Continuous improvement drives EIP standard forward

“We intend to advance EtherNet/IP by developing a troubleshooting guide, delving into EIP Web Diagnostics, and instituting EIP security recommendations for end devices,” said Kevin Knake of HMS Industrial Networks.
Knake represented one of several EtherNet/IP (EIP) special interest groups (SIG) speaking to the technical review board of the ODVA (Open Device Vendors Association) annual meeting today in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
There were ten reporting SIGs working on various components of ODVA’s networking and communications technologies. EIP occupied more reports than any other did.
Rockwell Automation developed EtherNet/IP in the late 1990’s as part of its industrial Ethernet networking solutions. Rockwell handed the science off to ODVA, which manages the protocol and assures multi-vendor system interoperability by leveraging standards and conformance.
EtherNet/IP is mostly for communication to and from Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley control systems.
Systems integrator John Rinaldi of RTA which services a range of fieldbuses reported on his website, “there are numerous application layer competitors to EIP including Modbus/TCP from Groupe Schneider, ProfiNet from Siemens, HSE Fieldbus from the Fieldbus foundation and other vendors. None of these competitors can provide the vendor support, flexibility and total architecture support offered by the implementation of CIP over Ethernet (EtherNet/IP).”
CIP is the Common Industrial Protocol and it allows complete integration of control with information, multiple CIP Networks, and Internet technologies.
Other SIG reports at ODVA 2009 CIP Networks Conference:
• Brian Batke (Rockwell) for the EIP System Architecture SIG said there had been a 79% increase from 2007 in this SIG’s membership
• Todd Snide, chair of the Modbus Integration SIG reported they had completed their integration work but “as use becomes commonplace, we’ll be changing the language of the specification and working on accommodations for the next year to 18 months.”
• Steve Zuponcic, chair of Distributed Motion SIG reported the committee has updated CIP Sync to be compliant w/ IEEE 1588, which is a standard for a precision clock synchronization protocol for networked measurement and control systems. “We’ll work on CIP/SERCOS III gateway functionality over the next year,” Zuponcic said.
• The DeviceNet Physical Layer SIG chair, Brad Woodman reported the group has finished its mice tutorial, which defines the industrial environment. MICE is the Mechanical, Ingress, Climatic, and Electromagnetic concept is a systematic method of describing industrial environments to determine equipment protection needs.
• Bob Lounsberry, chair of the EIP Physical Layer SIG addressed MICE. “There’s a tremendous amount of activity going on in the cabling and commercial area and we need to incorporate the terms of MICE into our world.”
• The Automotive SIG has been dormant for a couple of years but there is some stirring now. There is interest in the area of quick-connects for robots.
• CompoNet SIG reported. CompoNet provides users with a bit-level network to control small, high-speed machines and the CIP Network services to connect to the plant and the enterprise.
• Dave Vasko, chair of the CIP Safety SIG reported, “CIP Safety will be riding on SERCOS-III.” SERCOS-III, a motion control protocol, merges the hard-real-time aspects of the SERCOS interface with the Ethernet standard.
• Dave VanGompel, a network technologist at Rockwell and chair of the CIP System Architecture SIG reported that group has seen to the approval 17 system enhancements to the CIP definition.
-- Nick Sheble

