IIoT and terminal automation. - New market research on Terminal Automation Systems from ARC Advisory reveals that today’s terminal applications are expected to handle increased volume, higher flexibility, and greater capacity. Terminal operations should streamline their business processes to stay competitive and retain profitability by leveraging the new technologies.

Expanding maintenance capabilities with IIoT, robotics, and drones. - Organizations in today’s asset-intensive industries continue to seek new and novel ways to increase efficiency, productivity, and worker safety, which are top priorities for expanding maintenance capabilities and operations teams. (ARC Advisory)

The SolarWinds hack can directly affect control systems - This is arguably one of the most important of Joe Weiss's blogs as it directly relates to how the Russian's got a "two-fer" in the SolarWinds hack – compromise of the IT infrastructure and direct CONTROL of building control system devices. The Russians also got indirect control of "industrial" control systems via the IT network backdoors. (Control Global)

High-performance UPS enhances range. - Megawatt-scale performance with an extremely small footprint makes the Ultron DPS 300 kVA UPS ideally suited for use in hyperscale and colocation data centers, where high-density performance and the associated space savings are essential for profitable operations.

IoT security & identity management. - Sectigo® has released multiple advancements to the company’s award-winning IoT Security & Identity Management Platform, making integration and management of secured connected devices even easier for OEMs and enterprises. The innovations include a PKI Client software development kit (SDK) for Sectigo IoT Manager and Secure Boot SDK, which eases development efforts and reduces time to market for manufacturers across industries.

The ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) has appointed a chairperson - Megan Samford (Schneider Electric) and vice chairperson - Sharul Rashid,(PETRONAS) to its advisory board.

Operational certainty in emergency shutdowns. - The ASCO™ 141 Series Advanced Redundant Control System (ARCS), from Emerson, provides a redundant solution for a variety of emergency shutdown valve applications, such as those found in the chemical, power, oil and gas industries.

Refinery methane analyser - When a refinery required a third-party certified SIL 1 solution to calculate the differential between methane content on the inlet/outlet sides of a reactor, and to ensure methane levels do not reach flashpoint which could lead to an explosion, Moore Industries designed a methane differential trip Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) with standard off the shelf hardware, and provided an independent Safety Integrity Level (SIL) verification report.

Factory floors and buildings – connected. - A new Intesis™ protocol translator that integrates between EtherNet/IP and BACnet IP/MSTP-based Building Management Systems has been announced by HMS Network. Thanks to its unique design, it is easy to bring data from a factory network to a BMS.

Industrial Ethernet switch. - The NT4008 is a new new 8-port Gigabit managed Industrial Ethernet switch series from Red Lion. The NT4008 series switches are certified to meet PROFINET PNIO v2.34 Conformance Class-B standards to ensure seamless integration into PROFINET networks using standard PLC configuration and management tools.

Field level communications initiative reaches significant milestone. - OPC Foundation has announced that its Field Level Communications Initiative has accomplished a significant milestone in the ongoing project by completing their initial release candidate with the focus on the Controller-to-Controller (C2C) use case. (ARC Advisory report).

Setting up a ProfiNet network. - Many questions arise when setting up a PROFINET network. Since the installation and design steps are critical to building a reliable project, it is important to understand cabling requirements ahead of time.

Digital Toolset for efficient maintenance planning and execution. - Emerson is adding the MyAssets toolset to its MyEmerson personalised digital experience to help users execute their maintenance plan more effectively. As part of the MyEmerson digital tools portfolio launched last year to improve productivity and collaboration, MyAssets provides instant access to device documentation, replacements, spares, and walkdown reports to help plant personnel better maintain and manage the useful life of their Emerson devices.

Irish food and agribusinesses prepare for BREXIT & COVID-19. - Ifac, Ireland’s farming, food and agribusiness professional services firm, and Reliance Automation have joined forces to support Irish food businesses considering automation.

Multi-function calibrator. - The new model CPH8000 multi-function calibrator, from WIKA, makes on-site calibration even more efficient. The portable instrument measures pressure, temperature, current, voltage, frequency, pulse signal and the ambient conditions. It is available as a hand-held or in a case version with integrated pressure pump.

RTU range expanded. - Red Lion Controls has expanded its SixTRAK line of industrial RTUs with the launch of ST-IPm-8460 powered by the Red Lion Workbench, which uses an IEC61131-3 compliant editor and runtime engine. Designed for applications that need increased processing and communication speed and storage, the new RTU provides the flexibility and reliability that customers require and expect from Red Lion to monitor and control equipmen

Winning integrators - The Control Engineering 2021 System Integrator of the Year award winners Have been announced:
- Andritz Automation Ltd., Richmond, British Columbia, Canada (Large System Integrator Category)
- Applied Control Engineering Inc., Newark, Del. (Mid-Sized Integrator Category)
- The JDI Group Inc., Maumee, Ohio (Small System Integrator Category)
The 2021 System Integrator of the Year recipients were selected by industry experts and CFE Media from nominations from within the industry.

