Editorial archive;

Features - Reduce the risk of system migrations (26 January 2010)
An integrator experienced in quick wiring adapter tools can provide time- and cost-savings, and thus reduce downtime and risk....FULL STORY

Features - Video tutorial: Measuring liquid depth with a bubbler (19 January 2010)
Simple but effective liquid level measurement requires only a pressure gauge and compressed air supply. This method is ideal for slurries and difficult debris-laden products....FULL STORY

Features - How to avoid project failure (07 December 2009)
Automation projects don’t always go smoothly. Learn 10 signs of impending failure and 7 ways system integrators say you can stay on track....FULL STORY

News - Designing with Multiple Industrial Ethernet Standards on a Single Hardware Platform (01 December 2009)
Control Engineering has released a new webcast explaining how you can support new and additional industrial Ethernet protocols without re-spinning your boards or migrating software code....FULL STORY

Features - Analyser placement in ammonia plants (12 November 2009)
Effective selection and placement of online gas analysers can improve product quality and production efficiency at ammonia plants....FULL STORY

News - Exida offers combined certification for safety, security (12 November 2009)
Making the case for its integrated testing and certification program, exida argues that discrete testing and safety standard approaches may not adequately reflect more complex needs of users in critical applications....FULL STORY

Features - How and when to fold an IT project (06 October 2009)
Many manufacturing IT projects do not finish, not necessarily because they failed, but because of changing requirements, changing business conditions, company mergers, or changes in products and processes. It's important to know when to fold a project, but it is equally important to know what to do when you fold a project....FULL STORY

Features - Another kind of integration (06 October 2009)
Say the word "integration" to a control engineer and you may quickly find yourself ensconced in the realm of DCS and SCADA. But there is another type of integration that can be equally important to the success or failure of a project—contract integration....FULL STORY

Features - DAQstation anniversary charts evolution of chart recorders (01 September 2009)
This month Yokogawa's DAQstation celebrates ten years of replacing paper chart recorders with digital data acquisition and display stations in control rooms around the world....FULL STORY

Features - Dashboards present more than just information (01 September 2009)
Today's software dashboards are not your typical user interface, portal or report generated by the IT department. Three areas of dashboard evolution will impact your day-to-day manufacturing life sooner rather than later. Here's what you need to know, says Infor's Christina McKeon....FULL STORY

News - Exida selects Moore Industries logic solver for IEC 61508 applications (01 September 2009)
Integrated safety lifecycle software platform from exida integrates safety trip alarm for applications under the emerging IEC 61508 standard....FULL STORY

Features - Winds of Change for Power and Control (18 August 2009)
Drives and controls aspect of wind power technology provides new engineering challenges and lessons as more multi-megawatt, utility-scale wind turbines come online. Frank J. Bartos, consulting editor at Control Engineering, reports....FULL STORY

White papers - Windmill applications, signal conditioning tips (30 July 2009)
Windmills can operate for six months or more without any maintenance or supervision. Dataforth offers advice on signal conditioning and what I/O connections need to be monitored in extreme environments....FULL STORY

News - Spectrometer orbits the moon (16 July 2009)
NASA LCROSS mission takes a spectrometer named Alice to the moon to analyse lunar makeup and look for water....FULL STORY

Features - TRUST in software engineering (14 July 2009)
Manufacturing software lessons must come from outside manufacturing disciplines and should come from the software engineering discipline says Dennis Brandl, president of BR&L Consulting in Cary, NC. The firm focuses on manufacturing IT....FULL STORY

News - Motorola wireless mobility (03 July 2009)
Manufacturers plan to expand use of wireless LAN and wireless sensing technologies within process and discrete manufacturing environments, says a survey commissioned by Motorola Inc., for greater process automation, efficiency, and agility without additional wired networking infrastructure investments. The study found manufacturers with mobility applications saved a daily average of 42 minutes per employee....FULL STORY

News - IBM forms alliance with metering and automation partners (03 July 2009)
Green Sigma Coalition focuses on solutions for energy, water, waste, and greenhouse gas management....FULL STORY

