The Real Time Automation Industrial Networking Newsletter! |
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| The RTA Industrial Networking Newsletter is a free email newsletter published by John Rinaldi and delivered only to those who have asked for it. See the end of this issue to shut me up forever. | ||||
| Table
of Contents Click on the following links to skip directly to the associated topic. |
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| 1.
Rant |
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 John
Rinaldi |
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| What
is going on with all this low carb stuff? Is it just me or is the whole
world going low carb? I just read about the food industry show in Chicago.
Guess what? Every food company is busy retooling their product lines for
low carb. Last week I ordered a good old fashioned burger at some neighborhood bar in Detroit and too my horror found a piece of beef, some lettuce and cottage cheese on my plate. Do I look like one of the low carb zealots? I can understand this happening to me in California but not Detroit? This is America’s heartland. This is the home of steel, chrome and leather. Where’s my half pound burger with an acre of cheese? |
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| I
guarantee you this; within six months it will all be over. All these companies
that jumped on this fad, threw out their strategic plans and developed
products for this “emerging” market will be looking to retrench
these products. I doubt they’ll ever see returns from all this effort.
Those of us in Industrial Automation shouldn’t snicker. We’re prone to fads too. How much money was spent in the 90’s on PC Controls? What happened to all those coprocessor modules with x86 interfaces? I know I am showing my age but anybody remember MAP? Anyone recall the predictions in the 80s that manufacturing workers will all be replaced by robots with vision systems? Many of us, me included, have been sucked in and spent months if not years working toward a vision that was so much dust in the wind. Over and over again companies lose sight of their focus. They lose touch with their markets. They panic over a short term trend and lose sight of their long term direction. Most of all they lose an opportunity to focus on products with direct, highly marketable, measurable advantages over their competitors. |
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How
do you know a fad? Here’s some clues:
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| Watch for fads and have some real fun. Pass the word to your competitors that you have a secret group in the basement working day and night on the new framit controller while you continue making great products that solve real problems. | ||||
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TO TABLE OF CONTENTS  |
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| 2.
Technology Corner: AS-I BUS |
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| If
you aren’t conversant with AS-I Bus, you should be. It’s one
of the simplest industrial networks. It’s known as a “hardware
replacement” bus. Designed for simple wire replacement, AS-I is
simple to implement, very high speed and low cost. Often found in conveyor
systems, AS-I devices include proximity sensors, photo eyes, limit switches
and other Sensor-Actuator devices. Unlike Profibus, DeviceNet and other
more sophisticated networks, AS-I is tailored to these Sensor-Actuator
devices where simplicity and low cost are critical. AS-I uses up to 100m of very bright, flat yellow cable for communication. Devices are inserted on the network using an insulation displacement connector giving the control system designer the ability to locate devices anywhere on the bus. Like CAN, both data and power (30VDC) are carried on the bus. One of the more unusual aspects of the AS-I architecture is that devices can be organized in various topologies including star, branch, tree and bus. Every AS-I network has one Master device and up to 31 slaves. Each slave can support up to 4 inputs and 4 outputs for a total I/O count of 248. Analog data can also be carried but data is transferred in fragments to the Master where it must be reassembled. The recently released V2.1 specification doubles the I/O count of the network. Speed is one of the prime advantages of an AS-I network. Scan time is computed by multiplying the number of nodes on the network by 150usecs. Maximum scan time for a fully loaded network is less than 5msecs! This is by far one of the fastest network scan times you will ever find. Building an AS-I actuator or sensor is not difficult. Simply purchase the AS-I ASIC and connect your I/O signals right to the ASIC. A processor is not even required. In fact in one architecture, AS-I I/O devices can simply be connected together to form a “Master-less” network. AS-I is supported by the AS-I Trade Organization which currently has over 100 members. You can find many AS-I products on their website at www.as-interface.com. |
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| 3.
Article Of The Month: |
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| CntrlAltDelete
And How To Be Famous |
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| Have
you ever thought about CntrlAltDelete? Somebody coded it once upon a time.
Like most things I am betting that it was a product of laziness and of
frustration. Someone probably was tired of reaching over to power cycle
his computer and thought “Boy wouldn’t it be neat to just
hit a few keys to power cycle this thing?” I don’t know that
it happened quite like that but David Bradley does. David Bradley, it turns out, was the author of the most famous key sequence in history. Nothing else that he did in his over 28 years at IBM matched the code he wrote during a five minute span in the early 80s. “I never knew it would become a cultural icon”, he said recently. But David Bradley didn’t make the code famous. A few years back at a 20-year celebration for the IBM PC, Bradley was part of a panel discussion with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and a multitude of other tech gurus. When the discussion turned to the keys, Bradley said "I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous." Bill Gates didn't laugh. Way to go David! I wish you well in your retirement. |
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| 4.
Contact The Doctor Of Industrial Networking |
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| You
can reach John Rinaldi by phone at (414) 453-5100 or by email at jsr@rtaautomation.com. Reprinting and distribution of this ezine is highly recommended, provided that the content and links are left intact. It is currently delivered to thousands of subscribers, clients and friends. |
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| 5.
Priority Channel |
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| SPEAKING
ENGAGEMENTS: Wednesday June 9, 9:45AM Sensors Expo, Detroit
MI “This session presents a view of industrial automation networking from a marketing perspective. It provides a look at the important networking technologies of 2004, how these technologies have transformed various markets and what can be expected in the next 2-3 years. The continuing advancements in software systems, silicon and manufacturing strategies will be considered from a perspective of how these changes will impact different markets and how manufacturers must invest to keep pace with these changes.” See www.sensorsexpo.com. |
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| INDUSTRIAL
ETHERNET TELESEMINAR: Thursday May 13: 9AM CST This is a one hour event for our customers and selected guests. Some of this sessions topics include PROFInet RT, the latest on PoE and for beginners, an introduction to Modbus/TCP. If you are a current customer of Real Time Automation and haven’t received an invitation please let me know (jsr@rtaautomation.com). If you’re not a customer, we reserve a few seats for special guests. Your Best Option: Become a Customer. |
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| NEW
PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT: The
Exlink 6102 |
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| EtherNet/IP,
Modbus TCP and More in an RJ-45 Connector AND IT’S ONLY THE SIZE OF A PAIR OF DICE See www.rtaautomation.com/6102 for more details. |
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| 6.
Subscription Management Instructions |
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| Managing your subscription is easy. To instantly end your subscription or change your details at any time, send an email to newsletter@rtaautomation.com and our staff will take care of it. Or you can most quickly terminate your subscription by clicking on the link at the end of the email which delivered this newsletter. | ||||
Copyright © 2004 John Rinaldi | All Rights Reserved |
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