• Show focuses on Asia - The ACHEMASIA information journal has just been released giving all the latest information on this major exhibition. This highlights the almost uncheckeed growth of the Chinese economy.
• New global drive delivers major leap! - Mitsubishi has announced a new generation of motor drives for the global market, that delivers a major leap in dynamic performance to 120:1 speed control range in drive mode and 25:1 in regenerative mode without encoder feedback. At low speeds the FR-A500 delivers unrivalled smoothness, torque ripple is under 5% at 3Hz, a 5:1 performance improvement over today's drives.
• Fibre optic sensors in Europe - The market for fibre optic sensors is expected to undergo a period of significant growth over the next few years, says a new strategic study by international marketing consulting company Frost & Sullivan. Technological advancements are expected to lead to the creation of new markets, with the in-vivo medical biosensor and fifre optic gyroscope (FOG) secvtors showing greatest potential for growth.
• Catalogue on CD ROM - Amplicon Liveline has always been a leader in making its products are made easily available to its customers both by specification and methods of ordering. They have now made their current catalogue is now available on CD ROM.
• New motor load monitor with automatic alarm level setting - Emotron is introducing a new generation of the EL-FI load monitors. This is a n electronic load monitor for machines and processes driven by electric motors. It measures the actual shaft power by a patented method.
• Multi product calibrator adds power meters to its coverage - Option PWR, which fits inside Wavetek's Model 9100 simultaneously generates voltages as high as high as 1000 V and currents as high as 20 A, allowing power meters to be directly calibrated at power levels up to 20kW or 20kVAR.

• Self-learn package introduced - fieldbus.com is launching a new range of self-learn software packages for industrial automation and process control in Britain. The LearnWARE suite (from P&L Automatik AB) is already extensively used in Scandanavia. The products will be on display at C&I UK next month.
• Speedy developement of SCADA and MMI systems - Solartron has released a set of drivers using National Instruments' LabVIEW and BridgeVIEW drivers for its IMP isolated measurement pods, simplifying the development of didtributed data acquisition systems and man-machine interfaces.
• Product test beds - The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that it is establishing independent, multi-vendor "test-beds" at several locations around the world.

• Fieldbus newsletter - The ProfiBus newsletter PROFiNews has been issued highlighting the achievements and general news of this leading fieldbus.
  Se our Fieldbus Page for more news on fieldbus developments.

• In December 1997, IDC Research reported that there are 145,000 people accessing the Internet in Ireland. IDC estimates that the total number of Internet users will increase to 188,000 by the end of 1998 and 425,000 by 2001. World Wide Web users in Ireland totaled 117,000 at the end of 1997 and are expected to grow to 396,000 by 2001.
  stats from http://38.249.210.27/cfdocs/headcount/datafind.cfm?search=Country

• New Proximity detectors - A comprehensive new range of competitively priced inductive proximity detectors (IPDs) in stainless steel or plastic housings for industrial control applications has been announced by ffffi. More details from Pam Gibson.
• Showing at Hannover - Parker Hannifin's Electromechanical Division will be previewing some of the latest developments in motion control technology at Hanover (20-25 April'98).

• Disputed ballot to be accepted - The IEC Committee of Action has voted to count a disputed ballot by the Brazillian national committee in favour of the proposed fieldbus Data Link Layer (DLL) standards for IEC 61158. All IEC committee members supported the decision except two, one of which abstained. This followed much procedural wrangling over the validity of the Brazil vote which was registered too-late for the Oct31 1997 deadline due to a problem with the IEC's Fax Machine in Geneva.
• Latest Issue - The latest issue of Readout has been published.
• Honeywell & Rockwell - Rockwell Automation has announced that it is launching a highly integrated control and man machine interface (MMI) solution for process control applications. The new system combines technologies developed for its Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software products together with technologies from Honeywell Industrial Control to expand the suite of Rockwell Automation ProcessLogix offerings for process control.

• European PC Disposals - The European PC-Disposals Industry, once considered to be little more than a cottage industry, is undergoing a period of reconstruction and unprecedented growth according to a new study by International Data Corporation (IDC). This new report shows that the IT disposals scenario is dominated by the following three factors : IT recycling will become mandatory, the cost will be funded by manufacturers and, ultimately, this cost will be passed on to the consumer.
• New URL - The invaluable resource for those serious about Fieldbus the Austrian Centre of Excellence for Fieldbus Systems has changed its URL. Thisd change has been reflected in our Fieldbus Page.

