by Gary Mintchell | Jan 7, 2016 | Automation, Technology
Raspberry PI is an intriguing small, inexpensive computing platform. I’ve seen a number of really cool projects on various tech blogs and video podcasts. I figure there must be a number of engineers figuring out how to implement these devices to reduce cost and complexity.
Use of Linux in industrial automation has never reached any sort of critical mass. I started following it somewhere around 1999 and even started to write about Linux in automation for a Linux magazine about that time. But Microsoft Windows won (remember the 1999 ARC Forum in Orlando when the Sun guys promoting Java as an OS packed up and headed out?), and Linux has been sort of peripheral.
I keep expecting something to happen. We have moved to the cloud in a big way for many applications including HMI/SCADA. Maybe we’ll see more in the near future.
HMI for IoT and Raspberry PI and Linux
Betting on that is Tatsoft. It has released its FactoryStudio Industrial IoT (IIoT) HMI for Raspberry PI and Linux.
FactoryStudio delivers real-time information with a set of fully-integrated modules in a unified and intuitive engineering user interface. With FactoryStudio, projects can scale from local embedded devices and mobile applications up to very large, distributed, high performance fault-tolerant systems. It provides an Application Development Platform to allow easy creation of solutions for the device level itself, with Graphical real-time displays, communication protocols to PLC’s, data logging, alarm engine, local SQL storage and C#/VB.NET scripting. Those embedded applications can easily communicate with remote FactoryStudio applications on the cloud, or on premises, accessing and consolidating distributed information.
The FactoryStudio platform can also work as the presentation layer and data gateway to historian systems, such as OSIsoft PI, Prediktor APIS, and ERP systems such as SAP, or directly connect with the SQL enterprise databases.
“The development tools are the same whether you are deploying projects to Microsoft Windows computers running .NET Framework, Linux operating system with the Mono Framework and Raspberry PI devices. For Raspberry PI, we also included easy access to onboard I/O in addition to all other HMI features.” explains Marcos (Marc) Taccolini, Tatsoft LLC CTO.
This release complements the FactoryStudio multi-platform solutions that already have runtimes for Windows Compact Framework and iOS devices. According Dave Hellyer, Sr VP Marketing, “Tatsoft believes that we can use the intersection of people, data and intelligent machines to have a far-reaching impact on the productivity, efficiency and operations of industries around the world.”
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 16, 2015 | Automation, News, Technology
In advance of this week’s Automation Fair at Chicago’s McCormick Place, Rockwell Automation has announced a couple of new product extensions–SoftwareStudio 5000 development environment and ControlLogix 5580.
“The addition of these applications [to SoftwareStudio 5000] significantly enhances our integrated development environment,” said Mike Brimmer, product manager, Rockwell Automation. “The expanded environment simplifies the design process and reduces the need for multiple tools, providing a more seamless system development experience.”
The Studio 5000 environment now includes the following:
- The new Studio 5000 Architect application is the central point within the Studio 5000 environment where users can view the overall automation system; configure devices such as controllers, HMIs and EOIs; and manage the communications between the devices. The Studio 5000 Architect application also exchanges data with other Studio 5000 applications and third-party electrical design tools to simplify the development experience.
- The Studio 5000 Logix Designer application is the design and maintenance software for the Allen-Bradley Logix5000 family of controllers and is used to configure discrete, process, batch, motion, safety and drive control. It simplifies the design process by providing an application-centric view of code; enhanced work flows for more efficient re-use of content; and collaborative tools that make it easier for multiple people to work together.
- The new Studio 5000 View Designer application is the design and maintenance software for Allen-Bradley PanelView 5500 graphic terminals. The Studio 5000 View Designer application provides an intuitive, modern design environment that helps users more easily build contemporary systems. It enhances integration between the control system and operator interface to improve programming efficiency and runtime performance.
