Tuesday 30 December 2014

IBASE introduces MI981 Mini-ITX Motherboard



IBASE introduces MI981 Mini-ITX Motherboard
December 26, 2014 - IBASE introduces MI981 Mini-ITX Motherboard with an Intel Q87 chipset and the new generation of Intel Core processors.

By integrating the 4th Generation Intel Core processors manufactured on 22nm process technology with 3-D tri-gate transistors, the MI981 provides more excellent computing and graphics performance and enhanced security over earlier platforms built with the 3rd Generation Intel Core processors. High-end graphics capabilities can be experienced with the available display interfaces, including VGA CRT, DVI-D, LVDS and Display Port. TPM version 1.2 helps assure computer platform integrity and iAMT 9.1, when used with a software management application, allows remote system monitoring, upgrading and repairing.

MI981 supports two DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM memory slots for a maximum capacity of 16GB. It provides advanced and essential I/O connections such as six USB 3.0, six USB 2.0, six serial ports, four SATA III ports and two Gigabit Ethernets. Adding expansion cards is made possible by two Mini PCI-E, one mSATA and one PCI-E(16x) slots.

MI981 FEATURES:
  • 4th Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 Processor, up to 4.0GHz
  • 2x DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM, Max 16GB
  • Supports DVI-D,VGA,LVDS and DisplayPort
  • 2x Intel PCI-E Gigabit LAN
  • 6x USB3.0, 6x USB2.0, 6x COM, 4x SATA III
  • 2x Mini PCI-E slots, 1x mSATA , 1x PCI-E(16x)
  • Watchdog timer, Digital I/O, iAMT(9.1), TPM(1.2), iSMART3.0

Happy New Year to All of you | New Year's Day in India

New Year’s Day according to the Gregorian calendar (January 1) is one of the most popular occasions in India. Many people throughout India celebrate this festive occasion with loved ones or in large gatherings.



Fireworks blended over large clock face
New Year's Day on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar is celebrated in many countries including India.
©iStockphoto.com/scampdesigns

What Do People do?

People in all parts of India dress colorfully and indulge in fun filled activities such as singing, playing games, dancing, and attending parties. Night clubs, movie theatres, resorts, restaurants and amusement parks are filled with people of all ages.
People greet and wish each other Happy New Year. Exchanging messages, greeting cards and gifts are part and parcel of the New Year celebration. The media covers many New Year events which are showcased on prime channels for most of the day. People who decide to stay indoors resort to these New Year shows for entertainment and fun. The age-old tradition of planning new resolutions for the coming year is a common sight. A few of the most popular resolutions include losing weight, developing good habits, and working hard.
Larger cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai organize live concerts which are attended by Bollywood stars and other well-known personalities. Large crowds gather to attend such shows, while some individuals prefer to celebrate with their close friends and family members. The fun filled occasion is considered a great opportunity to get closer to the loved ones in your life and to revive contact with lost friends. The idea is to wave goodbye to the year gone-by and welcome the New Year in the hope that it will invite truckloads of happiness and joy in everyone’s life.

Public Life

New Year’s Day on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar is a restricted holiday in India. Individuals can take a limited number of restricted holidays but government offices and most businesses remain open and public transport remains available. Most people are known to report late to work on January 1 due to late night celebrations.
The security is tightened in prime cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore as incidents of molestation and fights have been rising the last few years. The arrival of foreign tourists is at its peak during New Year’s Day on January 1, especially in locations such as Goa which is known to be a favorite tourist destination.

Background

The New Year signifies that the time has arrived to bid farewell to the by-gone year and to welcome the New Year. Traditionally, the New Year was celebrated on the first of March every year. However, this date was switched to January 1 as it is considered to have a more religious significance. With the growth of the western culture across the globe, New Year’s Day on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar has been one of India’s many celebrations. There are different opinions as to when New Year’s Day that falls on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar was first celebrated in India. Some say that it was observed when the British colonized India while others say that its popularity bloomed only after the 1940s.
It is important to note that different calendars are used among different groups in India so the New Year is celebrated at different times, based when it is marked in these calendars. This article is about New Year’s Day in the Gregorian calendar, which is celebrated worldwide and falls on January 1. Other New Year’s dates include Diwali (Hindu calendar).

