine controls often leads to improving the overall process as well.

2. One of the most significant benefits of upgrading to the latest controls is valuable data being accessible related to processes and equipment.

3. Upgrading critical components, like PLCs, PCs, etc., may extend the life of the machine, offering future-proofing for cybersecurity and upcoming patches.

4. Critical component upgrades also allows easier troubleshooting with modern debugging tools that may not be available on old PLCs, PCs, network equipment, etc.

5. Users may be able to bring old equipment to the same standard as the other equipment in a facility. This reduces maintenance and troubleshooting costs.

6. An upgrade also gives users a chance to improve documentation that may have not been updated during incremental improvements over the years. ce

Pratul Singh is senior controls engineer, Masimo. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

MMore ANSWERS

KEYWORDS: machine control migration, cybersecurity

Upgrading legacy control systems is a challenging process for users and comes with many risks. Users should ask whether there are long-term benefits to upgrading a machine control system.

If so, benefits include an improved overall process and extended machine life.

ONLINE

See additional stories about control systems at www.controleng.com/control-systems.

CONSIDER THIS

What are the biggest concerns you have when upgrading a control system? Do they exceed risks of not upgrading?

Ask if the machine upgrades will reduce downtime and improve data accessibility?’

Peter Galan, retired software engineer

Finite-state machine for embedded systems

Get help for finite-state machine programming for embedded systems using C programming language.

One definition of a finite-state machine (FSM) is that FSM is a mathematical model of a sequence of events and actions describing a certain (logical) process. In the engineering practice you can find countless such processes, starting with a very simple process of controlling an electric motor by a couple of push buttons, and ending with a very complex FSM system monitoring a very complicated manufacturing process or a space shuttle.

I once designed firmware for an erbium-doped fiber-optics amplifier (EDFA) widely used in the optical communication. One firmware segment had to deal with the safety issues of EDFA, which can use powerful lasers harmful to humans if not designed properly. What seemed to be a routine FSM code design, ended with a very complex, difficult to follow and maintain, long procedure. A different way to implement the FSM implementation was needed, which may be of interest to embedded code designers.

Theory of FSM

From the theory of finite automata you might remember two types of FSM representation, a Mealy and Moore finite-state machine. Both types of FSM work upon three sets of variables, a set of input variables, X(k), a set of internal states, U(k) and a set of output variables, Y(k). Both types of FSM use the same transition function, δ, for the mapping U x X —> U. The difference between Mealy and Moore FSM is in the second mapping function used for the output states. Mealy’s output states mapping function, λ, represents U x X —> Y mapping, while Moore’s λ represents a simpler mapping, just U —> Y. From the implementation point of view, while Moore FSM might be simpler, Mealy FSM has certain advantages. For example, it can have more or different output states than the number of the internal states, while in Moore FSM each internal state is associated with one output state.

A generic Mealy FSM can be represented by the table, upper right, where uk column represents the

Table: A generic Mealy FSM can be represented by the table. Courtesy: Peter Galan, a retired control software engineer

Figure 1 shows another, a more common representation of FSM, the state diagram. This state diagram represents a one-stage EDFA safety sequence.

EMBEDDED DESIGN TIPS

present internal states, and xk row represents the present input states. Also shown are the next internal states (δ mapping) and the corresponding output states (λ mapping).

Each EDFA uses one or two (for a more common, two-stage EDFA) laser pumps, which provide the energy to a coil of a special optical fiber placed inside EDFA. This energy amplifies optical signal (photons) flowing through the amplifier from the previous node to the following node. The problems can occur whenever the optical fibers connecting EDFA with other nodes are broken and a loss of signal (LOS) is detected. Such a situation has to be immediately processed, and the laser power has to be reduced or completely shut down. Other conditions also require immediate attention. The entire safety sequence is implemented as one segment of the EDFA firmware.

Basic implementation of FSM

What would be the best programming language for such a finite-state machine (and generally for the embedded control software) implementation? Yes, the C language. There are many other, more modern, object-oriented programming languages, but C is like the “mother language” for the embedded systems. How might an experienced, embedded software designer start to implement this FSM in C? It’s likely to begin with a function like this:

state. With every such internal state change a specific action – output state is being triggered, in some cases, more than one action.

So far so good, but as the entire process becomes more complex, the if - else decision-making statements become more complex (and deeper nested) as well. Then, if there is a need to modify any of the if - else decision-making statement, it might affect many remaining statements. Next, the entire processing function will require testing again and again. A two-stage EDFA will require two such (similar, though not identical) FSM functions plus another FSM function governing the ADFA amplifier, which will take a lot of effort.

Improved implementation of FSM

There is another way of the finite-state machine representation. It is via a state transition table (STT). STT is another form of the Mealy FSM description. Such a table (below) often has four columns and as many rows as needed. Each row describes a transition from the Present State to the Next State. The transition is triggered by the Event (a combination of one or more event flags). The Action describes all the actions associated with the transition. This is, for example, an STT (just its fragment) corresponding to the state diagram shown in the figure.

Why is such a representation better than a state diagram? Because it can be implemented much more elegantly. Below, see how it can be implemented in the C language.

If you look at the code above, you can see how the conditions (event flags combination), if fulfilled, cause a move/change the currState variable from the initial, DISABLED, to the next and the next

An experienced software designer would split FSM code into several source files, and begin with the FSM_example.h header file, which will contain the special type definitions and all the function prototypes. A good example of such a header file follows.

(See example listed as: //FSM_example.h)

The first two definitions might be worth explanation for any less experienced programmers. Each defines a name of a specific function pointer. In C#, those definitions are equal to the definitions using the delegate keyword. They are very powerful tools

in C programming, allowing C programs to be written as elegantly as if they used an object-oriented programming language like C#.

Here is the second source file, where all, previously defined function prototypes are fully implemented.

(See example listed as: //FSM_example.c)

All except the last function should be pretty clear. One type are functions of the F_FSM_EVENT_T type, and they test certain system states (flags) and returning either a true or false value. Notice the “paired” functions like IsLosON() and IsLosOFF(). Only one of them really tests, in this particular case, a loss of the input signal via a hardware (H/W) reported status/flag. If the loss of signal has been detected, this function returns true otherwise it returns false. And the second function is just kind of a wrapper, which calls the first function and returns a negated result.

The second type of functions defined here are of the F_FSM_ACTION_T type. Those functions are the “action” functions, they control (turn on or off) a desired internal/external device of the micro-controller or some H/W circuits, of which the entire embedded system consists.

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KEYWORDS: Finite-state machine, FSM, embedded system programming

Examine a basic implementation of finite-state machine (FSM)

Look at an improved implementation of FSM

Both types of functions are needed regardless how the FSM is being implemented, such as a “state diagram” procedure, or the STT implementation. Now, the FSM_sstKernel() function is something new. It replaces the “state diagram” implementing function, FSM_stage1(). And it works upon a STTtype data. Those data are defined as of the S_FSM_STT_T type, and they are provided as an argument to the FSM_sstKernel() function. They have to be provided as a reference/pointer to the S_FSM_STT_T type data as FSM_sstKernel() will be modifying at least one data item.

See compiled code and supporting diagram and tables for FSM.

CONSIDER THIS

If your control systems rely on decades-old control methods, are you getting decades-old results?

What FSM_sstKernel() is doing is very simple. It is “looping” through the rows (array elements) of the S_FSM_ROW_T type, and looking for the row with presentState being same as the current internal state, currentState. If such a row found, its event testing functions are called and their returned val-

ues are “and-ed” together to find out if the condition for moving to the next internal state is fulfilled. There’s a limit of 2 logical values “and-ed” together. If more are needed, extend the S_FSM_ROW_T data structure by another F_FSM_EVENT_T-type event. What about conditions/events, which have to be “ored” together for such transitions between internal states? Each event (or they “and-ed” combination) will have to be provided in a separate, but otherwise identical row.

FSM_sstKernel() then continues (if the transient condition is fulfilled) with launching all the actions found in the row data. Finally it copies the row’s nextState to the stt’s currentState

What if I want to use FSM_sstKernel() for more FSMs with a diametrically different number of STT rows? The ROW_MAX constant will have to be defined to satisfy the longest STT, but the best solution would be to replace the array of rows with a linked list of rows. Then each S_FSM_STT_T-type data will use an optimal memory space. However, some simple embedded systems won’t allow use of dynamically allocated memory space.

Now, by uncommenting those two printf() statements in FSM_sstKernel(), can see how FSM progresses from the current/present state farther to the next state. This apparently will not work in an embedded system, but entire code may be tested on PC, in Microsoft Visual Studio, for example.

Completing and compiling

Once the FSM_example.h and FSM_example.c are completed (you can even compile them and create their .obj file) you can add them to your application. In another source file the STT table will need to be created. It means to define, at first each row of STT, and finally the STT itself. Then you can call the FSM_sstKernel() function. Very likely you will call it as one of the background tasks in the main() function of your F/W application. And you can define more such S_FSM_STT_T variables and call FSM_sstKernel() with reference to each of them.

For a better visualization write the following source file on PC under MS Visual Studio:

(See example listed as: // Program.cpp)

When you compile and run the program (together with FSM_example.h and FSM_example.cpp) with those twoprintf() statementsinside FSM_sstKernel() uncommented, you should see a result as shown in the screen shot at left, a one-stage EDFA safety state diagram simulation. ce

Peter Galan is a retired control software engineer. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

ANSWERS

SCADA PLATFORMS

Jim Meyers, Inductive Automation

Updated SCADA system brings easier compliance, more data for operations

Renewable energy company sees numerous benefits in operations and business management with new supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.