Features - Tutorial: Running down interference to improve device performance (10 June 2009)
EMI and RFI can ruin your sensor data, and trying to trace sources can drive you nuts. Peter Welander, process industries editor of Control Engineering’s Process Instrumentation & Sensors Monthly offers some solutions....FULL STORY

Features - Time-proportional control: more from an on/off switch (09 June 2009)
Time-proportional control, a form of pulse-width modulation, is a mathematical technique that allows a feedback controller to use an on/off or discrete actuator as if it were a continuous actuator capable of generating control efforts anywhere between 0 per cent and 100 per cent. ...FULL STORY

White papers - Electrical, mechanical design software enables collaboration (02 June 2009)
CIMdata white paper, ‘ECAD-MCAD Collaboration Solutions,’ explains the collaboration possible between electrical computer aided design (ECAD) and mechanical computer aided design (MCAD) software, and includes info on product offerings PTC and Mentor Graphics....FULL STORY

Features - Pumping station doubles capacity (18 May 2009)
When the process control of the pumping station at Parksluizen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was automated, an Emotron FDU variable speed drive for 690 V with 12 pulse power supply was included. Pumping capacity doubled and energy consumption was minimised. ...FULL STORY

Features - Machine building: Flexibility is silver bullet for packaging machine design (12 May 2009)
Predictive maintenance, online parts ordering, energy monitoring are information metrics moving to the operator level or machine level. ...FULL STORY

Features - The Transparency of Wireless (23 April 2009)
Wireless networking and device manufacturers have gone to great lengths to create products that are secure, easy to work with, and operationally indistinguishable from wired equivalents....FULL STORY

Features - Generic Batch Procedures for Flexible Manufacturing (07 April 2009)
Experience proves that production centres with established products and procedures can increase their flexibility to accommodate single-development product campaigns....FULL STORY

News - CIP networks: 24 V dc power with Ethernet specification expected in April (06 March 2009)
End-users can face incompatibility when designing and deploying 24V auxiliary power on the factory floor. In response, ODVA, keeper of the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) network, is creating a 24 V dc 'Power with Ethernet' specification to help power e-stops, I/O sources and devices, actuators, and controllers....FULL STORY

News - Process plants to get interactive 3D gaming technology for training (06 March 2009)
Invensys Process Systems (IPS) announced its Immersive Virtual Reality Process technology, which combines the interactive VR technology found in video games with process plant simulation models. See photos. Link to video....FULL STORY

News - Migration: IPS adds HART to its I/O modules (05 March 2009)
Invensys Process Systems (IPS) now offers plug-in I/O modules for migrating an ABB Taylor Mod 300 distributed control system (DCS) to Foxboro DCS technology without replacing field wiring or terminations. This can reduce the cost and downtime associated with migrating ageing control systems to the latest generation of I/A Series distributed control and InFusion enterprise control systems....FULL STORY

Features - Back to Basics (10 February 2009)
Control Engineering explains the basics of process analysers and introduces two products for the analysis of gas....FULL STORY

News - Powerlink specification V.1.1.0 integrates new features; contest for Euro students (10 February 2009)
Ethernet Powerlink Standardisation Group (EPSG) has released the new Powerlink specification V.1.1.0. Separately, the registration deadline for an EPSG contest for European college students is February 28....FULL STORY

News - WIB Plant Security Working Group selects Kube as cyber security expert (30 January 2009)
Process industry user group seeks help in developing security architecture for control systems....FULL STORY

Features - Bit by bit: Why use serial communications? (29 January 2009)
In this day and age, why use serial communications, such as RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485? Digital industrial networks, fieldbuses, device- and sensor- level networks (also USB) all support many vendors’ products and can offer advanced features for configuration and diagnostics. ...FULL STORY

Features - Tutorial: Understanding the tricky thermocouple (26 January 2009)
Following the article ‘Challenges of Temperature Sensing’ we received comments that suggested thermocouples were not characterised well. Peter Welander goes into more detail on these often misunderstood devices....FULL STORY