Symbols

As such there are no materialistic symbols linked with this event in India however one gets to experience the vibrant colors and joyful atmosphere filled with parties, prayers and social feasts. People across India escalate their happiness with good music, dance, crackers and lighting.

About New Year's Day in other countries

New Year's Day Observances

Note: Individuals can take a limited number of restricted holidays but government offices and most businesses remain open. This system gives individuals the flexibility to take time off to celebrate a holiday within India's vast religious and cultural society.

Monday 29 December 2014

Siemens Ltd. surpasses 100,000 milestone for energy-efficient industrial motors

Siemens Limited announced that it has surpassed a key milestone in manufacturing and delivering International Efficiency (IE) class industrial motors by handing the 100,000th motor to UltraTech Cement Ltd. in Mumbai. This translates to energy savings of 300GWh, which is equivalent to the power required by 80,000 average Indian households for an entire year, since the launch of the motors in January 2012.
  • Becomes the first company in India to achieve this distinction for IE motors.
  • Energy savings through the use of these motors is 300GWh, which is equivalent to power required by 80,000 average Indian households in an entire year.
  • In 2012, Siemens was the first company in India to launch a complete range of locally-manufactured IE2 and IE3 efficiency class energy efficient motors.
 
Mr. Dirk Hoke, CEO, Large Drives, Siemens AG presenting the 100000th Motor to Mr.K.C.Sharma, Vice President E & I Projects, UltraTech Cement Ltd
Siemens Limited was the first company in India to launch locally-manufactured IE2 and IE3 efficiency class energy efficient industrial motors; IE3 is currently the highest efficiency class as recognized by Indian Standards. These motors are capable of offering energy savings of up to 10% depending on the frame sizes when used in place of standard effi-ciency (IE1) motors.
“Energy costs are steadily rising over the last few years and will continue to rise as con-sumption grows. This has compelled industrial units, especially those that rely heavily on processes, to invest in energy-efficient equipment like energy-efficient motors. The IE class energy efficient industrial motors from Siemens help customers improve their business performance, reduce lifecycle costs, and meet environmental regulations. The achievement of this milestone only reiterates the growing awareness and need for such motors by our customers,” says Bhaskar Mandal, Country Division Lead, Process Industries and Drives, Siemens India.

Source:-http://www.aandctoday.com/newsline/317-siemens-ltd-surpasses-100-000-milestone-for-energy-efficient-industrial-motors

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Methodology work stream of Automation Industry: - Process stream of all the mechanization business are same as depicted beneath




1.Requirements: - There are distinctive necessities of robotized frameworks as indicated by the need of customers and industry. It might be utilized as a part of Manufacturing industry, Assembling, Load Distribution mechanized frameworks, Automated timing control circuits, for example, conveyer sashs, speed and procedure controllers and so on. A programmable rationale controller(plc's) can be customized and gathered as per particular application of work, such IC's are otherwise called Asic's(application particular incorporated circuits). Before amassing any controller gadget it ought to be checked and tried to satisfy the standards and the necessities of the work.

2.Design: - Designers need to outline the circuits according to the prerequisites; the configuration ought to be minimized and force proficient. The creator ought to remember the spot where mechanized frameworks must be introduced and configuration it appropriately. It needs implanted/Chip level programming, mimicking and testing before the usage.

3.Implementation: - Implementation comes after fruitful outlining and endorsed work methodology of the robotized frameworks. The creator/Assembler can just actualize/ Install/ Assemble the framework in the wake of taking regard from the customer were the frameworks must be conveyed.

4.Verification: - After the establishment of the robotized framework, it ought to be checked and confirmed, after the complete establishment it ought to be clarified to the customers and taking their 100% certification for fulfillment. It ought to be noted that mechanized machine parts need nonstop supervision, testing, dispatching and repaired at whatever point required.

5.Maintenance: - Maintaining the general proficiency of any mechanized industry obliges wellbeing checkup and upkeep of apparatus at normal interims of time, redesigning the frameworks as per the most recent innovation will enormously build the general effectiveness.