• New PC tool set - Mitsubishi has announced a Windows PC tool set called FX-PCS-WIN, that allows simultaneous ladder logic, instruction list and STL programming of FX PLCs including their new FX2N. Contact their Brochure Hotline on +44 990 168567.
• Miniature microstepping drive - a new microstepping drive from Parker Hannifin packs a 7.5A output capability into an easy-to-mount module measuring just 127 x 91 x 41mm.
• Two electric power system short courses - The Dept of Engineering Professional Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are jointly presenting two courses with the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble. 25-29t May is for "The Theory and Practice of Power System Analysis," and "Relay Performance Analysis and Testing" is from 2nd to 5the June. To enroll contact Michele San Martin.
• Magnetic seminar - The UK Magnetics Society is organising a one-day seminar 'Losses in Electrical Steels: Measurement, Modelling and Applications'< to take place in Cardiff University, Wales, on 18th June 1998. More details from Margaret Swadling.

• Houston show - The list of exhibitors for ISA EXPO/98 has passed 650. Also, find out more about ISA EXPO/98 honorary chairman and Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer, their new sponsors or sign up for the electronic discussion forum for M&C technology.

• Miniature accelerometer - FGP is introducing the FA 1131 series of very low cost miniature accelerometers. Four ranges are available; 50,100,200 and 500 G. Details from SÇán Gough on +33 1 30796565.
• DC Motor range extendec - Two new compact DC gear motors, the larger of which is rated at 90W continuous, 200W max in a unit just 63mm diameter and 130mm long, have been launched by Cruzet. More details available from Pam Gibson.
• Final conf programme announced- The VMEbus International Trade Association (VITA) has announced the final conference programme for its one day technical conference at the Embedded Systems Show (London, 13-14 May'98). It is entitled "The future of VMEbus in real-time and Embedded Systems Design", the conference takes place on 13thb May and comprises 12 papers.

• Vehicle exhaust flow measurement - Flow Technology Inc has introduced the E-Flow direct exhaust volume measurement system, a new and improved method for the measurement of vehicle exhaust.
• Accelerometers - A new series of mechanically filtered piezoresistive accelerometers (7270AM6) has been launched by Endevco.
• Global support - A new approach to technical support services for the company's process control instruments and systems that offers maximum flexibility while minimising costs has been introduced by Moore Products. More details from Bev Lynas.
• Belarusian crude oil metering contract - Solartron has signed a multi-million dollar contract with NPTN Druzba to replace all the crude oil metering transducers and computer suystems at Novopolotsk in Belarus.
• Swedendrives into British market - Emotron, the Swedish manufacturer of electric drives have set up a sales organisation in Britain. Contact is Trevor Stonehewer on +44 1283 500808.
• Automation strategies - The topic of Automation Research Corporation's 1998 Forum (22/23rd June - Boston, MA, USA) is IT & Automation Strategies for a Customer-Centric Enterprise.
• Digital pendulum boost value of education - An unique digital pendulum control system manufactured by Feedback Instruments Limited provides control engineering students with the hardware and software to impliment control engineering solutions designed using matlab and simulink.
• New smart insertion thermal mass flow meter - The new Model 640-S Smart Thermal Mass Flow Meter from Sierra Instruments, provides a variety of self-diagnostic and field-adjustment features, as well as the ability to confirm or "field-validate" the meter's calibration and measurement accuracy in the field.

• Full featured, multitasking, real-time executive - Embedded System Products, Inc. (ESP) today announced the RTXC port and compiler binding for Mitsubishi's M16C microcontroller, targeted for a wide range of applications including wireless, industrial and automotive applications. Mitsubishi's M16C is designed to take advantage of both accumulator and register based architectures, providing RISC-like performance in a 16-bit MCU.
• Standardized Test Chip Program - The Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) announced today that Amkor Wafer Fabrication Services, Chartered Semiconductor, Rohm LSI Systems and Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (WSMC) will be official participants in its 0.25 micron Standard Qualification Test Chip Program. Each foundry has agreed to manufacture the FSAÍs 0.25 micron standard test chip at their manufacturing facility, followed by the testing and reporting of the data to the fabless community. Each foundry will be certified by the FSA for having provided customers with sufficient data to qualify their process

The Instrumentation Signpost has interesting pointers for the I&C Professional.