Industrial Ethernet is very rapidly becoming a reliable technology in automation applications. The reasons for this are flexibility, expandability, reliability, resilience, standard protocols, ability to adopt legacy protocols, ease of troubleshooting and maintenance.
When most plants implement Ethernet for the first time correct planning and future vision are not always kept in mind with regards to IP structures expansion projects etc. With Ethernet and careful design methods H3iSquared, with the use of Ruggedcom products, are able to assist many clients requiring on-the-fly expansions, topology changes and IP configuration with minimal downtime.
For example, the company was requested to assist one of its blue chip clients to change the IP addresses of a number of PLCs, imposing the least amount of downtime on production processes.
Development of the implementation concept was done in conjunction with Canadian-based Ruggedcom. Once this had been completed H3i implemented a solution using the Ruggedcom RX100 industrial grade router (RX1000) and a combination of routing, network address translation (NAT) and masquerading to implement the requirements.
An Industrial Ethernet automation system requires a more resilient network than a typical office network. By adding managed switches into the architecture users can design networks to be redundant in the case of link/device failure. For this a strong mesh topology would be required with recovery time of less than 5 ms per hop per switch. This will ensure information already streamed will not be lost. The IEEE has spanning tree and rapid spanning tree protocols for this type of mesh redundancy feature but recovery times prove to be too slow – seconds as opposed to milliseconds.
Ruggedcom released enhanced rapid spanning tree (eRSTP) which, according to the company, has far surpassed the former STP and RSTP recovery times. Ruggedcom’s eRSTP is also backward compatible to STP/RSTP for systems that require growth without the burden of replacing existing hardware.
Once the network has a strong topology layout, design and is configured and running optimally, the next step is to introduce a network management system. The Rugged Network Management Station is a good example that should be of benefit to any size infrastructure.
The RuggedNMS (network management station) depicts the current status of the network at screen login with regards to device uptime/downtime, service availability and device management configuration changes.
Why secure industrial communication depends on deployment as well
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The Industrial Security Harmonisation Group has released a joint industry perspective highlighting a critical truth in industrial cybersecurity: secure communication is not determined by protocols alone, but by how they are deployed and managed in real-world environments.
Read more...A single platform for all automation functions Beckhoff Automation
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The introduction of TwinCAT in 1996 marked a decisive evolutionary step for PC-based control. Today, the TwinCAT platform combines all automation functions in a strictly deterministic real-time environment, from PLC and motion control through CNC and measurement technology and beyond, to vision, robotics and pioneering AI tools.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-4: Feedforward Control: Part 3 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
In the previous articles in this series, the basic theory behind feedforward control was discussed, and it was also shown how to apply feedforward in practice. In this article, it will be shown how well feedforward can work in practice by giving a couple of examples.
Read more...Control Station and Dimension Software partner to connect control performance monitoring with enterprise operations intelligence
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Control Station has entered into a strategic technology partnership with Dimension Software, a leading provider of industrial operations management platforms. The collaboration connects Control Station’s PlantESP control loop performance monitoring platform with Dimension Software’s Asset Intellect operations intelligence environment, enabling manufacturers to operationalise control performance insights across their organisations.
Read more...Precise, synchronised control for automated steel mesh handling system
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Automation specialist Hambi Maschinenbau has developed a world-first system that automates the cutting, handling and stacking of heavy reinforcing steel mesh – a task that previously required up to six human operators.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-3: Feedforward Control: Part 2 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Feedforward control tuning is not nearly as critical as feedback tuning, and fairly simple models are usually fine for the purpose in hand.
Read more...Upgrading radiological surveillance systems in nuclear facilities Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Nuclear plant operators face an uncomfortable reality. Many of the control and monitoring systems still in use today were never designed to support the full operational lifespan of the facilities they serve.
Read more...Next-level CAN Software enables easy access to CAN XL Industrial Data Xchange (IDX)
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
With the release of its PCAN-Explorer 7, PEAK delivers a major update that adds full support for CAN XL, multiple symbol files per connection, Python scripting and flexible licensing including floating licenses.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-2: Feedforward Control: Part 1 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Feedforward control is a powerful technique that can dramatically improve control variance in cases where load changes cause big deviations from setpoint and the actual process dynamics are too slow to allow the feedback controller to operate fast enough to catch these disturbances.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version