Makinggovernmentcompliance easier while seeing other benefits from the same system is a real win-win for manufacturers. Just ask Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE), which put in a new system for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and is seeing improvements in numerous areas beyond compliance.

Roeslein Alternative Energy, based in St. Louis, owns, operates and develops biogas scrubbing facilities that convert agricultural and industrial biowaste to renewable natural gas and sustainable co-products. System integrator Roeslein & Associates, which is under the same ownership as RAE, created the new SCADA system for RAE.

Roeslein & Associates used several modern technologies, which include a cloud services platform, a SCADA platform, edge computing, and message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) capabilities.

The system reliably collects data from various disparate locations and makes all the data accessible in one place. The system helps RAE meet government regulations for reporting, and it can help other companies do the same. The secure network can support the addition of more companies, with each company having access to only its own data. The system provides a streamlined way to visualize data, assess the operation’s status and build the necessary monthly reports to maintain compliance.

The system provides a single source of truth and has streamlined the data submission process. RAE also uses the new platform every day to manage and optimize production, and it continues to add new features.

Integrating SCADA, cloud, edge network technologies

Mitchell Leefers, systems engineer with Roeslein & Associates, said it wasn’t difficult to connect all the

Inductive Automation’s SCADA software platform Ignition released 8.1.7 in May 2021 with various quality-of-life improvements, including Fallback Redirection for Perspective Workstation. The feature allows users to set an alternative gateway in the event of a connection failure, which is particularly useful for critical infrastructures that need to ensure maximum uptime. Other added features include scheduling scripting events and OPC UA Diagnostics. Courtesy: Inductive Automation

parts. “Everything really integrated nicely,” Leefers said. “There was a bit of a learning curve working with Amazon Web Services resources, but with the edge and MQTT, everything just came together.”

The project involves two separate hub-andspoke systems. One handles the data for compliance reporting and can include other companies in a secure manner. The has a virtual private cloud. It also includes direct Ethernet connections to programmable logic controllers (PLCs), to ensure reliable edge device communication. Data is transmitted via MQTT. The second system is for RAE only and gathers all its process data. This data is used for overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), troubleshooting, maintenance tracking and process improvement.

SCADA PLATFORMS

because most of sites are remote to our office,” said Bancks. “We can gather data and analyze it in the office and give direction to the field without traveling four or five hours one-way.”

“We didn’t have any kind of model from a previous project when we decided to split this into two systems,” said Leefers. “We made the decision based on factors presented to us from RAE and from problems we had seen in the past.”

The SCADA system helps RAE in its compliance reporting to federal and state licensing bodies. “It has greatly facilitated our compliance efforts by providing up-to-date operational data in a userfriendly interface,” said Ivailo Chervenkov, finance manager for RAE. “It’s also enhanced our capacity to streamline data collection and distribution in a more efficient manner. Prior to having this system, all data was collected, filtered, and distributed in a cumbersome manual method.”

The company also sees benefits in trending of its data with analytics in the SCADA platform. “Our process team uses the custom trending tool extensively,” Bancks said. “It allows our process team to plot multiple variables on a single plot, and also download the data as a CSV file for further manipulation and analysis. The custom trend tool has different data queries, such as minute snapshot, minute average, hourly average, etc. This helps manage the data in whatever frequency is needed for the task.”

RAE has seen plenty of value in having better access to more data. “It’s critical for the decisionmaking process and budgeting,” Chervenkov said. “It provides consistent, accurate, and prompt data which is used daily by different employees of the whole company. It’s also helped to improve the decision-making hierarchy by allowing different types of information for various levels of management.”

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ANSWERS

RAE can now do more with its data and improve operations. “The system has allowed us to scale up our reporting efforts, especially against the challenge of increasing capacity, more facilities, and added complexity,” said Chervenkov. “Data has also become more reliable and available, speeding up key production and forecasting activities. The system helps us easily identify problem areas and quickly find real-time solutions that result in enhanced efficiency and quality of information and decision-making.”

KEYWORDS: government compliance, SCADA systems, supervisory control and data acquisition

Roeslein Alternative Energy added a new supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to improve its compliance. The SCADA system used edge computing, MQTT and a virtual cloud serve to improve efficiency.

More access to data helped the renewable energy company improve other operations.

ONLINE

www.controleng. com/control-systems/ dcs-scada-controllers

See more stories from the author at www.controleng.com. http://roesleinalternativeenergy.com www.roeslein.com

CONSIDER THIS

What benefits could a new SCADA system provide?

SCADA software offers more than compliance

“TheSCADAsoftwareinterfaces with our daily reports and allows for a single point to access data,” said Eric Bancks, vice president of engineering for RAE. “It’s provided tools to access and visually display historical process data for process analysis for optimization and troubleshooting. We’ve been able to plot our historical biogas production versus our biogas projection model and alter our projection model with empirical data. We track methane recovery and methane imbalance. And the data is used to identify ‘suspect’ meters and get them repaired more quickly.”

The new SCADA system saves plenty of time when it comes to troubleshooting issues. “It saves time,

Compliance records help industries that don’t need compliance

Leefers said software that creates compliance records can also help organizations that don’t have compliance requirements.

“This type of system could be used for really any kind of data acquisition and analytics,” he said. “We’ve built a highly available and highly redundant system that reliably gets data from an operation anywhere in the world with an internet connection to a central database. That’s the problem we solved, and it could be a solution for many different scenarios.”

Roeslein is adding new features to the system. “We’re in the process of integrating a barcoding system for higher quality tracking of gas shipments,” Leefers said. “Many production sites don’t have direct connection to a gas pipeline, so they fill trucks that take the gas to an unload station to inject it into the pipeline. Each shipment must be tracked with a document that contains information about that gas loaded on that truck. Right now, the process is very manual and involves a lot of operator input to build the document, which leaves room for human error. The barcode system will make it much easier and reliable to track each load of gas and its data.” ce

Jim Meyers is communications manager at Inductive Automation, creator of the Ignition industrial application platform for SCADA, HMI, MES, and IIoT. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

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‘Data has become more reliable and available, speeding up key production and forecasting activities.’

SCADA PLATFORMS ANSWERS

Pete Diffley and Chris Little, Trihedral

SCADA can accelerate automation, IIoT

Is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) replacing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)? That is a common message these days but is it real or part of an agenda?

SCADA systems connect sensors, equipment, and other data sources to a server(s) that makes it available to consumers.

The IIoT connects sensors, equipment, and other data sources to a data broker (that sits on a server) and makes it available to consumers.

While the acronyms IIoT and SCADA differ, their functions are the same, to collect data and make it useful to those who need it. IIoT and SCADA systems have many differences and much in common.

IoT (and later IIoT) was spawned from SCADA applications that used the internet for connecting systems. In fact, IoT and IIoT used communications that transcended the Internet using virtual private networks (VPNs) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Additionally, SCADA and IIoT often use the same types of infrastructure.

The idea that a new “good” thing is replacing an old “bad” one makes for good marketing, but on closer inspection, one is simply adding to the other to achieve the same goal. IIoT can be an easier way to bring remote data into a SCADA system, while advances in SCADA can add functionality and ease of integration to the IIoT.

Operational functionality means more than automation components

If Henry Ford were to see a Tesla Model 3 drive past him, he would be amazed at how far cars have evolved since they first started rolling off his assembly lines in 1913. However, he still would recognize it as a car, even though every component is radically different. How? He would know it by its function. Whether it’s a Model-T or a Model 3, a car is something people climb into and go places.

In the automation industry, innovation is seen as a wave that brings in the new and washes away the old rather than the latest iteration of age-old concepts. New terms and acronyms seem intent on trying to ensure that last-year’s cutting-edge tech-

nology will be obsolete next year.

A brief history of automation

“Sneaker net” was the original industrial network. The first automation systems were essentially people whose job it was to walk around looking at how everything was going and react accordingly. They might have been confined to one factory, or they may have traveled for miles between various remote sites. A clipboard recorded the process history. The program logic existed in people’s heads. If Gauge 1 is higher than 55 feet, then turn off Valve 3. When bad weather caused a skipped day, that day’s datapoint was estimated. If there was an overflow while people were gone, they grabbed a mop upon return.

With the introduction of computer technology manual controls quickly advanced into these familiar concepts.

• Distributed control systems (DCS)

• Programmable logic controllers (PLC)

• Remote telemetry units (RTU)

• Human machine interface (HMI)

• Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)

• Industrial internet of things (IIoT).

Data acquisition and decision-making tools used downstream also continue to evolve.

Who do I trust for automation advice?

How often have you read a review of something you’d like to purchase that said, “It’s the best thing ever… changed my life…” and in the next review saw a negative opinion saying, “Can I give negative stars?”

Wading through the mire of differing opinions on choosing control system software also can be challenging. A rule of thumb to help sense a biased opinion is around the use of generalities. Though commonalities do exist across platforms, a frequent distraction technique is to say things like, “SCADA generally doesn’t provide redundancy, but DCS does!”

Is that grand statement true? The answer is no. Some SCADA systems provide an almost infinite

More ANSWERS M

KEYWORDS: Supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA), SCADA selection

Operational functionality means more than automation components. Using non-critical data in critical systems can lead to undesirable results.

SCADA comparisons should go beyond checkmarks to examine how SCADA is what SCADA does.

CONSIDER THIS

Mired in last-generation automation or distracted by the next shiny thing? Look at SCADA functionality.

ONLINE

www.controleng. com/control-systems/ dcs-scada-controllers

As industrial automation evolves, evaluate automation by functions, not components. Think about how SCADA can accelerate application capabilities.

