Major investment to optimise Ireland's vibrant Pharma sector. -

Precise heavy current transducers. - The DM5S transducer is the latest addition to Camille Bauer Metrawatt's large product portfolio. Just like the SINEAX M1000, the predecessor model, and a world first for this type of device, the main function of the DM5S is highly accurate representation of the basic parameters of an electrical network. It then transmits this representation securely via analogue outputs or a digital interface.

Pressure switches. - Variohm EuroSensor has launched a new range of robust diaphragm-type pressure switches aimed at demanding HVAC and industrial processes for air, water, hydraulic fluid and other oil mediums in measuring ranges from 0.3 to 10 bar.

Tsunami research is modelling forces in the laboratory. - How a Tsunami is created is well understood and, whilst the devastation they cause is all too familiar, there has been little reliable data available to guide the design of coastal defences. This deficiency is now being addressed by UCL (University College London) and HR Wallingford, the world leading, specialist hydraulic research and consultancy organization, in a collaboration which has constructed the largest specialist tsunami simulator in Europe; 70 m long and 4 m wide.

Connectors for medical applications. - Foremost Electronics is supplying a new easy locking connector system (ELC) from Binder Connectors. Designed for a wide variety of applications in the critical area of medical systems, the binder ELC series 570 has an intuitive locking system to ensure positive mating with miss-mating being prevented thanks to a mating position clearly defined by the “shape” of the mating area.

Muting reinvented. - "Smart Process Gating" is the name of a new process from Leuze electronic through which muting processes are made more economical, simpler and safer.

New member of electronics trade body. - Pickering Electronics, designer and manufacturer of Reed Relays, has announced they are now a member of the Electronics Representatives Association (ERA), the international trade organization for professional field sales companies in the global electronics industries, manufacturers who go to market through representative firms and global distributors.

Multifibre connector inspection. - The first handheld tool for the automated inspection of each single fiber of MPO and other multifiber connectors has been introduced by Laser Comonents: the FiberChek Sidewinder by VIAVI Solutions.

Test Solution for Sub-6 GHz 5G. - National Instruments (NI) has just announced a sub-6 GHz 5G test reference solution compliant with the 3GPP Release 15 specification for 5G New Radio (NR).

Highlighting true Fog Computing. - AdLink Technology will demonstrate Fog Computing during the week (Embedded World 2018). the company believes this will be the first demonstration of true Fog Computing, i.e. including not only device monitoring, but also the management of the orchestration of embedded device…all at the Edge.

Gold standard in cloud! - In addition to classic automation projects at field level, the demand for scalable solutions that offer connectivity from the sensor to the cloud and with mobile devices is increasing among industrial manufacturing firms. COPA-DATA has now achieved Gold status in the Microsoft Cloud Platform competency.

Bragg meters. - The new FS22 Industrial BraggMETER optical measurement units are now available from the HBM FiberSensing industrial interrogator range. These units are specifically designed to interrogate Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based sensors in industrial environments.

Speaker at innovation event. - Among those participating at the upcoming InnovationsFORUM event to be held next week (March 7th 2018), at the Kongressehalle Boeblingen (D) will be Aegis, the innovating MES software supplier.

Finger clicking good! - A new series of DIP switches with 18 models delivering improved reliability and usability has been introduced by Omron Electronic Components Europe.

Wireless Connectivity and Sensors guide. - Anglia is supporting customers designing connected devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) with a new Wireless Connectivity and Sensors guide covering the wide range of solutions available from industry leaders like Analog Devices, Gemalto, Honeywell, Renesas, Littelfuse, Murata, Omron, Panasonic, Rohm, STMicroelectronics and TDK. The Guide also includes battery solutions for powering IoT devices from Varta.

Improving Ireland's air quality monitoring network. - Following a public consultation in 2016, the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a contract for up to 44 particulate matter (PM) monitors to enhance and expand the existing monitoring network. The successful bid was submitted jointly by EMS Environmental Monitoring Systems (Irl) and Air Monitors Ltd. (GB).

Irish engineers to meet! - The Engineers Ireland Annual Conference is scheduled for The Limerick Strand Hotel (IRL) on Friday, 13th April 2018.

Device data-connectivity. - Adlink Technology is supporting the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies' (SGeT) specification for a Universal Internet-of-Things Connector (UIC). In addition, ADLINK also announced advanced embedded middleware support that complements the UIC, with a 'plug-in' for XRCE real-time data distribution.

Fish feed producer saves power! - A specialist in aquafeed production has replaced an ageing, damaged DC motor on its principal extruder with a Dyneo® motor from Leroy-Somer, part of the Nidec group. The investment is providing the company with significant annual savings in energy costs.

Safe valves for oxygen. - Valve specialist Goetze is offering its customers a unique safety valve with swivel body outlet for gaseous oxygen and oxygen mixed gases.

Speedy mobile test device. - Anritsu has worked with Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, to successfully demonstrate peak download speeds of 2 Gbps. The demonstration uses a mobile test device, powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X24 LTE modem and a network simulator using 5x carrier aggregation (5CC) with 4x4 MIMO, and 256-QAM modulation on all 5 carriers.

Essentials for calibration. - The International Society of Automation (ISA) and its Beamex partner have released a new, free eBook called Calibration Essentials. The eBook is an informative resource with 60 detailed pages covering all essential topics relating to calibration.

Todd Gilliam is new US segment leader for ABB's food and beverage operations.