- The new Studio 5000 Application Code Manager speeds system development by helping users build libraries of re-usable code that can be managed and deployed across their entire enterprise. Creating projects with Application Code Manager helps improve design consistency, reduce engineering costs, and achieve faster time-to-market and commissioning.
In addition, Rockwell Automation has updated the Studio 5000 environment with enhanced security and localized batch control. New security features include more user-authentication and access-control options, and a new privilege escalation capability. These features help improve productivity and system uptime by granting users the right level of access at the right time. Localized batch control allows controller-based batch sequencing and eventing to simplify system architecture for single-unit control and process skids.
The new ControlLogix 5580 controller provides up to 45 percent more application capacity and includes an embedded 1-gigabyte Ethernet port to support high-performance communications, I/O and applications with up to 256 axes of motion.
“With this new controller, users can meet future capacity and throughput needs as they design smart machines and work toward building a Connected Enterprise,” said Dennis Wylie, global product manager, Rockwell Automation. “The new port and additional capacity cuts the amount of control and communications hardware required, reducing system complexity, costs and required panel space.”
In addition, the product selection process is easier with the ControlLogix 5580 controller because users can now select the appropriate model using the total number of Ethernet nodes required. A single ControlLogix 5580 controller can support up to 300 Ethernet nodes.
The controller also supports enhanced security as part of a defense-in-depth approach to help protect facilities, assets and intellectual property. The controller incorporates advanced security technologies and software features, such as digitally signed and encrypted firmware, change detection and audit logging.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 16, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, News, Operations Management, Process Control, Security, Technology, Wireless
This is another long post—and it is a summary—running through many of the new products introduced to the press and analysts durning Emerson Exchange 2015. If any of these whet your appetite, visit the Emerson Process Website for more information.
Another place to catch up on happenings at the conference is Jim Cahill’s Emerson Process Experts blog. He also has been introducing readers to highlighted sessions.
Machinery protection
CSI 6500 ATG protection system, a stand-alone machinery protection solution that allows users to cost-effectively introduce prediction monitoring of critical assets from the same system. Predictive intelligence is a key component to increasing availability and improving the reliability of plant assets.
These multi-functional cards can be easily reconfigured for a wide range of measurements, including the impacting or peak-to-peak data used in Emerson’s unique PeakVue technology. In addition to monitoring the start-up and coastdown of critical turbo machinery for safe operation, users will be able to utilize PeakVue technology to identify the earliest indications of developing faults in gearboxes and bearings.
With the CSI 6500 ATG, it is no longer necessary to return to the control room or open cabinets in the field to view or analyze data. The CSI 6500 ATG can be networked over wired or wireless Ethernet to deliver asset health information to authorized users through a PC or phone application.
To facilitate easy system integration with third party systems, CSI 6500 ATG is the first protection system to include a secure embedded OPC UA server.
Gas ultrasonic flow meter
A new Daniel gas ultrasonic flow meter platform elevates its well-proven British Gas design by providing two meters and transmitters in a single body to help natural gas operators and pipelines improve reliability and efficiency. Designed to maximize capital budgets by permitting two completely independent measurements with the installation of just a single flowmeter, the new 3415 (four-path + one-path) and 3416 (four-path + two-path) gas ultrasonic flow meters combine a four-path fiscal meter with an additional check meter, while the new 3417 (four-path + four-path) meter provides two fiscal meters for full redundancy and equal accuracy within one meter body. This two-in-one redundant design delivers continuous on-line verification of custody transfer measurement integrity, device health and process conditions, and improves fiscal metering confidence while ensuring regulatory compliance.
Both Daniel 3415 and 3416 gas ultrasonic meters measure flow using four horizontal chordal paths in addition to a reflective path dedicated to verification of the primary measurement, enabling improved metering insight, more informed decision making and simplified flow meter verification. For enhanced immunity to pipe wall contamination, the 3416 meter is equipped with an additional vertical reflective path to detect liquid or very thin layers of contamination at the bottom of the meter that otherwise remain completely hidden in a direct-path meter design. This allows reliable monitoring of process changes before they affect measurement, thus reducing calibration frequency and enabling maintenance to be condition-based instead of calendar-based.