As the necessities of value yield is expanding, need of robotized frameworks are expanding step by step, there are numerous focal points for the organizations to pick mechanized frameworks as contrasted with manuals are as per the following:-

1.increased benefit with less work needed
2.increased Consistency and dependability
3.increased precision and accuracy
4.high volume generation
5.safer
6.energy effective
7.reduced downtime
8.improved quality
9.accountable and simple to handle

The main downsides of robotized frameworks are high introductory establishment costs, on the off chance that we search for long haul premise than it is more useful and financially savvy.
For smooth work stream in Automation businesses there are some key focuses:-

1.incorporation of new innovations, hypotheses and techniques to create the present modern procedure
2.optimizing the targets to be conveyed
3.research on perplexing mechanical procedure
4.coordination between the colleagues
5.creative colleagues
6.understanding and conveying yields as indicated by business process
7.proper information administration
8.process progression and Disaster recuperation
9.deep procedure examination
10.programming and designing the apparatuses
11.reporting to the unrivaled
12.security and security measures


In any modern environment the aforementioned key focuses ought to be remembered while working. Procedure stream of each industry may change as indicated by the need and methodology executed, But the essential procedure stream will stay same.

Friday 19 December 2014

Motion Control Market in Midst of Record Year

December 16, 2014 – Global shipments for motion control products grew by nine percent to $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2014, according to new statistics released by the Motion Control Association (MCA), the industry’s trade group.

“The strong growth in the market is impacting the entire automation industry. We’re seeing this reflected in the large increase of exhibitors and floor space at our upcoming Automate trade show (March 23-26, 2015 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois)”, said Dana Whalls, Vice President of MCA. “Overall, the show is already 56% larger and motion control specific exhibitors are currently up 209% over the last show as motion control suppliers look to help more companies reap the benefits of adding automation technologies.”

“We’ve seen growth in each statistical category year to date,” said Alex Shikany, MCA Director of Market Analysis. “Through September, the strongest growth has been in the AC Motors category, at 59%. Sales of motion controllers have continued to rise and are up 36% over the same period last year. Motors, the largest statistical category, has grown seven percent, while actuators and mechanical systems are up 12%.”

Individually, the third quarter of 2014 followed a good first half with 14% growth to $794 million. The main growth categories for the third quarter were AC motors (101%), motion controllers (35%), and actuators/mechanical systems (20%).

MCA’s most recent survey of motion control manufacturers revealed that 59% of respondents believe that total shipments of motion control products will remain flat in the next six months, 38% believe the market will increase, and three percent expect it to decline.

MCA summarizes market results from suppliers and distributors in quarterly tracking reports and trend analysis reports. These reports examine orders and shipments by major product category quarterly and annually with helpful tables and graphics. Growth rates and book to bill ratios are provided for each product category. MCA also provides an economic indicator report, which enables report users to interpret quarterly statistics from the standpoint of macro-economic indicators by individual manufacturing industry, as identified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

All reports are available free of charge to all MCA members. Members providing data for the reports receive “full” versions of the reports, which are highly detailed examinations of order and shipment results. Non-participating members receive “abridged” reports, which contain shipment results. Members find the reports valuable as gauges of overall market performance and as benchmarks for assessing relative company performance.

About MCA
The Motion Control Association (MCA) is a global not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting the understanding and use of motion control technologies and developing business opportunities for mechanical and electronic (mechatronics) motion control companies.  Its members include manufacturers of complete motion control systems, component manufacturers, system integrators, distributors, end users, consulting firms, academic institutions and research groups directly involved with mechanical and electronic (mechatronics) motion control around the world.  MCA is part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

About Association for Advancing Automation (A3)
The Association for Advancing Automation is the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 is the umbrella group for the Motion Control Association (MCA), Robotic Industries Association (RIA), and AIA – the vision and imaging association. MCA, RIA, and AIA combined represent 750 automation stakeholders from throughout the world.