SCADA PLATFORMS

VTScada 12 transforms how you connect to process data and use data across the organization. New features include performance improvements, automatic PLC Tag Import, Excel Add-In, MQTT and OPC-UA drivers, drag-and-drop High Performance Widgets, Master/ Subordinate applications, screen development on VTScada Internet Clients, Historical Data Editing, Historical Data Import, Multi Language Support, and others. Trihedral VTScada V12 integrated HMI, SCADA platform won a 2021 Engineers’ Choice award in the HMI Software category. Courtesy: VTScada by Trihedral

amount of redundancy to equal or exceed DCS systems. Do people always implement redundancy for either system? Again, the answer is no. Attentiongrabbing statements may throw off someone who could benefit greatly from a SCADA system.

Start by asking difficult questions.

To connect or not to connect

Connecting everything to everything and everyone has been a strategy in recent years, until someone gains control of something that they shouldn’t have access to. It stands to reason that critical infrastructure should remain protected from attacks and hacks. Air-gapping a system is frequently mentioned as a way to do this.

“Don’t connect systems to the internet.”

“Don’t allow remote access.”

These statements have valid points, but miss important realities. For example, how are servers synchronized? The server time needs to synchronize with some time source somewhere. Unless you own an atomic clock, servers are still connected to the internet receiving time-synchronization data that is passed to other servers on your air-gapped system. What would happen if this were completely out of sync? If a local system were unavailable (storm event, pandemic, hardware failure), how could you access the process, safely and securely?

Data use for critical automated systems

Sometimes non-critical data gets blended with critical systems in subtle ways. In early 2020, an artist towed a little red wagon containing 99 cell phones around a major city. What happened? It caused a huge

traffic jam, as the streets being walked with the wagon emptied of vehicles. Mapping software re-routed cars, trucks, buses, including emergency vehicles away from what it considered to be a major traffic jam in the city center. Non-critical background data being transmitted by cell phones were interpreted by the software as slow-moving traffic. Critical services like fire, ambulance, and police relied on the resulting information.

All systems need to examine data validation. It matters. Always ask how the source data is being validated. Does the protocol being used carry messages without validating what is inside? Is it being segregated completely from data that could be hacked? How strong is the encryption (if any) being used?

SCADA checkmarks, comparisons

Comparisons often take the form of a table of checkmarks. List all features on a table and check off the ones that are the same. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, at least not when it comes to detailed comparisons. Not all systems are created equal, making differentiation a challenge.

A mission-critical mindset from the companies being compared is a great start. A mission-critical approach focuses on maximizing uptime inherently in the software by providing multiple redundant mechanisms to ensure that a system doesn’t fail.

The license agreements we click “Agree” to can be very revealing. Read them. They can include statements like, “Not designed for use in critical or hazardous environments, where failure could lead to loss of life.” Check marks give a quick view of similarities and differences but are not very revealing. Scaling a solution from a small to large system, adding multiple levels of redundancy, ease of use, forward compatibility and quality of technical support do not always show up on a table. Ask the questions and read the software license agreements.

SCADA is what SCADA does

To review how it all applies to selecting a SCADA system:

• Don’t get hung up on terms

• Stay focused on what you are trying to do

• Ask difficult questions.

SCADA continues to grow and integrate new features and technologies as they emerge. Just like in the car analogy, nearly everything can be changed without changing its core function. Even now as we begin to see cars flying overhead, we still call them flying cars. Why? It’s still a car. ce

Pete Diffley is senior manager global partnerships and Chris Little is media relations with VTScada by Trihedral; Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

ANSWERS

SCADA

PLATFORMS: PLANNING

By Giselle Villar, CDM Smith, Fairfax, Va.; and Francisco Alcala, PE, CDM Smith, Maitland, Fla.

Developing a SCADA master plan framework

The significant role that technology plays in today’s water and wastewater industry is widely known. The proper choices and implementation of the supervisory control and data acquisition system’s components to ensure the continuity of the facilities operation and success is essential.

The obsolescence of automation infrastructure, the shrinking of technology life cycles, the ubiquity of cybersecurity threats and the surge of a new generation of users who demand smarter technology are continuously forcing changes to be implemented on existing SCADA systems and are the common drivers for SCADA master planning in the public and private sector.

SCADA master plans are typically shaped by plant processes, end users’ specific necessities, budget constraints, the ascension of new disruptive technological paradigms and unexpected challenges such as the current pandemic, which calls for more unsupervised intelligent controls and secure remote access.

What is a SCADA master plan?

An SMP is an organized set of proposals, engineering documents and guidelines to generate the design framework and roadmap for capital expense projects related to SCADA and automation assets to be executed during a specified period.

One of the first well-documented SMPs was developed by the water department of the city of Philadelphia in 1975. It consisted of a series of feasibility studies to develop a five-year plan to implement a modern automation system for water treatment and distribution to ensure the best quality water at the lowest cost. The primary plan included many methods that are still used, including the multidisciplinary approach and evaluation of the automation asset inventory.

The American Water Works Association Utility Management Manual recommends that an SMP should be developed to pursue the following goals:

• Establish and document vision, strategies and goals for effective operations control.

• Find and prioritize business, operational and technical requirements.

• Establish a coordinated, prioritized program to meet operational goals.

OBJECTIVES Learning L

• Learn what a SCADA master plan is, and review a SCADA master plan framework.

• Understand who needs SCADA master planning.

• Identify the different approaches to SCADA master planning.

• Define short- and long-term projects, including costs, resources and schedules.

• Define policies, procedures organization, technologies and change management.

• Establish buy-in among stakeholders and executive sponsors.

The primary factor in achieving these goals is to comprehend the client’s needs, ensuring a clear understanding of the stakeholder’s expectations of the SCADA system from the preliminary phase of the project. The overall objective is to align the process, operational and business needs with technology capabilities to develop what is known as a “best fit” solution achieving a shared vision among stakeholders to develop a plan for an expandable system with a sustainable framework that supplies a comprehensive set of services to all users.

Figure 1: This shows the components of a “best fit” solution. Courtesy: CDM Smith

The best application of the supervisory control and data acquisition system’s components ensure the continuity of a water and wastewater plant’s operational success.

ANSWERS

SCADA PLATFORMS: PLANNING

Goals and planning period

Decisions about the size of each project depend on several factors, including process requirements, constructability factors, budget, resources, operation, business impact and project scope. Effective SMPs evaluate the project needs to estimate the schedule to meet the desired outcomes.

Long-term projects typically have a significant level of complexity and investment. LTPs usually pursue multiple independent goals. Many LTPs address growing water treatment demands, which translates into a necessity for the improvement of the automation system. These areas of improvement include data sharing, communications, hardware and software standards and cybersecurity. A successful SMP should prioritize and segment the LTP into short-term projects to achieve manageability.

sites for collection and distribution.

Water resource management is the control of water resources to minimize damage to life and property and the allocation of water to maximize beneficial use, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The control of water resources refers to managing water-related risks such as flooding, drought and contamination. Water resources must also be balanced between the demands of drinking water and sanitation services, food production and energy generation while sustaining water-dependent ecosystems and natural bodies of water.

Geographic information systems are leveraged by utilities to gather, manage and analyze waterrelated locational data to make informed operational decisions. Geographic information systems can track water usage patterns, contamination and identify problems like water main breaks and other maintenance requirements.

Who needs an SMP, and why?

Figure 2: In this example, typical standard documents that outline the SCADA master plan design criteria. Courtesy: CDM Smith

Short-term projects characteristically focus on specific objectives that require less budget and time to complete. The exception might be for unplanned events that require immediate attention, like disaster recovery or remediation efforts. In most cases, STPs imply changes to the SCADA infrastructure that minimally affect the existing operation. Parts of STPs can include critical services or equipment that influence long-term goals, like requiring specialized vendor packages or improving network or cybersecurity infrastructure.

Pilot or trial projects are the execution of a small-scale application to prove the viability of an idea while managing the risks and identifying deficiencies before committing the resources to a plantwide implementation. The pilot or trial will confirm the proposed concept’s feasibility and scalability, allowing end-users to plan safety precautions, methods and resource allocation to reduce the risk during full implementation. In some cases, pilot or trial projects can be a tool to compare commercial solutions.

The water and wastewater sector

There are three primary areas within the water/ wastewater sector: water treatment, wastewater treatment and water resource management. Water treatment is the collection, purification and distribution of water for human use or consumption, also known as potable water. Wastewater treatment is the treatment of contaminated or polluted water that comes from man-made sources like sewage or manufacturing process byproducts and the return of that water back into the environment with minimal ecological damage. Both systems typically include a centralized SCADA system with remote

SMPs, in many cases, are driven by limitations and deficiencies in legacy SCADA infrastructure or the necessity to prepare for the eventual life cycle end of the existing SCADA system.

In other cases, SMPs fall under the umbrella of capital investment improvement projects triggered by:

• Plant expansions that significantly affect the existing infrastructure.

• Necessity for improved reliability due to obsolescence, support issues or changes in technology.

• Compliance projects or regulations that require significant investments. In 2007, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority developed a master automation program that was driven by a compliance agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• Legislation enforcement or agreements. The city of Tampa’s 1998 amended Interlocal Agreement required the water agency to update the long-term master water plan (with a horizon of 20 years) every five years.

• Increasing cybersecurity risks.

• Necessity to reduce operational expense through hardware and software standardization.

• Many projects over several years using disparate hardware and/or software.