Manufacture of automation of continuous and/or fast processes joins open standard group. - GP Systems GmbH has joined FDT Group as a corporate member. Based in Kassel (D), with representation in India, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, North and South America, GP Systems specializes in development of hardware and software for automation of continuous and/or fast processes supporting optimal control technologies.

IS multi purpose indicator. - The D490 is a Multi-Purpose Indicator from Fluidwell. It can display the actual process value, range and current loops. In addition to flow rate, level, temperature and pressure applications, the D490 can also work with other measuring units, such as %, mA, RPM and more. Therefore, the D490 is a versatile indicator that suits many applications.

Component flexibility for mechanical engineering. - Baumüller certifies converters for PROFINET IRT and thus clears the way for greater productivity, better system availability and maximum flexibility.

Flammable gas detection. - Crowcon Detection Instruments has unveiled an important innovation in fixed gas detection with the launch of the world’s first fixed detector with a Molecular Property Spectrometer ™ (MPS™) sensor. The Nevada Nanotech MPS™ sensor has been added to its Xgard Bright fixed gas monitor, which is set to drive up standards in gas detection and safety, while driving down the cost of ownership.

Software for advanced digital manufacturing strategy. - DigiProces Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) has selected Aegis as their trusted software provider of IIoT-driven MES software. The choice of MES solution was critical to their vision, where automated advanced analysis of data provides visibility and control of the live operation.

Powerful 5G router. - The ICR-4453 ultra-high-speed 5G NR (New Radio) router and powerful edge computing gateway focused on the global market has been launched by Advantech. The 5G “gigabit” speed, provides low latency and guaranteed quality (SLA) of connectivity and is a real step forward to massive IoT and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) applications. The router also offers remote configuration, management and diagnostics.

Mobile water analysis in steam boiler. - The different load modes in steam boiler operation result in over- and under-dosing of chemicals. Preventing this from happening requires exact and quick control measurements on a daily basis. Correct dosing of chemicals prevents corrosion and deposits and supports safe long-term boiler operation. To prevent the risk of corrosion, the dissolved oxygen content must not be greater than 20 µg / l. This can be determined precisely with the oxygen electrode of the µdox handheld measuring device from OFS Online Fluid Sensoric, quickly and precisely.

Air quality in construction. - Praxis/Urban units are part of a solution from South Coast Science, which allows contractors to meet air quality monitoring requirements during construction and roadworks in town and city centres.

Accelerating Digital Transformation in a Post-COVID World. - ARC Advisory Group is to host its European Industry Forum on May 18-19, 2021 as an online event. The forum is part of ARC's successful series of worldwide conferences in the USA, India, China and Japan. Earlier this year, ARC Europe hosted a highly successful virtual event attended by 250 delegates.

Inclination sensors. - The inclination sensor SMX.igs-e is the first product of a completely newly developed generation of inclination and gyro sensors by Sensor-Technik Wiedemann (STW), which is based on the use of MEMS sensor technology. This family is part of a new, future-oriented software and hardware platform. In addition, the STW software Toolchain openSYDE is supported, which allows easy integration of the SMX.igs-e into an existing application and which is used during the initial operation of sensors.

Is your face covering adequate? - Using a FLIR Firefly DL camera, FLIR engineers developed a system for detecting compliance and flagging users who may be in violation of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) guidelines. The facemask detection dataset used 2 publicly available libraries with over 1000 images to provide examples of people with, without, and incorrectly wearing facemasks in different environment.

Low viscosity US flow. - FTI Flow Technology has introduced the QCT_PA12 Series of in-line liquid ultrasonic flow meters. These compact and lightweight meters are intended for use in low-viscosity liquid applications requiring excellent accuracy and reliability at an economical price point.

Clinical diagnostics in veterinary laboratories. - BioTe Veterinary Laboratories is using Matrix Gemini Veterinary LIMS to manage their laboratory workflow and analytical data to drive efficient operations in their new purpose-built laboratory facility.

How to use the true value of data. - How much is data worth to your business? According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), manufacturing companies could save billions by combining their digital records. This article explains the opportunities sharing data creates for manufacturers and the obstacles they may encounter. (Control Engineering).

Reliable reservoir opportunity identification. - Emerson has launched SpeedWise® Reservoir Opportunity, a fully automated, cloud-native reservoir analytics solution developed in collaboration with Quantum Reservoir Impact (QRI). The software is unique in how it applies advanced algorithms, data mining and workflow automation to cut the amount of work required to identify field development opportunities from months to weeks. The comprehensive solution helps oil and gas companies achieve greater return on investment by shortening decision-making cycles and delivering better risk management.

Relay for solar panels and battery back-up. - OMRON Electronic Components Europe is announcing a highly compact 500V DC power relay aimed at the pre-charge circuits in electric vehicle chargers, battery back-up systems for solar panels and other high current DC applications.