Electric actuator control
DCMlink Software, a unified electric actuator control, monitoring and diagnostics platform, will allow, for the first time, Emerson customers to diagnose, configure, and monitor all electric actuators from a central location independent of protocol, actuator or host system. The software extends the useful life of field assets by providing actuator data gathering, condition monitoring, events log and prioritization of actuator alarms in a unified and consistent user interface. Actuator configuration includes custom characterization, as well as the ability to import and export historical configuration profiles.
Whether it is viewing value torque profile, live trending data or actionable alarms straight from the actuator, plant operators will be able to access detailed monitoring and diagnostics data, allowing them to take action before a fault occurs. DCMlink offers advanced control and diagnostics, including torque profile curves, initiating partial stroke test or emergency shut down and alarms in NE-107 format. Current communications support included Modbus, TCP-IP, and Bluetooth.
DeltaV v13
Version 13 (v13) of the DeltaV distributed control system (DCS) new features focus on integration, advanced alarm management, and security with an overarching design that improves ease of use and minimizes the need for specialized expertise.
DeltaV v13 delivers technologies to bring sources together for easy operator access and use. These technologies include an Ethernet I/O card (EIOC) for integrating Ethernet-based subsystems and devices, including a direct interface with smart motor control centers and substations. It improves the factory acceptance testing (FAT) experience by providing enhanced safety instrumented system simulation capabilities and easy-to-use virtualization environment.
The new DeltaV Alarm Mosaic has an intuitive alarm display that enables operators to more quickly identify, analyze, and respond correctly to the root cause of an abnormal process condition. The new release also provides trend display optimizations for better visibility of process changes.
SCADA
OpenEnterprise v3.2 release adds a native interface to the AMS Device Manager asset management software, enabling users to remotely manage and maintain HART and WirelessHART devices in wide-area SCADA networks.
OpenEnterprise v3.2 together with AMS Device Manager allows asset owners to extend the reach of their predictive maintenance capability out to their remote assets, providing a powerful and proactive method of diagnosing potential device problems remotely. This results in reduced trips to the field and helps to avoid unplanned process shutdowns, improving safety, reliability, and profitability.
The native interface of OpenEnterprise v3.2 to AMS Device Manager enables the collection of wired and wireless HART digital device data over low bandwidth wide-area SCADA networks from Emerson ROC, FloBoss, and ControlWave RTUs without adding the additional complexity and expense of external HART multiplexers. Support for AMS Device Manager SNAP-ON applications, OpenEnterprise SCADA server redundancy, multiple deployment options, and data collection for up to 10,000 HART devices ensures flexibility and scalability for a wide range of remote oil and gas applications.
Machinery health in PowerGen
Emerson now offers its power generation and water/wastewater industry customers native machinery health monitoring and protection capability within the Ovation distributed control system.
Ovation Machinery Health Monitor leverages the Ovation platform through a high-performance I/O module dedicated to machinery health functions. Simply install by inserting the module into a spare I/O slot.
With the Ovation Machinery Health Monitor, operators receive alerts from a single set of common plant HMIs and no longer need to manually check machinery functions through a separate system.
The Ovation Machinery Health Monitor also reduces the risk of cyber attack by eliminating links to standalone systems and isolating process information – all of which can help facilities meet NERC CIP and other security regulations.
Silica sensing
Costly damage to turbine blades caused by silica deposition can occur due to a poorly monitored steam purity program. The new Rosemount 2056 Silica Analyzer provides continuous accurate measurements of silica in process streams with a range of 0.5 ppb to 5000 ppb. The 2056’s usability features make it one of the easiest -to-use and high performing analyzers.