Thursday 18 December 2014

B-Scada to supply HMI/SCADA Software to Indonesian Power Plant

August 26, 2014 - B-Scada to supply Enterprise HMI/SCADA software to Indonesian Power Plant. B

-Scada’s Indonesian partner, LDK, will be installing the software as a web monitoring solution for the new Senipah Gas Power Plant operated by PT. Kartanegara Energi Perkasa.

The Senipah Power Plant is an important part of the Indonesian government’s ongoing efforts to provide electricity to the rapidly growing East Kalimantan region of Indonesia. Today, approximately 70 million Indonesians live without electricity. The government plans to connect an additional 1.3 million households through the year 2025.

About B-Scada
B-Scada specializes in the compelling visualization of real-time data. Its visualization technology and SCADA products are deployed in manufacturing, power & utilities, transportation, petrochemical, building automation, and other fields of business where visualization of real time data is critical. B-Scada's in-house expertise and experience has provided them the opportunity to partner with companies from various vertical markets, and assist them to develop custom solutions that meet their specific needs. B-Scada's goal is to help clients transfer real-time production and operational data into actionable information through graphically-compelling, functional, and intuitive user interfaces.    

Source:-http://www.automation.com/portals/process-automation/scada-rtu/b-scada-to-supply-hmiscada-software-to-indonesian-power-plant  

OSI to deliver 7 SCADA/EMS Systems to 7 Companies

December 17, 2014 - Open Systems International (OSI) has been awarded seven contracts by a Joint Utility Procurement (JUP) project to deliver seven SCADA/EMS systems.

JUP members include: Gainesville Regional Utilities, Florida; Lakeland Electric, Florida; Memphis Light, Gas & Water, Tennessee; Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc., North Dakota; South Mississippi Electric Power Association, Mississippi; City of Tallahassee, Florida; and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc., Michigan.

The JUP group has been a voluntary membership program since the mid-1990s, between a group of utilities that wanted to collaborate on procurement and support of their SCADA/EMS systems. The utilities achieve economies of scale savings in the procurement, implementation and support costs as well as collaborative relationship between parties to assist in the long-term support of these systems. The utilities leverage not only the buying power of the combined utilities but also coordinate periodic system upgrades to ensure they stay current with the latest technology.

The seven new SCADA/EMS systems are based on OSI’s monarch (Multi-platform Open Network ARCHitecture) platform and include OSI’s next-generation, .NET based Graphical User Interface, SCADA, Historian and Generation Management and Transmission Management applications.

“We are very excited and pleased to have the JUP group’s trust in OSI and our technology and we welcome this group to our family of users. We are confident that this project will be of an exemplary execution and will be delivered on schedule and within budget,” said Bahman Hoveida, President & CEO of OSI.

“From the viewpoint of current ability, business and personal relations and future enhancements, we have found OSI to be everything we expected and more. This decision was made with a great deal of research and investigation and in the end, we found OSI to be more than a product. We found each individual to be part of a talented and dedicated family who have produced a system with which they take personal pride and ownership. It is an honor to be associated with such,” said Tommy Clark, Director of Computer and Control Systems at South Mississippi Electric Power Association.

About JUP Members:
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), is a multi-service utility owned by the City of Gainesville and is the 5th largest municipal electric utility in Florida. GRU serves approximately 93,000 retail and wholesale customers in Gainesville and surrounding areas, offering electric, natural gas, water, wastewater and telecommunications services.

Lakeland Electric is a full service municipal utility, servicing over 120,000 customers with some of the most economically priced electricity in the state of Florida. Lakeland Electric is the third largest publicly owned utility in Florida and was one of the first to offer power in the Sunshine State over 110 years ago.

Memphis Light, Gas &Water (MLGW) is the nation’s largest three-service municipal utility, serving nearly 421,000 customers. Since 1939, MLGW has met the utility needs of Memphis and Shelby County residents by delivering reliable and affordable electricity, natural gas and water service.

Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. (MPC) is a regional generation and transmission cooperative serving 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives. Minnkota’s service area of 34,500 square miles is located in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Through its generation resources, Minnkota has some of the most competitive wholesale electrical rates in the country.

