Opto 22 has released a new product that it calls a sensor--but it's a
sensor and more. It is designed for energy management and the smart grid
with built-in sensing capabilities, connections for additional sensor
input and on-board intelligence. Opto has always been at the confluence
of IT and control, and this is no different as it includes IT friendly
networking and industrial-grade networking. It's designed to help get
energy information to the people who actually control how energy is used
in near-real-time. See the product write up here.
Had a meeting with some of Omron's new management team. Most have been
in place for about three years, but I have not had an opportunity to
meet them. I've always found the North American operation to be an
enigma. And too many heads of marketing with too many changes of
direction. Sounds as if the new team headed by Gregg Holst has been
concentrating on the basics and getting the ship up and running with the
wind rather than against it. They say that revenues are very good, and
they are optimistic. Not everyone in the discrete automation space can
say the same thing. Here's a company to watch.Check out this Web site. HylaSoft is working with a digital pen and some
software they've written to capture writing as operators and clerks
fill out forms and ship the digital image or ASCII text to a computer.
This holds promise of making data entry easy and painless. Just fill out
the paper form once and eliminate the next process of entering into the
computer. Great for Hazop and LIMS reports, digital signatures and the
like.
Interesting news on the Stuxnet front. The target keeps pointing at
Iran. Seems researchers have found code that points to a couple of
specific variable frequency drives that control centrifuges essential to
enriching uranium into weapons grade at an Iranian site. Hmmm.
Blevins and Mark Nixon have updated the worksheet Website for their
Control Loop Foundation book. I've found the book to be an interesting
read.
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