News - New podcast: Audio tutorial examines integration platforms, EDDL and FDT/DTM (26 January 2009)
Competing platforms share much functionality but differ on implementation. Which is best for you?...FULL STORY

Features - Energy Management: First Steps To Efficiency (21 January 2009)
This article provides specific examples of how engineers can identify and address - at relatively little or no cost - the principal sources of energy waste in their production facilities. ...FULL STORY

Features - Challenges of Temperature Sensing (07 January 2009)
Measuring each of the “big four” process variables has its specific peculiarities, but temperature seems particularly controversial. In fact, this apparently simple task often gets complicated. In this tutorial Peter Welander of Control Engineering explains why....FULL STORY

Features - Robot Roundup (06 January 2009)
‘Original equipment manufacturers are starting to run robotics with off-the-shelf controls and even large robot manufacturers are adopting the use of embedded nonproprietary software,’ says Dan Throne, sales and marketing manager, Bosch Rexroth Corp, Electric Drives and Controls. ...FULL STORY

News - New podcast: One road to wireless instrumentation (09 December 2008)
Dr. Kris Pister, Dust Networks, discusses his journey to today's wireless mesh networking devices and offers a look ahead....FULL STORY

News - Accident: Helium leak halts CERN facility tests; root cause (09 December 2008)
At CERN, during commissioning testing, an arc flash punctures a cryogenic tank, damages steering and focusing magnets, and contaminates beamline. Could this CERN accident have been prevented?...FULL STORY

Features - Tutorial: Instrumentation / DCS integration languages, EDDL (24 November 2008)
One of the tools that can help you get more from your instrumentation and other process control devices are integration languages, such as EDDL and FDT....FULL STORY

Features - Rules for software success (20 November 2008)
Dennis Brandl, president of BR&L Consulting, presents five simple rules of software projects that can significantly reduce the risk of failure. There are many new information technologies that can be effectively used in manufacturing environments. ...FULL STORY

Features - Challenges of ultra-low-power wireless sensor networks in manufacturing environments (10 November 2008)
Cees Links of GreenPeak Technologies argues that industrial applications can benefit from ultra-low-power wireless sensor networks. ...FULL STORY

White papers - Ways to use USB in embedded control systems (03 November 2008)
Micro Digital released a white paper entitled ‘Ways to Use USB in Embedded Systems’ written by Yingbo Hu, R&D embedded software engineer, and the company’s president, Ralph Moore, which presents 11 methods to use USB in embedded systems. Each method’s description includes a block diagram showing how software and hardware function blocks connect together, along with a description of how the subsystem operates. ...FULL STORY

News - OPC Foundation to release analyser devices integration draft specification (22 October 2008)
OPC Foundation members representing process analytical technology (PAT) and laboratory industries are extending OPC UA capabilities to enable multivendor interoperability for analyser devices. Progress has been made on the goals of a common method for data exchange, and a data model for process and laboratory analysers. OPC Foundation says it will release the OPC Analyser Devices Integration (ADI) draft specification for review in December 2008....FULL STORY

Features - Sun-readable display technology: How it works (21 October 2008)
Sunlight visibility of a display depends on differences between the lumination (brightness) and the illumination (ambient light shining on a display). Lumination is the amount of light energy emanating from the display (expressed in Cd/m2). ...FULL STORY

Features - Tutorial: Challenges of unlocking HART data (21 October 2008)
The growing availability of devices to unlock HART data from instruments is causing new interest in putting this technology to work. That’s a good thing, but don’t be surprised if what you find is a little confusing....FULL STORY

Features - Tutorial: Capacitive humidity sensors (09 October 2008)
Airborne moisture content can affect critical aspects of production or product quality in many manufacturing processes. Measuring humidity can be tricky, but capacitive sensors have a high degree of precision and reliability. Peter Weelander, process industries editor, Control Engineering, explains....FULL STORY

News - Demos: Tear down embedded systems, get the point of linear motion control (26 September 2008)
Participate or watch in live embedded teardowns at the Embedded Systems Show in Birmingham, UK, and perhaps you can come away with a Beagleboard kit. ...FULL STORY