The City of Tallahassee is committed to enriching the quality of life in Tallahassee by providing clean and reliable electric service to their customers through a professional and diverse workforce that is committed to safe, responsible, cost effective and customer-focused operations. They are a vertically integrated electric utility with generation, transmission and distribution operations. As the 4th largest municipal electric utility in Florida and the 22nd largest in the United States (of over 2,000), their 295 employees are dedicated to meeting the electric service needs of their customers.

South Mississippi Electric Power Association (SMEPA) is a Generation and Transmission cooperative that has been in business for more than 40 years. SMEPA began by meeting the wholesale power requirements of seven small electric power associations. SMEPA provides reliable, economical electric power for more than 412,000 homes and businesses served by their eleven Member systems.

Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. (WPSC) is a generation and transmission electric cooperative headquartered in Cadillac, Michigan. Wolverine is owned by and supplies wholesale electric power to seven members: Cherryland Electric Cooperative, Great Lakes Energy, HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Midwest Energy Cooperative, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op, Spartan Renewable Energy and Wolverine Power Marketing Cooperative. Wolverine members have served rural portions of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula for nearly 70 years and today, they provide electricity to more than 260,000 homes, farms and businesses.

OSI  provides open, state-of-the-art and high-performance automation solutions to utilities worldwide. These solutions include Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Network Management Systems (NMS), Energy Management Systems (EMS), Distribution Management Systems (DMS), Outage Management Systems (OMS), Generation Management Systems (GMS), Substation Automation systems (SA); Data Warehousing and Historians, as well as individual software and hardware products and Smart Grid solutions for utility operations. OSI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Infineon Launches ARM-Based Auto Bridge Drivers

Infineon announced at Electronica an ARM-based Embedded Power family of bridge drivers offering an unmatched level of integration to address the growing trend towards intelligent motor control for a wide range of automotive applications.
Infineon Embedded-Power-IC_VQFN-48Infineon integrated on one chip a microcontroller using the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, as well as the nonvolatile memory, the analogue and mixed signal peripherals, the communication interfaces along with the mosfet gate drivers.

Visit the team at Electronics Weekly’s stand in Hall A6 – 569

Sample quantities of the first members of the Embedded Power family are available for the TLE987x series for three-phase (brushless DC) motors and the TLE986x series for two-phase (DC) motors.

Infineon combined its proprietary automotive qualified 130nm Smart Power manufacturing technology with its experience in motor control drivers to put the Embedded Power family in a standard QFN package of only 7x7mm. Where previous multi-chip designs needed a stand-alone microcontroller, a bridge driver and a LIN (local interconnect network) transceiver, automotive system suppliers now benefit from motor control designs of minimum external components count.


The Embedded Power products reduce the component count from today’s approximately more than 150 down to less than 30, allowing integration of all functions and associated external components for the motor control in a PCB area of merely 3cm². The Embedded Power family thus enables the integration of electronics close to the motor for true mechatronic designs.

“Smart motor control applications demand a large variety of sophisticated motor control schemes that are driven by energy efficiency, system cost reduction and comfort needs,” says Andreas Doll, vice-president and general manager, automotive body power at Infineon Technologies AG.

“Infineon addresses these design challenges with its new automotive qualified Embedded Power family for intelligent motor control using the ARM Cortex-M3 processor. Fostering the system-on-chip approach that combines a powerful microcontroller, the mosfet gate drivers along with all necessary sense, control and actuate functions, our scalable Embedded Power family makes automotive system suppliers benefit from reduced system costs, improved reliability and less system level complexity.”


Technical features of the TLE987x and TLE986x bridge drivers

Both, the TLE987x and the TLE986x, use the ARM Cortex TM-M3 processor. Their peripheral set includes a current sensor, a successive approximation 10-bit ADC synchronized with the capture and compare unit (CAPCOM6) for PWM (pulse width modulation) control and 16-bit timers.

A LIN transceiver is integrated to enable communication to the devices along with a number of general purpose I/Os.

Both series include an on-chip linear voltage regulator to supply external loads. Their flash memory is scalable from 36kB to 128kB. They operate from 5.4V up to 28V.

An integrated charge pump enables low voltage operation using only two external capacitors, resulting in a significant BoM reduction when compared with the commonly used voltage bootstrap techniques.

