Category Archives: RTA’s Blog

Modbus RTU Over RS-485: An Engineer’s Guide to Industrial Reliability

Why Modbus RTU Over RS-485 Still Matters Despite the rise of Ethernet-based protocols like Modbus [...]

Master Slave Technology Explained: A Guide for Industrial Automation

In the world of industrial communication, master slave technology is a foundational concept that continues [...]

OPC UA 2025

I was one of the early proponents of OPC UA. I started studying, talking and [...]

OPC UA For Moving Factory Floor Data

What’s the best way to move factory floor data to Enterprise and Cloud applications? The [...]

Data Plumbing with OPC UA

I’ve long considered our company to be data plumbers. It’s a silly analogy, but we [...]

Data Historian vs Data Logger

People in automation misuse words all the time and I am as guilty as anyone. [...]

Is The Human Body Circulatory System Like an Ethernet Network?

I’m a scuba diver and always anxious to get to a warm weather location with [...]

A Better Way to EtherNet/IP or PROFINET

Manufacturers love EtherNet/IP and PROFINET. Those industrial communication protocols simplify everything for them. It’s almost [...]

VLAN Confusion

I have maintained for a long time that it is hard to do IT/OT conversion [...]

OPC UA – Love at First Sight

In 2011, I discovered OPC UA. It was love at first sight. I was totally [...]