Operator training in 3D

Operator training systems are pretty commonplace in plants because plant managers want to train operators in a safe environment. But a new approach to virtual reality could change the way we train teams to respond in critical situations.
Traditional virtual reality has seen technology limitations because rendering equipment views in real time puts high demands on processors and requires expensive hardware, making the outcome slow and oversimplified.
Invensys Process Systems (IPS) today unveiled its immersive training simulator (ITS), which they said could transform traditional training and the virtual plant environment.
With the new simulator, operators can train on the same models as control room operators at the same time, enforcing teamwork, said Tobias Scheele, IPS vice president of advanced applications during today’s press conference.
Known as the immersive virtual reality process, the IPS system creates a 3D computer-generated representation of either a real or proposed process plant. Via a stereoscopic, stereophonic headset, users enter a totally immersive environment in which they can move around the plant in any direction they choose. This freedom is possible because the virtual environment is rendered at 60 frames per second, much faster than what a traditional, non real-time rendering can achieve.
“The sophistication of the immersive virtual environment includes a feeling of real 3D, where you can interact with the three-dimensional environment and have the optical feeling of 3d,” Scheele said.
A CAD file is the basic source of material for the 3D environment. This file can either be in standard 2D or advanced formats, such as those created by COMOSFEED, SMARTPLANT and AUTOCAD. These programs generate a 3D CAD file that is then used to speed up the conversion process required for photo-realistic, real-time graphics.
The next level of sophistication is augmented reality, “taking virtual reality and overlaying it with pictures and information from the real world,” he said. “You can see reality, express and show in a virtual environment, or cross check your virtual environment with augmented reality. What it means for process simulation is in this photorealistic virtual environment, you can get information of process conditions like temperatures, pipes, fluid in the pipe or the actual value of a valve.”
Augmented reality increases process understanding of the operation efficiency, Scheele said. “What we can do more than the traditional approach is training based on an action or competency aimed at the individual. The total human factor in training is to broaden the individualized focus by looking into team training. How do individuals interact with each other?” This becomes important during training in a refinery, where there is a lot of teamwork involved with a lot of individuals, but you want to train them in an operator environment, he said.
ITS comprehensive training solution is linking the control room operator to the theater operator, which brings to light a comprehensive training solution, linking both worlds using the same logic. “It’s training in a similar environment, and interactive environment for complete plant crew training,” Scheele said.
“A 3d model can see use in a walkthrough experience, giving assistance with maintenance feasibility tasks,” he said. “What is the health condition, maintenance of this equipment?”
You can also perform safety tasks and train a team to improve their skills during critical events or a high-stress situation. “The expected results of optimizing training of all aspects of operations is providing a more realistic environment for training,” he said.
Operators can also practice training sessions and define training tasks and sessions they need to work through, such as high-stress situations, he said. “You can perform these procedures first in safe environment before you apply them in reality.”
-- Ellen Fussell Policastro

Software writers, network builders seek edge

The original DeviceNet technology has spread far and wide in over its 30 years of existence.
The purveyor of the fieldbus, the ODVA, opened its annual meeting Tuesday in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., with a series of closed-door special interest group meetings.
DeviceNet is a communication protocol used in the automation industry to interconnect control devices for data exchange.
It uses Controller Area Network, which debuted in 1983, as the backbone technology and defines an application layer to cover a range of device profiles.
ODVA (Open Device Vendors Association) manages the specifications and oversees conformance testing for DeviceNet and its other technologies including the Common Industrial Protocol, EtherNet/IP, CompoNet, ControlNet, and CIP Safety.
The full and public conference gets in full swing today with two conference tracks – marketing and technical.
Earlier this month ODVA and the TÜV Rheinland Group said TÜV Rheinland Japan would perform conformance tests for the organization.
Conformance testing is a necessary step required by ODVA of all vendors seeking ODVA Declarations of Conformity for their ODVA technology-compliant products.
“This cooperation is a natural extension of ODVA’s cooperation with TÜV Rheinland which began with CIP Safety and now includes testing partnerships in Japan and China,” said ODVA Executive Director Katherine Voss.
-- Nick Sheble

Solar-powered, recycled wireless phone

It is a good day when you read about something that just makes sense and actually may be good for the user and for the environment.
Crossing the wires this morning was a story about Samsun launching five new phones, including a model made from recycled plastic with a solar panel on the back for charging. A recycled solar-powered phone. With that news even Al Gore would go out and buy one.
Samsung said in a statement its "Blue Earth" solar-powered model had a touch screen and consisted of plastic taken from used water bottles.
While the company did not give pricing or when it would hit the market, you got to like the brains behind the move. It should appeal to everyone.