Human factors, standardization and life cycle

SCADA operators, supervisors and operational technology maintenance support personnel are the primary stakeholders of a SCADA system, and gauging their level of satisfaction can be an effective method to measure the success of SCADA implementation.

In “Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change,” Albert Bandura wrote, “a person’s perceived ability to use a product successfully affects their evaluative and behavioral response to the product.”

Several studies have modeled this concept, as described by P C Lai in the paper entitled “The Literature Review of Technology Adoption Models and Theories for the Novelty Technology.” An evaluation of current technology readiness, technology acceptance, their necessities, expectations and work conditions of the SCADA staff and a clear understanding of the maintenance and knowledge management tools for the OT support units are all vital requirements for any SCADA planning.

The ideal SMP should provide a game plan that allows for the replication of the proposed solution by standardization of the SCADA system common elements, like control panels, hardware, software, human-machine interface software and programmable logic controllers and their applications. The standardization goal may vary; however, the most common rationale is to save cost, improve safety and maintenance or shorten the learning curve.

The process of standardization is well known in

many industries but is poorly understood in practice. The standardization model effort, according to Carl F. Cargill’s model, is typically executed in five phases:

1. Pre-conceptualization: The team must evaluate what components, industry standards, best practices or vendor solutions can be subject to standardization evaluation. It is important to consider the pros and cons and obtain the consensus of the stakeholders to decide to keep or abandon each idea.

2. Conceptualization: The ratification if the idea is capable of being standardized, defining how it will be implemented and evaluating cost and maintenance.

3. Discussion: The standardization model must be evaluated in terms of risk and impact on the process, operation and business, including the level of flexibility for future changes.

4. Writing: The final stage of the standardization process consists of developing the specifications to be used for the construction phase of the SMP, including test methods and metrics to evaluate the product to be delivered with the specified standard.

5. Implementation: It is vital to ensure the validation of the final system against the specified acceptance criteria. Standards can be successful or can fail because of many unforeseen factors. There are no exact parameters of what makes a standard successful; however, some of the common causes of standardization failure can be traced back to a lack of consensus during the discussion phases or the inadequate definitions or specifications.

Courtesy: CDM Smith

Figure 3: In this SCADA master plan framework, the “best fit” solution is an expandable main plan with a sustainable framework aligning people, processes and technology.

‘

The process of standardization is well known in many industries but is poorly understood in practice.

ANSWERS

SCADA PLATFORMS: PLANNING

One of the goals of an SMP is to reach a solution that maximizes the investment life cycle. The main components of the SCADA system (PLC, network equipment/hardware, servers, operating system and SCADA software) are categorized by the following phases:

1. Introductory stage or development: Manufacturers offer new products that may or may not be backward-compatible or may include updates to the hardware, firmware or enhancements that reflect the market trends. New products could therefore require investment in supporting tools or training. The intro stage product needs to be evaluated in the context of the added value and vendor support capabilities against the associated risks of early adoptions.

ing SCADA elements found to be at this stage of their life cycle.

5. Obsolescence or decline stage: SCADA components are no longer supported or maintained by the manufacturer. In this case, the client needs to use the secondary market without a warranty or rely on their maintenance stock and staff knowledge management.

SCADA master plan approaches

Although an SMP is characteristically done by many engineering firms using a multifaceted approach, the emphasis of the project will depend on the client’s particular needs and wants as well as the engineering firm’s core abilities and experience. Some of the most common approaches are:

Risk-based and reliability-centered approach: The risk-based approach is a concept borrowed from other sectors like the pharmaceutical and oil and gas industries, in which the goal is to avoid unacceptable risks by categorizing and identifying the potential risks that can affect monitoring and control capabilities. A reliability-centered analysis is done to evaluate if the proposed or existing design solutions are adequate to meet the process requirements, typically estimating the mean time between failure to each mode of failure to determine if the controls are acceptable, the reliability centered approach in SCADA design focus in redundancy and the avoidance of commons point of failures as design criteria.

3. Active sales or growth stage: Technology is accepted and well-known. It is possible to obtain useful feedback on product performance from current users or publications. The manufacturer supports investment in the product, delivering consistent updates and patches. The SMP team must pay attention to the age of each SCADA component in relationship to the average life cycle. A PLC life cycle is typically 10 to 15 years; however, server hardware and operating systems could have five years with extended support and up to five more years for the operating system.

4. After-sales support: This is the phase following the purchase of hardware. Sometimes vendors decide to stop product development in favor of an updated version that may require a complete change in hardware or software. Critical updates or spare parts to address serious issues such as security patches may still be provided. The SMP must include a clear strategy for replac-

For the water/wastewater industry, risk-based and reliability-centered approaches are critical for a system that serves large populations (too big to fail) or processes that have potential hazard risks for consumers, operators and communities. This is an example of risk factor calculation for SCADA components, as developed by 2013 Mitch Owens:

Risk factor =

+ Y(SW) + Z(OS)] *Cond * Fail

HW = Hardware is supported (0= Yes, 1= No)

SW = Software is supported (0= Yes, 1= No)

OS = Servers hardware will support OS or HMI version upgrade (0 = Yes, 1 = No)

Figure 4: A SCADA master plan team example is shown. Courtesy: CDM Smith

X, Y and Z are factors that client personnel can assign based on staff abilities, spare parts and concerns.

Gap analysis approach: This approach compares the SCADA system’s current performance with the specified or desired level of performance. A typical gap assessment could include evaluating the current system to the original design’s level of automation, alarm management, rate of failures, obsolescence and situational awareness.

One of the most recent assessments incorporated into an SMP is a cybersecurity gap analysis, used to evaluate the differences between the current and ideal state of information security of the overall automation system. A cybersecurity assessment as part of the SMP should include, at a minimum, the following:

• Inventory of hardware, software, licenses and user’s access.

• Evaluation of policies and procedures.

• Identification of thresholds, risks and vulnerability.

• A vulnerability prioritization report.

Technology upgrade or replacement and standardization approach: Some of the most common drivers for an SMP are hardware and software obsolescence, lack of vendor support and the desire to unify technology. The SMP will focus on proposing solutions supported by market studies, alternative analysis, evaluation of OT’s support capabilities and capital expense and operational expense analysis to deliver a series of recommendations that outline the roadmap to the SCADA system upgrade or replacement. This engineering effort is usually finished with a set of instrumentation and controls documentation that outlines the SMP design criteria (see Figure 2).

Workshop-based master plan approach: The workshop-based approach is a multifaceted methodology that focuses on SCADA system assessment and client perspectives through a series of well-planned workshops that identify baseline status conditions and issues with the SCADA system. This methodology is focused on identifying known and unknown issues in-depth to develop the best fit solution that prioritizes and finds consensus among the shareholders’ shared vision. The best fit solution is an expandable plan with a sustainable framework aligning people, processes and technology.

SCADA master plan framework

A good SMP must have an organized set of tasks with a clear definition of the goals executed in a

sequential and logical order where each step supplies input to the next task (see Figure 3).

Team conformation: The SCADA master plan’s success relies significantly on stakeholder involvement because the operator, supervisor and maintenance personnel are typically aware of the process, business and operational matters that add value to the overall SMP. The assembly of a team with experience and knowledge of processes, business and technology is the first task that needs to be fulfilled as a milestone for the project’s success.

After the team is finalized, a clear definition of tasks and responsibility is organized in a batch of workshop and group meetings to allow the volume of information and design process to cascade throughout the SMP (see Figure 4).

System assessment and needs development: This step includes collecting the relevant information to understand the current automation system, SCADA life cycle status and relevant issues and problems. It requires a complete revision of the system documentation as well as staff interviews and workshops which can be accomplished by three main tasks:

• Defining the team roles and interfaces with the client to collect the known issues from each stakeholder’s perspective.

• Documenting the existing architecture, flow diagrams, hardware and software, typical panel drawings, cybersecurity policies, etc. The overall scope is to highlight the elements that will support the design criteria for replacement or upgrade.

• Understanding the organization’s capabilities to support the current system.

At the end of this phase, the team must be able to list the organizational needs and capture a set of solutions that can be evaluated across many areas such as operation, maintenance, engineering, support and cybersecurity.

Alternate development, risk analysis and assessment: At this stage, the team’s focus is to elaborate on a compressive revision of the possible

Figure 5: This illustrates SCADA master plan technology workshop trend scenarios. Courtesy: CDM Smith

‘

After the team is finalized, a clear definition of tasks and responsibility is organized in a batch of workshop and group meetings.

automation technologies and SCADA architecture that would be able to serve the process and business requirements. The team must work on systematic evaluation, alternative analysis and risk evaluation of each solution. Vendor presentations and technology workshops are an integral part of this phase; the idea is to expose the decision-makers to a range of feasible technology solutions that can maximize the system life cycle (see Figure 5).

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KEYWORDS: SCADA, planning

This peer-reviewed article originally appeared in April 2021 issue of Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine.

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Scenario development and solution evaluation: This stage aims to develop a list of alternatives that incorporate hardware, software and constructability methods through a well-documented evaluation. The team must present a reduced range of vendor options or solutions to resolve the system needs, including capital expense, operational expense and organization gap and challenges. The scenario assessment must develop an evaluation matrix describing the proposed architecture, vendor solutions, cybersecurity approach, disaster recovery, data flow (from alarm and event management to business integration), internal or vendor support requirements and level of skill needed for maintenance and development.