Harsh duty pressure sensing
Rosemount 3051S Thermal Range Expander with new UltraTherm 805 oil fill fluid enables pressure measurements by direct-mounting a diaphragm seal system to processes that reach up to 410°C (770°F) without requiring the challenging impulse piping or heat tracing used in traditional connection technology. In applications where ambient temperatures drop below ideal operating conditions, system response time becomes slow, resulting in delayed process pressure readings. Traditionally, this problem is solved by using heat tracing which is costly, maintenance intensive, and difficult to install. By using the new thermal range expander dual fill fluid seal, the Rosemount 3051S can reliably measure pressure at extremely high process and low ambient temperatures.
The Rosemount 3051S Electronic Remote Sensors (ERS) System now has safety certification. The ERS System calculates differential pressure through a digital architecture — and is now suitable for SIL 2 and 3 applications.
Rosemount 3051S High Static Differential Pressure Transmitter provides reliable flow measurement in high pressure applications with capabilities up to 15,000 psi (1034 bar). The transmitter’s SuperModule platform and coplanar design reduce potential leak points by 50 percent compared to traditional designs, ensuring the highest differential pressure measurement accuracy, field reliability and safety.
Corrosion monitoring
The Roxar Corrosion Monitoring system, consisting of wireless-based probes, will provide refineries with flexible, responsive, integrated and highly accurate corrosion monitoring.
Combined with the Emerson’s non-intrusive Field Signature Method (FSM) technology, a non-intrusive system for monitoring internal corrosion at the pipewall, refinery operators will be able to access more comprehensive corrosion information and corrosion rates, leading to improved operator insight and control over assets.
The system will also help identify and track opportunity/high TAN crudes and their corrosive elements. Such crudes are less expensive but more corrosive than others with the new system enabling the maximum amount of such crudes to be blended into the mix without increasing corrosion risk.
Wireless pressure gauge
Emerson Process Management has introduced the industry’s first WirelessHART pressure gauge. The Rosemount Wireless Pressure Gauge enables remote collection of field data.
The Wireless Pressure Gauge eliminates mechanical gauge common weak points by removing the components that inhibit the device from reporting/displaying pressure and providing up to a 10-year life, which reduces maintenance cost and time. The large 4.5-inch gauge face provides easy field visibility.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 1, 2015 | Commentary, Software, Technology
I have heard from friends (non-editors) who attended the Wonderware software conference. I have edited their news items into what I hope is a coherent post. This news includes some significant information that I have not seen elsewhere, yet. I should get my friends to report more. Getting the point of view of users is valuable. I hope you agree.
This also shows what I was talking about Monday where an industry leader under attack can push the envelop a different direction in order to remain fresh and offer customers more.
1) “It’s getting really cloudy.”
They showed off a number of tools, some old, some new that are all based around a cloud platform or at a minimum communication with the cloud. They are continuing to push really really hard the Wonderware Online and Smart Glance products. Talking with Saadi Kermani, the main evangelist for them, they are in continual release mode and have a long list of planned features that will be rolling out over the coming months designed to keep them up with, or exceed, competitive offerings.
“Also the new version of Smart Glance is really nice and very modern look and feel.” The best part about something like smart glance is that it’s a relatively simple product to get up and running for your org. And pretty cost effective to boot. “My personal analysis is that what will make Wonderware Online super valuable is an ecosystem of partners building sophisticated apps in cloud platforms like Azure and others.”
Some other big cloud stuff. They previewed Wonderware Development Studio online. Now you can log on with a web browser, stand up an environment picking and choosing which machines you want, what software is installed on each, how the redundancy is configured, etc. Hit go and in some amount of time..maybe an hour or so… the machines are ready for you to login via remote desktop running on Azure. This seems like a really awesome setup for integrators that don’t want to maintain a bunch of different environments and versions. Supposedly there was no cost to have then configured. “My only concern is the pricing and how easy it might be to run up a $1K bill before you know it. I did ask about the idea of buying the IP and underlying system that did the automation so you can run it on premise. If I remember right the person I was talking to said it might be possible but wasn’t on the current roadmap.”