New Year means new products

It is the beginning of the New Year and that means it must be time for new product announcements.
The ARC Advisory Group’s annual conference in Orlando, Fla., was a good time and location to unveil some new product lines. While releasing new products used to be a once a year thing, the time frame for the announcements had condensed considerably. Companies released a new line in early February and surely will release another revision of some sort later on in the year, most likely at ISA EXPO 2009.
Here is a sampling of some of the product releases from the ARC conference:

Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc., launched its Human Machine Interface (HMI) platform — the GT16 series that features advanced multimedia capabilities.
The GT16 series combines video and sound capabilities with embedded communications interfaces to provide an unparalleled multimedia platform.
The GT16 series multimedia HMI can transform applications from still images to motion images with a video capture and store feature, a monitor display/RGB input, and a sound output interface.
The company is also partnering with Cognex to integrate the In-Sight vision system into Mitsubishi’s iQ platform.
The goal behind the Mitsubishi Electric-Cognex partnership is to offer users a standard set of integratable products, rather than an untested set of components patched together to perform a specific function. The solution offers accessibility to all features and functions of logic, motion, HMI, vision, and robotic domains in a manner such that each task is a part of a single system.

Kepware Technologies created offerings to deliver OPC interoperability for license with OEM software products.
Kepware is now offering its OPC technology as licensable components to incorporate into third-party automation software solutions. OEMs can now leverage OPC Clients and OPC Servers as pluggable components to meet the latest specifications for OPC-Classic and OPC-UA.
OPC technology, managed by the OPC Foundation, is the interoperability standard enabling data transfer between all software products in the automation marketplace.
Also, Kepware will now be the primary provider of connectivity to field devices for Sèvres, France-based ARC Informatique, which makes PcVue and PlantVue. ARC Informatique is a HMI/SCADA provider that works with end users and OEMs.

Honeywell unveiled its Experion LS control system. The new line can bring a distributed control system (DCS) to the small and medium manufacturers that do not need the power of a full blown DCS.
Experion LS can manage all continuous process control applications and optimize batch and sequence-oriented applications typically found at specialty chemicals, pharmaceutical, food and beverage and consumer goods producers. The new product offering is scalable from a single PC and controller to multiple stations.

Within the FDT Group, 12 international companies have joined the non-profit organization in the last year, a 20% increase.
These companies are: Aplisens (Poland), AUMA (Germany), Baumer (Switzerland), Dresser Masoneilan (USA), Klay Instruments (Netherlands), KUKA Roboter (Germany), Larsen & Toubro Emsys Division (India), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan), Petronas (Malaysia), SSS-Smart Software Solutions (Germany), Technical University Dresden (Germany), and Weidmüller (Germany).

Emerson Process Management introduced its Syncade Smart Operations Management suite, real-time production management software. The modular, scalable Syncade Suite extends the PlantWeb digital plant architecture by integrating real-time intelligent plant-floor data with procedural, off-line and transactional plant business processes, decisions and asset management.
Emerson officials said the Smart Operations Management suite can replace the traditional client-server, program intense MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) software of the past decade. Syncade uses Microsoft.NET framework-based software to deliver ISA95 Level 3 standards-based functionality.

Yokogawa Electric Corp. unveiled its Real-time Production Organizer (RPO) suite of manufacturing execution system (MES) platform packages that integrate the vertical production execution workflow across departments.
Based on the ISA-95 manufacturing execution model, RPO performs the definition, dispatch, execution, analysis, and tracking functions, thereby speeding up the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. The RPO packages bring users: Business oriented operations through shared information between planning and management; quick operation changes through cooperative operations; safe and stable operations through plant-wide monitoring, and improved operator productivity.

ILS Technology launched VSInet, an addition to the company’s secureWISE platform, a hosted remote services product offering.
VSInet can provide secure monitoring and access to information technology devices and systems. VSInet is an offering that also allows service providers to provide cost-effective remote-product services without an upfront investment in datacenter hardware, allowing them to concentrate on serving their customers instead of managing their connectivity. VSI gives remote-based service organizations the ability to utilize the Internet as a secure, efficient service-delivery infrastructure to perform remote monitoring and on-demand management access.