Goal definition, detailed plan, cost estimate, checkpoint and final report: The final phase of the SMP consists of the documentation development for the recommended alternatives and includes a detailed definition of the hardware, software and application features needed to fulfill the client’s requirements and needs. The documentation must emphasize reliability, the expected life cycle, knowledge management, upgrades, integration and expansion capabilities. The detailed plan must include design and construction processes and schedules, with a complete cost estimate differentiating hardware and software cost from development cost. The SMP must include all SCADA components and development specifications, including the documentation for standardized panels, PLC hardware and HMI applications. ce

Giselle Villar is an automation engineer at CDM Smith with experience in water and wastewater. treatment facility design.

Francisco Alcala is an automation engineer at CDM Smith with experience in automation projects for the water and wastewater, oil and gas and beverage industries.

MEDIA SHOWCASE F OR E NGINEERS

ELECTRICAL SAFETY ANSWERS

Mark Dziedzic, SolaHD

How to properly size surge protective device

To specify an SPD, understand the ratings associated with its application.

When an electrical surge occurs, voltage greatly exceeding accepted peak voltage levels could pass through building circuits to electrical equipment. Without proper protection, this equipment is susceptible to damage or failure. A surge protective device (SPD) can negate these spikes.

Specifying the SPD requires identifying and understanding the ratings associated with its application. Performance values and ratings associated with an SPD include maximum continuous operating voltage (MCOV), voltage protection rating (VPR), nominal discharge current (In) and short circuit current rating (SCCR). The most misunderstood rating is the surge current rating, typically quantified in kilo-amperes (kA).

The UL1449 standard was developed to take the ambiguity out of the marketplace and ensure proper protection with a level playing field. However, it has undergone many changes over the years and any SPDs (or filters) installed in your facility or equipment prior to 2009 should be examined for compliance.

Guidance on SPDs

Little published data or even recommendations exist on the correct level of surge current (kA) rating for different locations. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) provides input on what surge ratings are but does not publish recommendations. Unfortunately, no proven equation or calculator is available that allows inputting system requirements and receiving a solution. Any information a manufacturer provides, via calculators or other means, is merely a recommendation.

A tendency exists to assume the larger the panel, the larger the kA device rating needed for protection. Another misconception is if 200 kA is good, then 400 kA must be two times better. This is not always the case. Based on experience in the electrical industry, Emerson has generated some guidance on how to apply surge current ratings.

Cascading surge protection, in-depth

To optimize suppression throughout a system, SPDs should be installed at all levels of the elec-

trical distribution system. This is known in the electrical industry as cascading or layering. IEEE refers to it as “protection in depth.”

Cascaded surge protection provides additional suppression from large transients that step their way through from the service entrance by further reducing the let-through voltages. Also suppressed are more frequently generated internal transients.

Let-through voltage is the voltage appearing on the equipment side (load side) of an SPD when an impulse voltage/current of a defined waveshape and amplitude is applied to the line side of an SPD. It can be used to compare different SPD’s abilities to lower the surge voltage to the equipment requiring protection.

IEEE Standard 1100 recommends cascading levels of protection from the service entrance to distribution and branch panels, and even protection for individual critical loads. The closer to the service entrance, the more robust the device rating should be. This protection in-depth strategy protects the facility and critical loads. In recommending a kA per phase rating, a general rule of thumb – “the 3-2-1 rule of thumb” applies: The service entrance should be 300 kA, distribution panels 200 kA and finally branch panels can be 100 kA per phase.

Figure 2: Once it has been determined where the SPD units are to be installed, help in determining the surge rating (level of protection) can be found by referencing the panels' ampere rating.

Figure 1: Cascading Surge Suppression IEEE Standard 1100. All figures courtesy: SolaHD

ELECTRICAL SAFETY

Emerson recommends the above surge current ratings based on SPD location within the electrical distribution using the general “3, 2, 1 rule of thumb” mentioned earlier.

Larger, more destructive surge currents are mostly found at the facility service entrance. On rare occasions, if, for example, the exposure level is “extreme” as in states like Florida, it might be wise to increase surge current ratings. In these cases, the SPD will be exposed to larger surge events more frequently. With the correct surge current rating for your application, the SPD can be exposed to a higher number of surge events before needing replacement.

Types of SPD locations

Panel size does not play a major role in the selection of a kA rating. What is much more important is the location of the panel within the facility. UL1449 defines the location types within a facility as:

• Type 1 is intended for permanent application at the service entrance. It can even be before the main disconnect. A UL1449 Type 1 device can be installed on the primary of buildings or the first disconnect.

• Type 2 is intended for installation on the load side of the main entrance panel.

• Type 3 is for specific devices, referred to as “point of utilization” in the standard.

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KEYWORDS:

• Type 4 would be a component device intended to be part of a larger assembly and is not approved for standalone use without additional safety evaluation. Be careful if you are offered a Type 4 device to be installed into a control panel. The panel builder would be responsible to submit for third-party safety approval, otherwise it wouldn’t be covered in a catastrophic failure.

Electrical safety, SPD, SCCR Surge protection device (SPD) help is available in Cascading Surge Suppression IEEE Standard 1100.

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Electrical design skills: Are you up to date?

This originally appeared in the May issue of Plant Engineering magazine. www.plantengineering.com

• Type 5, which is the basic component, such as a metal oxide varistor (MOV), silicon avalanche diode or gas discharge tube. These clearly can’t be directly installed into a facility.

Recommendations: SPD ratings

Choosing the appropriate surge rating for an SPD comes down to two things: 1) the location of the SPD within the electrical distribution and 2) the facility’s geographic location. Location kA:

• Service panel: 300 kA/phase

• Distribution panel: 200 kA/phase

• Branch panels: 100 kA/phase.

Experience with SPD products shows that a device carrying a surge current rating between 240 and 250 kA for a service panel or critical load provides many years of service in “high to medium” exposure locations over time.

Final thoughts on SPD selection

The purpose of a surge protective device is to shunt and suppress transient voltages being introduced into an electrical distribution system from either an external or internal source. Selecting the proper surge current-rated SPD throughout the electrical distribution system provides the best performance life for equipment. When selecting SPDs, keep these key points in mind:

• Providing proper surge suppression to a facility and its equipment requires more than a single SPD located at the service entrance. We recommend cascaded SPDs with a proper surge current rating for each location. This provides superior suppression for a service panel or critical load.

• Oversizing an SPD for its application cannot hurt a system, but under-sizing the SPD can result in premature SPD failure.

• For direct lightning strikes, SPDs alone are not a replacement for comprehensive lightning protection.

Following these guidelines for sizing and placing SPDs throughout an electrical distribution system takes the guess work out of it and maximizes surge suppression at every point. Remember, bigger isn’t always better. Size appropriately for the load and protect critical panels and loads to ensure a maximum return on investment. ce

Mark Dziedzic is senior product marketing manager, SolaHD power quality products, Appleton Group. SolaHD is part of the automation controls group at Emerson.

Figure 3: UL/ANSI 1449 types by location.

ANSWERS

PACKAGING MACHINE INTEGRATION

Eelco van der Wal, PLCopen

Using abstraction to reduce machine integration efforts

Save packaging machine integration time using IEC 61131-3 standard and PLCopen Motion Control Function Blocks to preserve programming value.

The integration phase of a machine can take considerable time. Time to make the programmable logic controller (PLC) software match the applicable hardware and to make sure that the software application performs as specified within the machine. To reduce this effort, one can focus to the PLC software development process and the tools used and the applicable process. One solution for this is creating a higher abstraction level where the interface is hidden during the development process of the application software. This helps focus on the creation of the specific functionalities in the PLC software application. In a later stage, one can decide which specific hardware requirements are needed, such as servo drives. The hardware supplier will take care to deliver the right mapping of the software to the hardware.

The basic idea is to use the pre-defined function blocks like for logic and motion at the low-

est abstraction level, as specified by PLCopen and implemented by many suppliers.

Based on these functionalities, one creates application-specific functionalities in a user-defined function block class, UDFB. In figure 1, two levels are shown: the first level for the generic functionalities to start and stop the machine in the correct synchronized modes; the second level with the functionalities dedicated to the application such as cutting, sealing, filling and capping. With the creation of these higher-level functionalities, tested and documented, one reduces the size and effort needed for the creation of the application program. And one reduces the time needed for the integration phase.

Due to the harmonization, look and feel in operation and maintenance of the different machines it is strongly advised to implement a state machine on top of the controller.

Abstraction programming software

A flow wrapper is a machine that wraps pre-sorted products with a foil on all sides, which is sealed and cut-to-length. Due to a wide variety in the characteristics of the products to be packed, there is a wide variety in the machine configurations. One can use the abstraction as defined above to create the basic application software, where the integration is made easy via the mapping to the specific selected hardware functionalities.

The basic functionality of a flow wrapper can be realized with three servo drives linked to a virtual one:

1. The product infeed chain (M1)

2. The film feeding and alignment (M2) as well as sealing

Figure 1: The layered approach of software development. All figures courtesy: PLCopen

Figure 2: Example of a flow wrapper.

3. The cut-to-length part (M3)

To control these servo motors, a “virtual line shaft” (a virtual motor) is used in the controller. This virtual line shaft operates the machine just like a traditional mechanical line shaft, but of course adds flexibility which the mechanical version is lacking. All three servo motors are coupled to this virtual line shaft via the control software with functionalities like GearIn and Camming. The mechanical links are replaced by software functionalities.

The infeed servo has a one-to-one relation to the virtual line shaft and can be seen as the physical representation of the virtual line shaft. The second motor follows the virtual line shaft, while keeping the print on the film aligned with the rest of the process. The third motor is coupled to the virtual line shaft via a specially designed profile. This profile assures that the sealing and cutting of the film is done at the right length and with the right speed. There can be other functionalities added to this basic concept. Machines with up to 6 axes are known.