Air quality training! - Reflecting the level of support and expertise that Ashtead Technology has been able to provide for its sales and rental customers over the last year, TSI has renewed Ashtead's Gold Partnership status. The achievement of this level of support triggers higher levels of engagement with TSI, resulting for example, in joint activities such as free air quality training events.

Dissolved Oxygen in food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology. - The Memosens COS81D hygienic optical sensor for measuring dissolved oxygen in fermenters and bioreactors has been released by Endress+Hauser. It is for use in the food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well in drinking water and boiler feedwater applications. It can be used in all measuring points from lab fermenters to production processes.

Programmable controller with EDGE. - Experienced industrial automation manufacturer and industrial internet of things tools developer Opto 22 today announced a groundbreaking new industrial system to address the needs of automation engineers and developers solving the challenging automation and industrial internet of things (IIoT) problems in today's fast-moving, data-centric environment.

Clever sensor cable - This intelligent sensor cable with SmartCore Technology from Leuze electronic improves machine and system availability.

Switch manufacturer recognised. - ZF Switches & Sensors has been awarded SPDEI award for quality of support and collaboration with its distribution network. SPDEI honoured 26 suppliers out of 110 nominees and ZF was one of three winners in ten electromechanical categories.

Toolkits added to program. - Softing's OPC Development Toolkits are now listed in Rockwell Automation's Encompass Partner Program.

SolutionsPT has bolstered its senior product team with a new appointment, Ian Bailey, and two internal promotions, Chris Whitehead & Phil James.

Laser power detectors. - Gentec-EO's latest high-power series of PRONTO measurement tools is now available at Laser Components. These new models are going to replace the successful FLASH series, while also featuring some major improvements

Instrumentation apprentice competition. - This year's Water Wastewater & Environmental Monitoring (WWEM 2018) Conference will take place in Telford on 21st - 22nd November 2018 and see the return of the WWEM Instrumentation Apprentice Competition which is organised by the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group (WIPAC).

How to manage financial risk through Brexit uncertainty - Barry Doyle and John Power, Directors of Strategic Growth Leaders finance consultancy, outline the key considerations Irish SMEs should consider to respond to the challenges posed by Brexit.

Jacinta Roche has joined Anglia Components as Country Manager for Ireland.

Technical innovation acknowledged! - National Instruments (NI) has honored the "ADAS iiT Consortium– Innovation in Test" with its 2018 Technical Innovation Award. The prize is awarded to partner companies who employ new NI technologies at an early stage, thereby reflecting their roles as early adopters who promote innovation in particular.

Open Secure Automation - As part of their participation at the ARC Conference, Bedrock Automation has announced the availability of Cybershield 3.0, a major firmware upgrade with advancements that make it easier for end users and developers to build control applications that are both open and secure.

Reporting and data analysis software wins award! - Ocean Data Systems (ODS) has announced that Dream Report has won the "Engineers' Choice" award, by Control Engineering Magazine. More than 90 product nominations from 43 companies were entered for consideration in the 2018 Engineers' Choice Awards. Control Engineering subscribers voted to identify the products they felt were the most exceptional based on technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact. Engineers' Choice Award winners and honorable mentions were named in 26 categories.

Duo revolutionises measurement technology! - Loggito is a new decentralised and highly scalable data acquisition system. In combination with the web-based measurement technology software ProfiSignal Web, Delphin Technology, provide a pioneering complete package to link decentralised data acquisition with global data visualisation wherever the operator is.

Calibration & repair in Netherlands! - The partnership of Anritsu Corporation with Trescal has been expanded to cover The Netherlands. Trescal will now be providing calibration and repair services for Anritsu Handheld RF products including the Site Master range of handheld Cable and Antenna Analysers, and the Master series of handheld Vector Network and Spectrum Analysers.

A solid performance! - In its preliminary financial figures for 2017, Endress+Hauser reported a broadly supported growth in sales, solid profitability and a marked increase in employment. The Group's consolidated net sales rose 4.8% to €2.2 billion.

Fastest growing in Europe. - Taiwan Semiconductor's Fastest Growing Distributor in Europe has been named as Anglia Components. The award recognises Anglia's success in working with customers to design in Taiwan Semiconductor solutions.

SCADA Security Platform for OPC UA. - Bedrock Automation has published a concise, easy-to-deploy interface specification that enables users and application developers to take advantage of the security capabilities of OPC UA communications software.

Knowledge through measurement. -

Fully automatic testing for IEEE802.11ax devices. - Anritsu Corporation has released three new software packages to expand the measurement standards supported by the Universal Wireless Test Set MT8870A, enabling fast and fully automatic testing in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax test specifications.

Scott Pepper is the new sector head for the Process Instrumentation and Control Sector of GAMBICA.

Lift and platform weighing sensors. - As part of its comprehensive range of load cells, strain gauges and force sensors, ZEMIC Europe offers complete weighing kits for straightforward installation on elevators and weighing platforms where safety and overload protection, added passenger comfort and lift availability are critical factors.

Enabling simple electronic marshalling of pneumatic systems. - In 2016 Emerson introduced electronic marshalling for pneumatic systems. This solution enables users to easily integrate the ASCO Numatics 580 Series valve islands, with Emerson's DeltaV control system for a complete Emerson Automation I/O and pneumatics system solution for process plants.

Continuous Emissions Monitoring event unveiled. - The CEM events focus on industrial Continuous Emissions Monitoring, but this year there will also be presentations on emissions from road, river and marine transport, all of which have a significant impact on air quality. Taking place in Budapest from 16th to 18th May, the CEM 2018 Conference will be accompanied by an Exhibition.