Misery yes; hopeful, of course

No one says the automation industry is immune from the abysmal global economy, but there are some opportunities out there.
“With the housing crisis we are experiencing, I would also say we have a manufacturing crisis as well,” said Andy Chatha, president and founder of ARC Advisory Group today at the industry research company’s “Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing” conference in Orlando, Fla.. “We are talking about Baby Boomers leaving the industry, but unfortunately, a lot of companies are being forced to let them go now. That just compounds the problem.”
It is easy to dwell on the problems, but there are opportunities for automation companies moving forward.
“The U.S. innovation machine is at work creating lower cost products and processes,” Chatha said. The time is right for innovation.”
“Automation companies are starting to fill the gaps in manufacturing,” Chatha said. “Automation companies are becoming more service providers. Working with partners will be a key down the road.”
There are some growth areas, like wireless, virtual concepts and integrating engineering, Chatha said. He added the electric power industry is a bright spot and showing great growth potential. He said his company also revised its forecasts for the industry for this year and it looks like the booming growth areas of China and India will experience “only” single digit growth, while it will remain flat in the U.S. and Europe. He also added consumer products, life sciences and food industries are looking good for the coming year.
If you listen to some of the folks here at the forum, they are worried, but things are not as bleak as some pundits are saying.
Stephen Lambright, vice president of marketing and customer service at wireless provider, Apprion, said they have not really seen a slow down. They have cautious customers, but they are still going strong.
Honeywell is looking for growth by going after the small manufacturing market with its new Experion LS system, which takes the large scale Experion product and scales it down to fit with the smaller manufacturers.
“We are looking to grow our business in emerging markets like India and China where there are quite a few smaller manufacturers that would want to use a DCS,” said Timothy Sweet, manager of product marketing at Honeywell.

Smart sustainability

Whether anyone believes it is hype or not, times are tough. With a financial crises leading to a housing crises, which leads to other dilemmas, the idea is to come out of this downturn with a running start.
One of the ways to hit the ground running is creating a sustainable environment.
“In difficult times like these, it is more important to get together to share ideas so we can come out of this stronger than before,” said Andy Chatha, president and founder of ARC Advisory Group during today’s keynote address at the industry research company’s “Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing” conference in Orlando, Fla. “I don’t have to explain it any more than you hear every day, the environment is volatile.”
The idea of sustainability has gained considerable momentum, especially after energy prices went through the roof this past year and are starting to inch up now.
“The question is not what is sustainability,” said Alan Hecht, director of sustainability with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during his talk today at the ARC conference. “The issue really is how do you make it operational.”
Sustainability has quite a few definitions, but in short it is about energy, energy management and green initiatives.
Talking to the audience of automation professionals, Hecht said, “as we look ahead, you are the ones that will make sustainability operational.”
He added government and business were headed in different directions over the past eight years when it came to the concept of sustainability, but now the two entities are on the same page.
“Sustainability works when it adds to the bottom line,” Hecht said.
“We know from data and from our daily lives, we are facing difficult times,” Hecht said. “These times further push us toward our goals of sustainability. Green is competitive and it is workable.”
When it all comes down to it, companies have to get support throughout the enterprise to create a sustainable environment.
“Sustainability has to start at the top,” said Angel Mendez, Cisco senior vice president of customer value chain management. “You have to start it internally. If not, it is hard for everybody to follow.”
The idea also does not just apply to one area of a company. “Manufacturing is not an island,” Mendez said. “You have to take a comprehensive view of a product from cradle to grave.”
“We are building a sustainable strategy and applying it,” Mendez said. “Most people get it, but the subject is so broad, the definition can vary.”
Whatever the definition, the concept has to move forward to ensure a positive impact on the environment. All of that goes beyond just industry.
“The public is demanding sustainability and science and technology can make it happen,” Hecht said.