Software development, standards

The application software needs a structured approach to provide the basis for configurable software and hardware independence. The IEC 611313 standard and PLCopen Motion Control Function Blocks provide an excellent basis for this. The provided functionalities include CAM, gear and gearin-position functionalities, which are needed to map the relevant servo drives to the right profiles.

In that way, the marking on the foil is corrected, so the print is in line with the product to be packed. Also, the cut-to-length is done via a profile, so the knife is running at the speed of the foil during the cutting, while running faster or slower thereafter to create the right length.

For configuration, there is one program developed per control hardware platform, covering different sizes and the number of supporting servo motors. With additional standardization including the configuration this can even go one step further: one software program for different platforms.

With the commonality at a higher functional level, coupled to a better error tracing method, and added debug functionality routines also to a deeper level, the machines are simpler to operate and maintain, resulting in less need for assistance. This supports the philosophy of life cycle cost reduction. The end user easily sees these reduced service and maintenance costs, resulting in a high level of acceptance.

Overall, the usage of worldwide standards offers for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) suppliers as well as the users, clear benefits:

1. A worldwide software standard which everybody can learn and understand.

2. Development and installation of new machines is faster, more predictable and easier. This results in shorter installation time of the machines with less risks, meaning a quicker productive line. What used to take up to one month to check the last bugs during full size production can now be done in days.

3. Software for a particular machine is no longer developed for a particular hardware type or brand. If the hardware vendor makes platforms obsolete or even ceases to exist, the investment in the software is mostly protected because it can be ported to a different hardware brand, security the customer investment.

Eelco van der Wal, managing director, PLCopen, a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

KEYWORDS: abstraction level, PLC programming, system integration

A higher abstraction level helps focus on the creation of the specific functionalities in the software application. This can help speed up the system integration process and simplifies the program.

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www.controleng.com/ system-integration/ project-management

Figure 4: Typical function blocks to synchronize axes.

Figure 3: Schema of a basic flow wrapper.

Figure 5: Overall view of the wrapping machine.

INSIDE MACHINES: VISION

Chia-Wei Yang, Adlink

AI vision for monitoring manufacturing, industrial use

Manufacturers can benefit from AI machine vision technologies by increasing uptime, leverage preventive maintenance and more.

Intraditionalindustrialandmanufacturing environments, monitoring worker safety, enhancing operator efficiency and improving quality inspection were physical tasks. Today, AI-enabled machine vision technologies replace many of these inefficient, labor-intensive operations for greater reliability, safety, and efficiency. By deploying AI smart cameras, further performance improvements are possible since the data used to empower AI machine vision comes from the camera itself.

AI-enabled machine vision

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KEYWORDS: machine vision, artificial intelligence, AI vision

In 2020, the AI machine vision market size for manufacturing and industrial environments was $4.1 billion, which, according to an IoT Analytics report, is forecast to grow to $15.2 billion by 2025. That is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% compared to the 6.5% CAGR of traditional machine vision deployments. This high CAGR is because the next generation of real-time edge AI machine vision is not limited to quality assurance and product inspection applications.

Manufacturers that leverage real-time AI machine vision data can improve manufacturing operations in many ways.

These tasks used to be done manually, but can now be automated.

The AI vision system can improve worker safety and provide alerts of potential hazards or dangers to the worker.

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What machine vision challenges could AI cure for your applications?

Worker safety is a top priority in manufacturing and industrial settings, and AI-enabled smart cameras help automate monitoring and inspection in these environments. It is essential to ensure protection for employees, contractors, and other third-party operators who work in potentially unsafe environments, such as dangerous mechanical equipment or hazardous materials. behavior and position (POSE) detection generates information that indicates whether machine operators are in danger, following standard operating procedures (SOP), or working in ways that enhance productivity and efficiency. Automated optical inspection (AOI) also increases the speed and accuracy of quality control.

AI for smart worker safety

Fatalities in industrial settings are not unheard of. When evaluating worker safety, facilities also must consider non-fatal work-related injuries. In addition to the emotional trauma, there is often a financial consideration to take into account.

Industrial and manufacturing sites traditionally use human supervision and light curtains for ensuring worker safety. However, human supervisors, who cannot be everywhere and see everything, are fallible and safety light curtains have their inherent limitations.

Geo-fencing

In modern smart factories, people often work in potentially hazardous areas with dangerous equipment, such as robotic arms. Safety light curtains protect personnel from injury by creating a sensing screen that guards machine access points and perimeters. However, they occupy lots of floor space, are difficult to deploy and lack flexibility. In some instances, the safety light curtain’s limited response time may create additional issues.

Conventional machine vision solutions use IP cameras and AI modules that are flexible and easy to deploy but come with considerable latency and are, therefore, unsuitable for situations requiring an immediate response.

An all-in-one AI smart camera can address this latency problem. It captures images and performs all AI-related operations before sending results and instructions to related equipment, such as the robotic arm [Figure 1]. Compared to light curtains and conventional machine vision implementations, using an all-in-one smart camera minimizes delays, reduces space and bandwidth requirements, and is easy to install and maintain.

Real-time machine vision AI offers additional benefits to augment worker safety by alerting users if they enter an unsafe zone and logging that information for retraining purposes. Logging data from past events can be helpful in the future. For example, if a worker approaches a hazardous area,

instead of the robotic arm shutting down completely, it could go into a functional safety process loop. These can help improve worker safety as well as increase the factory’s operating efficiency.

Smart refueling with AI vision

When a fuel truck arrives at a manufacturing facility, it introduces the potential for multiple safety issues smart AI vision can resolve. First of all, the truck may roll if the brake is not applied correctly or fails. Training the AI machine vision system to monitor the truck for movement enables it to raise an immediate alarm should the status change.

Facilities also must consider the operator’s location during the refueling process because there are different types of zoning breaches. It is critical to ensure that all workers on-site understand that there are safety risks. For example, it is necessary to place traffic cones at the four corners of the truck and ensure that the operative refueling the truck is wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) - AI smart vision can perform all safety checks to confirm procedures are met correctly [Figure 2].

Immediate alerts from the AI machine vision system can warn operators of a safety breach and prevent injury. It also creates accountability; if someone enters an unsafe zone without the appropriate PPE, the logged images can flag errors and educate employees to prevent future mistakes.

POSE detection teaches repetitive injury avoidance

For the manufacturing industry, “cycle time” is a critical performance index for production efficiency. It represents the amount of time a team spends producing an item until the product is ready for shipment. Monitoring employee behavior and position with AI smart camera technology helps enforce SOP and improve worker efficiency.

POSE detection from live video plays a critical role, enabling the overlay of digital content and information on top of the analog world. POSE

Figure 1: Safety light curtains take up floor space, are difficult to deploy, and lack flexibility; some are reaching limitations regarding responsiveness. All-in-one artificial intelligence (AI) smart cameras, such as Adlink Neon2000 series, decrease latency by capturing images and performing AI-related operations before sending results and instructions to related equipment, such as the robotic arm. This minimize delays, reduces space and bandwidth requirements, and the camaras are easy to deploy and maintain. All images courtesy: Adlink

Figure 2: Although supervisors can be present to reinforce safety procedures, it is not always possible. If a person breaches a hazardous area, AI smart machine vision can sound an immediate alarm.

INSIDE MACHINES: VISION ANSWERS

machine vision systems reach their limits for accuracy and consistency.

While most manufacturers randomly sample test products for flaws, this is not possible on contact lens production lines as every lens needs inspecting. Quality control staff can only view up to 4,000 lenses per shift, creating production bottlenecks. False discovery rates and missed detections also are inevitable.

As contact lenses are transparent, implementing machine vision-based detection has been a challenge for manufacturers. Conventional AOI relies on fixed geometric algorithms to discover defects, but acquiring quality images from transparent objects is challenging, which results in unacceptable detection performance.

Collecting data using AI smart cameras to train the AI algorithms and iterate on inspection performance gains provides a more favorable solution. The AI smart system can identify the most common defects, including burrs, bubbles, edges, particles, scratches, and more [Figure 4], and maintain inspection logs for customer reference

Each AI smart camera can inspect 50x more lenses than manual visual inspection, with accuracy improvements from 30 to 95%.

Machine vision with AI increases uptime, safety

Manufacturers that leverage robust, real-time data from AI machine vision technologies can increase uptime, leverage preventive maintenance, enhance productivity and worker safety and many other workplace benefits.

describes the body’s position and movement with a set of skeletal landmark points such as a hand, elbow or shoulder.

AI machine vision enables factory operators and workers to focus on how physical positions affect their work. POSE data can help train operators to learn where they should place their arms and hands to work more ergonomically and efficiently [Figure 3].

Tracking whether an operator is present at their workstation on the production line also automates and verifies timesheets. Making sure they are following SOP helps ensure quality control and line balancing.

AI smart AOI for contact lens inspections

Manual product quality inspection is time-consuming, inconsistent and can create production line bottlenecks. Conventional AOI machine vision can detect easy-to-find defects faster than professional quality control staff due its exceptional accuracy and efficiency. However, when a fault is difficult to detect, such as a flaw on a contact lens, these

The AI machine vision applications require AI algorithms for deep learning. The software experts that develop AI algorithms need a smart, reliable platform for executing AI model inferencing. AI smart cameras with pre-installed edge vision analytics (EVA) software can address many issues common to conventional AI vision systems, improve compatibility, speed up installation, and minimize maintenance issues.