The bridge drivers feature programmable charging and discharging current. The patented current slope control technique optimises the system EMC behavior for a wide range of mosfets.

The products can withstand load dump conditions up to 40V while maintaining an extended supply voltage operating down to 3.0V where the microcontroller and the flash memory are fully functional.
The TLE987x series of bridge drivers addresses three-phase (BLDC) motor applications such as fuel pumps, HVAC blowers, engine cooling fans, water pumps as well as other pumps and fans.

It supports sensor-less and sensor based (including field-oriented control) BLDC motor applications addressed by LIN or controlled via PWM. Its LIN transceiver is compatible with LIN 2.2 and certified by IBEE-Zwickau and C&S Group.

It  includes six fully integrated NFET drivers optimised to drive a three-phase motor via six external power Nfets.

The TLE986x series is optimised to drive two-phase DC motors by integrating four Nfet drivers .It is suitable for applications such as sunroofs, power window lifts and generic smart motor control via Nfet H-bridge.

Infineon and third party vendors support the ARM Cortex-M3 based Embedded Power family of bridge drivers by a complete development tool chain. It includes compilers, debuggers, evaluation board, LIN low-level driver and configuration tool as well as example software code for motor control. Also, Infineon provides starter kits to support the design-in.


Engineering samples of the TLE987x and TLE986x bridge drivers in a space-saving VQFN-48 package are available with volume production planned to start in Q1 2015. For both series, there are several derivatives available, differing for example in system clock (24MHz or 40MHz) and flash sizes.

Source:-http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/embedded-systems/141322-2014-11/

More on: Newbury Electronics Tracks Animals


Newbury animal tracker vulture
Yesterday it was announced that Newbury Electronics is to start a new electronic design services division called Newbury Innovations, and that the team transferring to the new entity had already designed some interesting electronics, including tags for tracking wild animals.
Here is some more on those tags.
They were created for the Swansea Live Animal Monitoring (SLAM) group, led by Professor Rory Wilson at Swansea University, are the size of a stamp, and weigh 3g.
Dr Mark Holton of SLAM approached Newbury Electronics with initial designs in the spring. From this, Holton and the firm developed the concept to get the smallest PCB that would still work with multiple sensors – see below.
To date Newbury Electronics has supplied around 200 of the sensor/loggers along with several dozen bespoke GPS logger, and timed release modules.
Newbury/SLAM animal tracker“We have been working on data analysis algorithms which, together with these devices, will certainly place us as a significant competitor within the animal research market place, said Holton, who is also MD of Swansea University spin-out Wildbyte Technologies.
The list of animals so far fitted with the trackers includes: badgers, beavers, camels, eagles, vultures, condors, whale sharks, turtles and humans – the latter to aid psychology and sports injury recovery through movement analysis, said Newbury.
Most recently was monitoring the movement of turtles off the west coast of Africa.
In this case the sensors detect movement and heading from accelerometer and geomagnetic sensors, along with light, temperature and depth – sensors are either on-board or blugged into the board.
Up to 75 million data points recorded over three weeks has been analyses to give an insight into behaviour under (movement and orientation, and depth) and at the surface (+GPS) including duration of dives, the number of breaths taken and foraging patterns at depth.
Newbury animal tracker turtle‘Daily Diary’ tag
  • Weight: ~2g +battery +housing)
  • Size ~27x26x8mm
  • Accelerometer: 3axis 13bit resolution +/-16g (3.9mg/LSB)
  • Magnetometer: 3axis 12bit resolution +/-1.3Ga
  • Thermometer: -40 to +85°C (0.1°C)
  • Air pressure: 300 to 1,100hPa (0.01hPa steps) Not active in sealed housing
  • Depth sensor: down to 200m (resolution ~1m)
  • Light – light dependent resistor (12bit) for dark to daylight transition
  • logging rate: 60Hz max
Sourec:-http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/embedded-systems/newbury-electronics-tracks-animals-2014-11/


Tuesday 16 December 2014

Latest Electronic Embedded Systems News

Hi-fi card for Raspberry Pi A and B plus models

 Embedded Systems Training Institute
Cirrus audio Raspberry PiElement14 has launched a second hi-fi audio card for Raspberry Pi, this time for the A+ and B+, called the Cirrus Logic Audio Card.