2) Hello IOT
A guy from Microsoft had a nice presentation on Monday afternoon talking about Azure and how Azure fits into the IOT space. It was a bit high level but I think we need all the education we can get right now.
During the intro sessions on Tuesday John Krajewski discussed a little more about IOT and specifically talked about their new MQTT OI Server. OI Server is the new name they have given to IO drivers. They are doing some different things with packaging and scalability but that’s incidental to the IOT discussion. Back to IOT, they have written a server that can talk MQTT natively so you can seamlessly push and pull data to/from System Platform with other devices talking MQTT just like you would a PLC.
Alvaro Martiniez the product manager admitted it was early Alpha stage for the product but I hope it opened some people’s eyes to possibilities. “I can’t wait to get my hands on it.”
An integrator presentation to a standing room only crowd discussed multiple aspects of IOT. It was really broken into three parts. The first was an overview of 5 of the major protocols one might come across when getting into the IOT space. Next was a technical deep dive on one of the protocols, MQTT. [Gary’s note: At the Inductive conference, I attended a session by one of the developers of MQTT. This is an important protocol, riding atop TCP/IP stack, that can standardize IoT messaging.] Next were 4 or 5 demos showing the use of MQTT inside or integrated with System Platform and the Historian. “My personal favorite was showing how you could build a simple set of code that read MQTT data and sent it directly to the Historian… which in theory means you could have 100% cloud infrastructure for piping device data straight over to the Wonderware Online historian.”
3) Next Gen
They have been working on revamping the System Platform look, feel, and function for the last few years. The 2014 releases have made some pretty big shifts in the functionality space but nothing major expected until the next release. Tim Sowell’s comments about a unified operations center are dead on with the vision.
The biggest change you are going to see.. and they talked about this very publicly so I don’t think I’m giving anything away, is that InTouch is no longer the shell for visualization. It is now essentially a compiled stand-alone app that is build from many panes that you create and configure from within the System Platform Graphics platform. The visualization engine will use the context of the graphics and objects to make navigation easier. “But the bigger concept is that this is now an operations center, not a simple HMI.”
Longer term there should be a play for higher end integrators and pure software plays to develop Apps that plugin to the operations center and provide additional value and context.
Lots and lots of discussion of context. When these apps are run inside the operations center they will automatically know what’s being displayed on the screens and can automatically adjust. A simple example is that you pull up a graphic with a tank farm. Maybe you have a video feed app with live cameras on the tanks and it automatically swaps to the correct camera view. Or you have another pane with customers orders from the ERP so you know what tanker trucks you should be expecting in the next few hours. “While this has technically been possible before I think the key is that they are going to be adding a lot of functionality to make these otherwise standalone functions a first class citizen within the Operations view.”
They are also making big changes in the development environment trying to make the engineering experience more user friendly. To me this is a clear play to make System Platform look a lot less intimidating and make the 15 minute demo a lot easier and more obvious. For high end engineers and integrators this new layout and development method will probably be a turnoff but I think it will help Wonderware tell the System Platform story easier and get newer, less sophisticated, customers on board.
by Gary Mintchell | Sep 29, 2015 | Data Management, Manufacturing IT, Software
I’m still pondering the whole HMI/SCADA market and technologies. I’m still getting a few updates after the Inductive Automation conference I attended in California and the Wonderware conference in Dallas that I missed.
The two have traditionally been referred to in trade publications together.
Today, I think three or four things are blending. Things are getting interesting.
SCADA is “supervisory control and data acquisition.” The supervisory control part has blended into the higher ends of human-machine interface. Data Acquisition software technology is a key platform for what we are today calling the “Industrial Internet of Things.” I’ve heard one technologist predict that soon we’ll just say “Internet.”