To successfully deploy an AI vision project, it may take engineers as long as 12 weeks to conduct a proof of concept. It takes considerable time to overcome the learning curve of choosing optimized cameras and the AI inference engine, retraining AI models and optimizing video streams. EVA software simplifies these steps with its pipeline structure and shortens the PoC time to up to 2 weeks, serving as an excellent starting point to kick-start the AI vision project. ce

Chia-Wei Yang, director, business and product center, IoT Solution and Technology Business Unit, Adlink. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

Figure 4: AI smart AOI can detect even minute defects in transparent contact lenses, significantly improving inspection rates compared to the previously used manual quality control processes.

Figure 3: POSE detection on an electronics manufacturing line can help increase productivity, as well as improve order, quantity, and line balance.

Then stop using complicated controllers for precision motion. You shouldn’t need a Ph.D. in control systems to program your controller. With Automation1, you can now reduce your set up time — in many cases, from days down to minutes — thanks to a user-friendly, intuitive interface and machine setup wizard. Automation1 is the most user-friendly precision motion control platform available.

INNOVATIONS

ENGINEERS’

CHOICE AWARDS

Amanda Pelliccione, Research Director

Vote now for Engineers’ Choice Finalists

The official ballot is open for voting for Control Engineering North American print and digital edition subscribers, for a limited time. Cast your vote online at www.controleng.com/EngineersChoice.

VOTE NOW! For a limited time, the official Engineers’ Choice ballot is open for voting for Control Engineering North American print and digital edition subscribers. Access the ballot at www.controleng.com/EngineersChoice and vote for the best Engineers’ Choice finalists of 73 entries across 19 categories.

FINALISTS

Based on your experience, please vote in as many categories for which you feel qualified based on technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact. Details and photos are available for each product. Winners and honorable mentions will be listed in the January/February 2022 issue of Control Engineering.

Actuators, Motors, Drives

• Composer2 servo drive SIL, Elmo Motion Control, www.elmomc.com

• PEV-1 piezoelectric gas flow valve, Key High Vacuum, www.keyhigh.com

• ION/CME N-Series digital drive, Performance Motion Devices, www.pmdcorp.com

Asset Management

• Rosemount TankMaster Mobile inventory management software, Emerson, www.emerson.com

• Hycleen Automation System for hydraulic control, water management; GF Piping Systems, www.gfps.com

• TrendMiner 2021.R2, TrendMiner, www.trendminer.com

Automated Processes

• In-Sight 3D-L4000 vision system, Cognex Corp., www.cognex.com

• 1/2 NPT FullStream liquid atomizing spray nozzle, Exair, www.exair.com

Informed voting, an important responsibility: Voting on this ballot is only open to qualified* subscribers of Control Engineering products. One ballot per qualified subscriber will be accepted; multiple ballots from the same qualified subscriber will be invalid. Ballots received from non-qualified subscribers will be invalid. (*Employees of product manufacturers with a finalist in the current program and their properties, agencies, vendors, and representatives—even if Control Engineering subscribers—are ineligible to vote.) ce

Amanda Pelliccione is CFE Media’s research director and manager of awards programs, apelliccione@cfemedia.com.

• Hardy Caseweigher machine for product inspection, Hardy Process Solutions, www.hardysolutions.com

• ftServer downtime prevention platform, Stratus Technologies, www.stratus.com

Automated Processes: Robotics

• Smart Function Kit for Handling mechatronics system, Bosch Rexroth, www.boschrexroth.com

• MG10 magnetic gripper, OnRobot, https://onrobot.com

• ST R18 Delta Robot System, ST Robotics, https://strobotics.com

Control Systems

• XPlanar software-based, 360-degree rotation system; Beckhoff Automation, www.beckhoffautomation.com

• GP-3000 dual full-length GPU expandable computer, Cincoze Co., www.cincoze.com

• HI 4050+ weight controller with Profinet card, Hardy Process Solutions, www.hardysolutions.com

• Simatic PCS 7 V9.1 distributed control system, Siemens, www.siemens.com

• ztC Edge computing platform with Stratus Redundant Linux V2.2, Stratus Technologies, www.stratus.com

Control Systems: Industrial PCs

• C6027 industrial PC, Beckhoff Automation, www.beckhoffautomation.com

• PACSystems RXi2-BP industrial computer, Emerson, www.emerson.com

• R2000 control panel, FS-Elliott, www.fs-elliott.com

Control Systems: PLCs, PACs

• CLICK PLUS programmable logic controller, AutomationDirect, www.automationdirect.com

• ctrlX CORE motion control platform, Bosch Rexroth, www.boschrexroth.com

• IOLITEd industrial data acquisition system, Dewesoft, https://dewesoft.com

• UniStream Cloud PLC with embedded cloud services, Unitronics, www.unitronics.com

I/O & Networking

• Sensert cloud-based monitoring, alert system; Marsh Bellofram, https://marshbellofram.com

• TS IT Pro flexible, scalable network/server rack enclosure; Rittal North America, www.rittal.com

• Rugged SuperSpeed 7-port USB 3.1 hub, Sealevel Systems, www.sealevel.com

• IE-SR-4TX 4-port IIoT router, Weidmüller, www.weidmuller.com

I/O & Networking: Cybersecurity

• Ewon Cosy+ ETH industrial VPN router, HMS Networks, www.hms-networks.com

• iVisionmax-TAMS software, L&T Electrical & Automation, www.lntebg.in

• FL mGuard 1100 industrial network security device, Phoenix Contact, www.phoenixcontact.com/us

I/O & Networking: Edge Computing

• InGateway502 IIoT edge computing gateway, InHand Networks, www.inhandnetworks.com

• Nuvo-7162GC ruggedized AI inference platform, Neousys Technology America, www.neousys-tech.com

• groov RIO remote I/O package, Opto 22, www.opto22.com

I/O & Networking: I/O Modules

• BusWorks NT remote I/O module, Acromag, www.acromag.com

• CPX-AP-I decentralized I/O system, Festo, www.festo.com

• Axioline Smart Elements I/O module, Phoenix Contact, www.phoenixcontact.com/us

• Allen-Bradley FLEX 5000 analog safety I/O module, Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com

• Ominate 4.0 data, signal, power connector system; Weidmüller, www.weidmuller.com

Information Management

• Edge Intelligence data analytics software, Cognex Corp., www.cognex.com

• HighByte Intelligence Hub V1.4 for OT, HighByte, www.highbyte.com

• HighByte Intelligence Hub V2.0 for manufacturers, HighByte, www.highbyte.com

Power

• Power Xpert surge protection device, Eaton, www.eaton.com

• SL LiFePO4 universal power supply, Falcon Electric, www.falconups.com

• Quint Power 600 VA dc to ac inverter, Phoenix Contact, www.phoenixcontact.com/us

• FIEPOS field power supply, Puls, https://puls.com

Safety & Security

• EasySwitch HEPA wet-dry vacuum, Exair, www.exair.com

• Intellistat ion air gun, Exair, www.exair.com

• iVisionmax-Secure software, L&T Electrical & Automation, www.lntebg.in

• AX fiberglass reinforced polyester enclosure, Rittal North America, www.rittal.com

• VX SE free-standing enclosure system, Rittal North America, www.rittal.com

• Rocket Rack conduit, process piping support system; Robroy Industries, Raceway Division; www.robroy.com

• AZM40 electronic solenoid interlock, Schmersal, www.schmersal.com

• Varitector PU high-performance surge protection device, Weidmüller, www.weidmuller.com

Sensors

• DataMan 8700 handheld barcode reader, Cognex Corp., www.cognex.com

• Rosemount 1408H level transmitter, Emerson, www.emerson.com

• X-Tag ultra-wideband sensor, Kinexon, www.kinexon.com

• Excela electronic switch for performance upgrade, United Electric Controls, www.ueonline.com

Software

• Bedrock OSA 4.0 software tools, Bedrock Automation, http://bedrockautomation.com

• Connected Components Workbench V13 with built-in Micro800 Simulator, Rockwell Automation, www.rockwellautomation.com

• RFP Ready Kit, Smart Connect Technologies, www.smartconnectinc.com

Software: Analytics

• LUMINAI Refinery Advisor decision support software, Beyond Limits, www.beyond.ai

• PACEdge industrial edge platform, Emerson, www.emerson.com

• Team, enterprise-level analytics software; Seeq Corp., www.seeq.com

• Collaboration Information Server, Yokogawa Corp. of America, www.yokogawa.com

Software: MES, MOM

• zenon 10 industrial control software, COPA-DATA, www.copadata.com

• Hyper Alarm Server, Iconics, https://iconics.com

• Libre Core manufacturing intelligence software, Libre Technologies, www.libremfg.com

• Symphony Industrial AI Digital Manufacturing, Savigent, www.savigent.com

• EcoStruxure Automation Expert industrial automation system, Schneider Electric, www.schneider-electric.us

Test & Measurement

• Deltabar PMD75B absolute/gauge, differential pressure transmitter; Endress+Hauser, www.endress.com

• FLIR MR265 moisture meter, thermal imager with MSX; Teledyne FLIR, www.flir.com

How to Cast Your Vote

VOTING FOR the Control Engineering 2022 Engineers’ Choice Awards program opens Oct. 1, 2021, and is accessible via www.controleng.com/EngineersChoice. Voting is only open to qualified subscribers of Control Engineering products (magazine—print or digital, enewsletters, white papers, etc.). Qualified subscribers are encouraged to vote in as many categories for which they are qualified based on technological advancement, service to the industry and market impact. Read more about voting eligibility via the program’s Official Rules, www.controleng.com/EngineersChoice.