Features - Upgrading Control: Migration or Evolution? (12 September 2008)
When a process control platform needs upgrading, the answer can be an incremental change, a system-wide rip and replace, or anything in between. Users have more options than ever....FULL STORY

News - Bar code specifications receive comments in Chinese (04 September 2008)
Two bar codes specifications (Grid Matrix and DotCode) are out for public review draft via AIM Global. Grid matrix is designed to include Chinese characters....FULL STORY

Features - Listen in tutorial: Electromechanical level sensor / switches (26 August 2008)
We often consider high-tech types of instruments but readers appreciate basic technologies too. For example: electromechanical level devices that use vibrating probe or paddle wheel sensors still have many useful applications....FULL STORY

Features - Powering instrumentation: Batteries, wireless (04 August 2008)
The variety of applications that demand self-contained power supplies is growing with the wider deployment of remote and wireless devices. While many alternative sources of energy are emerging, batteries still represent a reliable and inexpensive method....FULL STORY

Features - Proactive support services seek to eliminate diagnostic delays (28 July 2008)
Manufacturing automation and control systems are increasingly complex, and when plant engineers have a problem, they are asking support service providers to do more. ...FULL STORY

News - Belden, Ferraz Shawmut expands; Leviton in control (25 July 2008)
Belden combined European business units including Hirschmann; Ferraz Shawmut parent acquires majority stake in Zhejiang Mingrong Electrical Protection; and Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. buys controlling share of itself from Thomas & Betts Corp. for approximately $300 million (€200 million). The news affects industrial networks and electrical power control and power protection....FULL STORY

Features - Application case study: Upgrading flowmeter stabilises control of process slurry flow (18 July 2008)
Replacing a faulty magmeter with new advanced design helped eliminate erratic flow signals, resulting in improved control of catalyst slurry flow....FULL STORY

Features - Safety reference resources, standards, CD, white paper (15 July 2008)
As ISA is offering a CD full of process safety references, Rockwell Automation offers a new white paper examining the holistic approach to safety. ...FULL STORY

News - Radio frequency identification security breach (04 July 2008)
Security of a widely used radio frequency identification chip has been broken by European researchers....FULL STORY

News - IPC market: Will DIN-rail PCs with I/O revolutionise industrial PCs? (27 June 2008)
With unit shipments expected to more than triple between 2006 and 2011, DIN rail PCs with incorporated I/O (also known as programmable automation controllers, or PACs) are going to have a lasting impact on the worldwide industrial PC market according to a report by IMS Research. ...FULL STORY

News - Webcasts: Networks, cultures converge; plant-floor networking; how to work with IT (25 June 2008)
Based on knowledge of manufacturing and IT cultures, Rockwell Automation and Cisco are holding a series of educational seminars to help organisations implement change by establishing best practices between IT and manufacturing. ...FULL STORY

Features - Operating practice: Your people as multivariable sensors (24 June 2008)
While working on another story, a company manager I was interviewing made a thought-provoking statement about the role of human operators as sensors. He had a very interesting point....FULL STORY

Features - Listen in: Fieldbus Foundation demonstrates safety protocol (06 June 2008)
In mid-May, the Fieldbus Foundation (FF) unveiled a group of demonstration projects that provide proof of concept for its new safety instrumented functions. ...FULL STORY

News - Automatica: Assembly, robots, vision trade fair (22 May 2008)
Automatica International Trade Fair for Automation: Assembly, Robotics, Vision will take place June 10 to 13, 2008, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, to bring together all areas of robotics and automation under one roof. It has been held every two years at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre since 2004. ...FULL STORY

Features - Microbrewery illustrates PAC software uses, benefits (21 April 2008)
Programmable automation controllers (PACs) meet the complex demands of modern industrial automation applications because they combine features of more traditional automation technologies: programmable logic controllers (PLCs), distributed control systems (DCSs), remote terminal units (RTUs), and personal computers (PCs). ...FULL STORY