Data acquisition itself is a system that involves a variety of inputs including sensors, signal analyzers, and networks. The software part brings it all under control and provides a format for passing data to the next level.
HMI also involves a system these days. Evolving from operator interface into sophisticated software that includes the “supervisory control” part of the system.
Some applications also blend in MES and Manufacturing Intelligence. These applications, often engineered solutions atop the software platforms, strive to make sense of the data moving from HMI/SCADA either using it for manufacturing control or as a feed to enterprise systems.
Wonderware has been an historical force in these areas. Its original competitor was Intellution which is now subsumed into GE’s Proficy suite. The other strong competitor is Rockwell Automation. All three sell on a traditional sales model of “seats” and/or “tags.”
Inductive Automation built from enterprise grade database technology and has a completely different sales model. It is driving the cost of HMI/SCADA, and in some ways MES, down.
Competitors can meet that competition by either pursuing a race to the bottom or through redefining a higher niche. The winner of the race to the bottom becomes the company built from the ground up for low individual sales price.
Wonderware announcements
All of that was just an analyst prologue to a couple of items that have popped up from Schneider Electric Software (Wonderware) over the past couple of days.
To my mind, Tim Sowell is addressing how some customers are taking these platforms to a new level. Writing in his blog last weekend, Sowell notes, “For the last couple of years we have seen the changing supervisory solutions emerging, that will require a rethink of the underlying systems, and how they implemented and the traditional HMI, Control architectures will not satisfy! Certainly in upstream Oil and Gas, Power, Mining, Water and Smart Cities we have seen a significant growth in the Integrated Operational Center (IOC) concept. Where multiple sites control comes back into one room, where planning and operations can collaborate in real-time.”
I have seen examples of this Integrated Operations Center featuring such roles as operations, planning, engineering, and maintenance. But this is more than technology—it requires organizing, training, and equipping humans.
Sowell, “When you start peeling back the ‘day in the life of operations’ the IOC is only the ‘quarterback’ in a flexible operational team of different roles, contributing different levels of operational. Combined with dynamic operational landscape, where the operational span of control of operational assets, is dynamically changing all the time. The question is what does the system look like, do the traditional approaches apply?”
Tying things together, Sowell writes, “Traditionally companies have used isolated (siloed) HMI, DCS workstation controls at the facilities, and then others at the regional operational centers and then others at the central IOC, and stitched them together. Now you add the dynamic nature of the business with changing assets, and now a mobile workforce we have addition operational stations that of the mobile (roaming worker). All must see the same state, with scope to their span of control, and accountability to control.”
The initial conclusion, “We need one system, but multiple operational points, and layouts, awareness so the OPERATIONAL TEAM can operate in unison, enabling effective operational work.”
Intelligence
Here is a little more detail about the latest revision of Wonderware Intelligence to which I referred last week and above.The newest version collects, calculates and contextualizes data and metrics from multiple sources across the manufacturing operation, puts it into a centralized storage and updates it all in near-real time. Because it is optimized for retrieval, the information can then be used to monitor KPIs via customizable dashboards, as well as for drill-down analysis and insights into operating and overall business performance.
“Wonderware Intelligence is an easy-to-use, non-disruptive solution that improves how our customers visualize and analyze industrial Big Data,” said Graeme Welton, director of Advansys (Pty) Ltd., a South African company that provides specialized industrial automation, manufacturing systems and business intelligence consulting and project implementation services. “It allows our customers to build their own interactive dashboards that can capture, visualize and analyze key performance indicators and other operating data. Not only is it more user-friendly, it has better query cycle times, it’s faster and it has simpler administration rights. It’s an innovative tool that continues to drive quality and value.”
Wonderware Intelligence visual analytics and dashboards allow everyone in the operation to see the same version of the truth drawn from a single data warehouse. The interactive and visual nature of the dashboards significantly increases the speed and confidence of the users’ decision making.
