Well, here we are in a new year with opportunities for new beginnings. What we can expect in 2008 as I&C practitioners. What should we be looking out for and where should we be directing our attention this year?
Intelligent vehicles
Increasing levels of intelligence are being built into all forms of vehicles - both on-highway and off-highway vehicles - and this is making its mark in many ways. A great amount of research is taking place in this area and the intelligence requires sensors (instrumentation) and final control elements to make it useful.
Some examples of the emerging trends include:
* Driverless autonomous vehicles for mining and military applications.
* The development and application of LIDAR (light detection and ranging) devices.
* Earthmoving machine control via GPS, LIDAR and laser for road building and construction site earthworks.
* Research into inter-vehicle communications to allow vehicles to travel safely in closely-spaced high-speed convoys on highways.
We have included articles on the application of I&C in vehicles in this month's transport feature.
Wireless for everyone
The adoption of wireless connections for field instrumentation and other devices will progress at an ever-increasing pace as more and more devices become available with wireless interfaces. Forecasts are that this technology will be responsible for I&C sales in 2008 being above 2007 levels. Plans are in place to incorporate the HART 7 wireless protocol (WirelessHART) into the ISA100 standard. The large vendors are committing to upgrade to comply with the final ISA100 standards mandate.
PACs vs. PLCs
The PLC world may be in for a big shake up. Traditional PLC vendors like Schneider's Modicon, Telemecanique and Square D, and Rockwell's Allen-Bradley are facing challenges from PAC (programmable automation controller) manufacturers such as Advantech, Beckhoff and National Instruments who were not previously considered as credible suppliers of mainstream automation technologies. This challenge is further fuelled by the industrialisation of Ethernet, the growing acceptance of software PLCs and the IEC61131 programming standards.
Optimisation and power
The West has predominantly well-established power plants, many of which are instrumented with and controlled by what at best can be termed 'legacy systems'. These plants are less efficient than the brand new plants that are being commissioned in China. To get a sense of the speed with which this imbalance of legacy vs. new technology is growing, consider that it was reported in 2007 that China is commissioning the equivalent of one 1000 MW coal-fired power station every five days.
The increasing price of energy, raw materials and labour, and the need to operate under greener regimes in terms of waste generation and disposal are further drivers for taking a close look at how efficiently manufacturing plants are being operated.
This might provide an opportunity for a change in career direction for some readers. In this month's control loop case history, Michael Brown tells of the rapid growth in a petrochemical company's optimisation team.
Perhaps the most compelling reason for looking at efficiency and optimisation in South Africa is the speed at which we are running out of power generation capacity. In November 2007, Eskom spokesperson Ra'eesah Waja advised that the organisation is experiencing a shortage in generation capacity and that this deficiency may remain with us for five to seven years. Eskom has stated that load-shedding will be inevitable for that period until capacity is improved.
Readers should consider this as a wake-up call to put systems in place to minimise the disruption that the increasing frequency and duration of these power cuts will have on their production processes.
I look forward to charting the progress of the instrumentation and control industry in the year ahead and keeping readers informed of emerging trends and technologies.
Andrew Ashton
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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