NEW PRODUCTS FOR ENGINEERS INNOVATIONS

Automation software tools

Bedrock OSA 4.0 software tools enhance the Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) capabilities intrinsic to Bedrock OSA. This facilitates open and secure automation by enabling users to leverage embedded visualization, cyber and maintenance tools as well as the Bedrock IDE 1.12 performance upgrades. It enhances I/O software configurability and simplifies open secure applications with more object libraries. OSA 4.O makes it easier to implement secure Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud and remote access applications. Developers can secure connections for direct-connect interfaces. There also are simple network communications libraries. Users can also build and maintain control applications using IEC 61131-3 programming.

Bedrock Automation, www.bedrockautomation.com

Input #200 at www.controleng.com/information

Digitization system for virtual microscopy, machine learning

Zeiss Axioscan 7 combines motorized polarization acquisition modes with speed and a software ecosystem for visualization, analysis and collaboration. Fully automated acquisition now comes with unprecedented speed across even the largest sample collections. The Zeiss ZEN Pol Viewer allows for complex multichannel polarization data to be visualized and interrogated in an intuitive environment as a virtual petrographic microscope. Data can be stored locally or automatically uploaded to the cloud for online visualization, distribution and collaboration, allowing researchers to share their images online and organize entire projects on the go. The Zeiss Axioscan 7 employs swift and reproducible LED illumination and a sophisticated filter concept to efficiently separate a broad range of channels, using the motorized stage and image acquisition system.

Zeiss, www.zeiss.com Input #201 at www.controleng.com/information

High-capacitive touch displays

Phoenix Contact’s high-contrast capacitive touch displays and membrane keypads for its industrial housing line. The configurable new options give electronics manufacturers an off-the-shelf, cost-effective enclosure design option and create a user-friendly interface for device operators. The new web-based configurator helps to custom-position the display or adjust the shape, color, button size, and printing of keypads to meet specific application requirements. Coordinated construction of the components creates a contemporary design. The “plug-and-play” modules are prefabricated and tested, ready for final assembly. Displays provide visualization and intuitive operation for applications such as pressure or flow measurements, machine states or errors, energy monitoring or building automation controls.

Phoenix Contact, www.phoenixcontact.com Input #202 at www.controleng.com/information

Chemical metering pumps

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group’s (WMFTG) Odos chemical metering pumps now feature four configurable outputs to help users cut down on the need for additional PLCs and provide extra flexibility when communicating with SCADA or other external monitoring systems. By listening to customer requests regarding new functionality, WMFTG has expanded its accurate and versatile Qdos Universal + relay series to provide four configurable outputs as well as the 4-20mA. As a result, users can access increased options for connectivity, enabling improved communication regarding pump performance and function status. All Qdos Universal + Relay pumps produced by WMFTG will feature four changeover relay outputs, with either 110Vac 4A or 24Vdc 4A contact rating.

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG), www.wmftg.com

Input #203 at www.controleng.com/information

Rotary position sensor

The Newtek RV series of rotary position sensors ensure the performance accuracy of industrial robotic systems used in automotive assembly plants. Robots perform various assembly tasks such as picking and placing heavy components such as doors, engines, windshields, and motors. Automotive robots perform arc and spot welding in attaching chassis components on an assembly line and painting, sealing, and coating automotive bodies. Rotary position sensors provide highly accurate angular displacement measurements to ensure the correct positioning of robotic arms. With a shaft that rotates 360° with no stops, the rotary position sensors measure shaft angle position over a nominal range of ±30°. Without internal components to wear or degrade, the sensors offer long mechanical life in harsh, wet, and dirty locations.

NewTek Sensor Solutions, www.newteksensors.com

Input #204 at www.controleng.com/information

Noncontact differential measuring system

Kaman Precision Products’ DIT-5200L non-contact displacement measuring system is ideal for fast-steering mirrors, servo control position feedback, stage positioning, and angular displacement indication, as well as X-Y orbit position feedback and stylus position. Offering differential for common mode rejection at an economical price, the DIT-5200L provides advanced precision measurement technology with exceptional resolution, repeatability and nulling accuracy. Applications for the DIT-5200L include laser communications, optical stabilization, and magnetic bearings. With a small package size of only 7.7 cubic inches, the DIT-5200L is extremely linear, to 0.1% of the full range, and is available in both single and dual channel configurations. The DIT5200L signal conditioning electronics is packaged in a die cast aluminum box with MCX style sensor connections.

Kaman Precision Products, www.kamansensors.com Input

Interface modules for automation, signal applications

Dinkle’s interface modules are used to simplify and improve reliability of automation connections and signal conversions, in a compact form factor. A single wiring harness routes from the input/output (I/O) module to the interface module. Some interface modules are available with traditional screw-cage terminal blocks, but most versions use newer push-in design (PID) terminations—which are a superior choice due to their compact size, faster installation, improved long-term reliability, and vibration resistance—all of which contribute to connection stability. Other features include DIN-rail mounting, available LED status indications for termination points and industrial-grade cables in the shielded and unshielded versions.

Dinkle, www.dinkle.com Input #206 at www.controleng.com/information

Frequency analysis without programming

Traditional condition monitoring algorithms are available in TwinCAT Analytics using simple configuration with no programming requirements. The addition optimizes standard workflow and spontaneous measurements, such as during machine commissioning or service. All condition monitoring algorithms are available in the analytics toolbox and can be easily dragged to the Analytics editor and configured. After using the “Start Record” function, the results will then be provided at the output of the algorithms, and they can be displayed clearly and graphically in the charting tool based on the interaction between TwinCAT Analytics and TwinCAT Scope View.

Beckhoff Automation, www.beckhoff.com

Input #207 at www.controleng.com/information

BACK TO BASICS: WIRELESS SENSORS INNOVATIONS

Wireless sensor network selection

Select a wireless sensor network that can meet processing application demands.

In 2009, NAMUR, the international association and standards body for automation technology users in the process industry, produced the NAMUR NE124 recommendations, which define requirements for wireless standards technologies, the technology employed and solutions from different manufacturers to ensure the necessary functions for sustainable use to be practical in the process industry is provided.

Probably the most important requirement for data networks is reliability. Although a figure is not stated in NAMUR NE124, greater than 99% reliability is needed to ensure data is available when required. Most wireless technologies do not provide a reliability figure, probably because it is much lower than 99%. Plants present challenging environments for wireless. Most wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies use a star topology, with point-to-point communications and a clear “line-of-sight” required between the gateway and each sensor. In a typical plant, this is problematic, requiring more gateways that add cost. Some WSN technologies use a star topology, but with a backbone to create many sub-networks, each with an intermediate backbone router. A backbone network and power may need to be installed in a hazardous area, increasing project complexity and cost.

Real-time, multi-vendor

INNOVATIONS

KEYWORDS: wireless sensors, wirelessHART, process manufacturing

NAMUR NE124 recommendations define requirements for wireless standards technologies in the process manufacturing industry.

Wireless sensors are mostly used in applications that are not time-critical – such as to help eliminate manual data collection. For these applications, an update period of one minute, one hour or even one day are fine. For other uses an update period of one second may be required. Many WSN technologies support update periods of one minute or longer, making them unsuitable for these applications.

Wireless sensors are mostly used in applications that are not time-critical. Wireless sensors and applications cannot be isolated islands of automation and must integrate with the existing automation systems.

ONLINE

www.controlengeurope.com

CONSIDER THIS

What challenges do you face when using wireless sensors in process applications?

There are WSN technologies that look open, licensed to several manufacturers, but are owned by one company, not an IEEE or IEC standard. Proprietary technologies always have associated risk. WirelessHART is an international standard, IEC 62591. Standardization dramatically reduces risk, which is why instrumentation and control engineers specify IEC standards for all electrical and electronic equipment including WSNs.

Users also need to monitor the self-diagnostics in the sensors. Most WSN technologies do not have a common backhaul network application protocol for sensor configuration and advanced diagnostic data. As a result, sensors cannot be integrated into a plant’s existing intelligent device management (IDM) software. WirelessHART solves this with the HART-IP application protocol over Ethernet.

HART-IP is used for the backhaul network to bring sensor configuration and advanced diagnostics data into the plant’s existing IDM software. HART-IP supports electronic device description language (EDDL) and field device integration (FDI). This means that all types of WirelessHART sensors can be managed from the same software used for the plant’s existing wired devices. Even IDM software, based on field device tool/device type manager (FDT/DTM), can be used to manage WirelessHART sensors.

Portable tools

Several WSN technologies have no common method of bench or field configuration and calibration. Even for the same technology, manufacturers have different ways of configuring sensors. Managing a variety of portable tools in such a heterogenous environment causes delays. A direct interface for a portable calibrator is not supported. Some sensors cannot be calibrated or “trimmed” to correct for long-term drift.

To achieve the desired operational improvements, wireless sensors and applications cannot be isolated islands of automation and must integrate with the existing automation systems. Because many WSN technologies don’t define a standard application protocol with a common message format or data types, the wireless gateway does not convert sensor measurement data to Modbus or OPC and cannot be easily integrated. This makes it hard to put that data to good use. Some WSN solutions are for one use-case, which can result in multiple heterogenous systems with multiple software to monitor each application.

Some WSN technologies only transmit measurement and status data without detailed diagnostics. WirelessHART can provide advanced diagnostics communicated by request-response as a non-real-time “second channel.” This enables advanced diagnostics like a vibration spectrum to be centrally analyzed. ce

Jonas Berge, senior director, applied technology, Emerson Automation Solutions. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

Jonas Berge, Emerson

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