Features - Linux to ControlLogix solution uses OPC (17 April 2008)
‘If you’ve watched a plane be deiced, you’ve probably seen a Task Force Tips (TFT) product in action,’ said president Stewart McMillan. TFT makes water delivery solutions – nozzles, hoses and valves – for clients worldwide including firefighters and aerospace firms. ...FULL STORY

News - New mechatronics videos on Cetv (07 April 2008)
Because mechatronics involves motion, video can be the best medium for learning about mechatronics solutions. Control Engineering’s educational video portal, CEtv, is the place to find videos from users, designers and automation suppliers. Visit www.controleng.com/cetv to see the following videos, new as of March 2008, or use the links provided in the article....FULL STORY

Features - Building Manufacturing Efficiency (19 March 2008)
Many pharmaceutical plants operate at efficiency rates well below comparable conventional process industries. In the February 2008 issue of Control Engineering, Jose Marrero Diaz, Pfizer, explained how he found it doesn’t have to be that way. In a web exclusive, CEE brings this article to European readers for the first time....FULL STORY

Features - Washing eggs with fuzzy logic (18 March 2008)
Arriving at a solution sometimes comes from learning a different way to express the problem. Fuzzy logic has been around for more than forty years, so it isn’t anything new to the controls community. ...FULL STORY

News - Status: Industrial wireless standard progresses; attend next meeting (18 March 2008)
Here’s a look at where a standard for industrial wireless has been and where it’s going. If you’re interested in participating, an upcoming opportunity for helping industrial wireless efforts is the meeting in Chongqing, China, and a call prior to then. ...FULL STORY

News - 103: 'Father of Quality' passes away (17 March 2008)
Dr. Joseph M. Juran, author and ‘father of modern quality management', passed away this year on February 28. He was 103 years old, and was physically and mentally active until his death. Born in Braila, Romania, in 1904, Juran's family immigrated to the United States, settling in Minneapolis in 1912. ...FULL STORY

News - Wireless podcast: What’s the killer application for your plant? (03 March 2008)
Unless you love technology for its own sake, you probably won’t use wireless in your plant until you have a specific purpose in mind. In a new podcast, Peter Zornio and Bob Karschnia from Emerson Process Management look at wireless “killer applications” that could give you new ideas. ...FULL STORY

Features - Connecting the Plant to the Enterprise (01 March 2008)
Japanese industrial automation engineers are working to link the shop-floor with enterprise-level networks....FULL STORY

News - CSIA members swell as 100th certification awarded (06 February 2008)
The North American based Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) has reported a rise in its 2007 membership, commenting that many of the new members are from Europe....FULL STORY

News - Wireless avoids history’s mistakes (18 January 2008)
Wireless providers and standards groups are moving forward rapidly and, perhaps surprisingly, seem to be working together. With potentially costly and damaging battles avoided, at least for now, Peter Welander, process industries editor of Control Engineering, reports on wireless today....FULL STORY

News - Eaton agrees to acquire Moeller Group; launches tender offer for Phoenixtec (16 January 2008)
Eaton Corp. plans to acquire two electrical companies, in Europe and Asia Pacific, The Moeller Group and Phoenixtec Power. Combined estimated sales of the acquisitions for the year ending December 31, 2007, are approximately $2.0 billion (approximately £1 billion or €1.4 billion)....FULL STORY

News - Controller gets Mu Approval after Demonstrating Security Benefits (04 December 2007)
ABB’s AC 800M controller has achieved Mu Security’s Industrial Control (MUSIC) Foundation-level Certification. The recently introduced MUSIC certification enables critical infrastructure and process control-focused organisations to verify a range of network equipment and application protocols to meet industry-defined best practices for security, robustness and resiliency testing. ...FULL STORY

Features - Choosing Level Sensors (01 June 2007)
Selecting a level sensing technology, like any process instrumentation, begins with an analysis of the application to determine the best approach....FULL STORY

Features - From Math to Models (01 April 2007)
Unlike a plastic or clay model that shows the appearance of an object, a process model shows how a controlled process reacts to control efforts and disturbances....FULL STORY