Previously it introduced a hi-fi card for the model A and B based on the same WM5102 chip – which was branded Wolfson until Cirrus bought Wolfson.

“The Cirrus Logic Audio Card offers Raspberry Pi A+ and B+ users the ability to input and output high definition audio, said Element14. “The card allows audio input using either line level analogue, stereo digital [SPDIF], or on-board digital microphones. Outputs are line, headset analogue outputs, and SPDIF.”

Application include internet radio streaming, audio recording and sound playback.

“The Cirrus Logic Audio Card brings all the features found on the previous ['Wolfson'] version of this card from Wolfson to the Raspberry Pi A+ and B+ models. It offers a similar level of flexibility as a PC soundcard,” said Claire Doyle, head of Raspberry Pi at Element14.

A bespoke Raspbian image, and more information, is available from Element14′s Raspberry Pi community website.  “We are using the latest raspbian image and have added all the Cirrus drivers to it and packaged it up to give our customers and community an easy path to using the card,” an element14 spokesman told Electronics Weekly.

Source:-http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/embedded-systems/hi-fi-card-raspberry-pi-b-plus-models-2014-12/

ARM, Freescale and TI Sign Up for Qt Embedded

Qt-logoProcessor developers ARM, Freescale and Texas Instruments have joined the Qt Partner Programme.

This will significantly expand the availability of Qt-verified reference boards.

Qt is a pre-configured embedded device development environment with an optimised software stack which can be deployed on reference boards for the development of user interfaces (UIs) and applications.
 Embedded Systems Engineering Training & Courses
The new partners include ARM, Boundary Devices, Freescale Semiconductor, Silica, Texas Instruments and Toradex.

“The addition of such prominent members of the embedded device ecosystem to the Qt Partner Program will enable developers of embedded devices to bring devices with innovative and modern interfaces to market faster than ever before,” said Juhapekka Niemi, v-p sales and marketing, Qt.

“The pressure on embedded device creators has increased dramatically over the years, with users demanding high-performance devices equipped with beautiful interfaces that run fluently at 60fps, while development cycles get shorter and these partnerships will help ease that pressure,” said Niemi.

There is also a cross-platform application and user interface development platform called Qt Enterprise Embedded, which includes a self-contained development environment and a software stack, called the Boot to Qt Software Stack, which is supplied in embedded Android and embedded Linux formats.

Target hardware includes Beagle Board xM, Raspberry Pi Model B and BeagleBone Black.


Source:-http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/embedded-systems/arm-freescale-ti-sign-qt-embedded-2014-12/


Friday 12 December 2014

Building Management System and Building Automation System Training Courses



Building Management System or commonly known as Building Automation System is a control system based on software & hardware installed in buildings in order to monitors and controls the building process equipments i.e Mechanical and Electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and systems. The software program is configured in an arranged manner using protocols such as C-BUS, PROFIBUS, and etc. Manufacturers are also manufacturing systems implemented using Internet Protocols and Open Standards such as DEVICENET, SOAP, XML, BACNET, LONWORKS and MODBUS.

Building Management System is implemented where large projects with complex Mechanical, HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing Systems is required. A Building Management System shows energy conservation of 40% of a building ; including lightning, this percentage reaches to 70%. Building Management System is one of the best systems to manage energy demands.

Building Management Systems are linked to Access Control (Turnstiles and Access door controlling of the building) Security systems like CCTV and Motion detectors. Building Management Systems also link with Fire Alarm Systems and Elevators monitoring. If there is any fire detection, the fire alarm panel shut off Dampers in the Ventilation System which stop Smoke Spreading and turn all the Elevators to the ground floor and park them in order to prevent people from using them in case of fire.

Building Management Systems require professionals from the following Streams

Mechanical Engineer
Electrical Engineer
Electrical & Electronics Engineer
Electronics & Communication Engineer
Civil Engineer



Designation of Building Automation Engineer 

BMS Services engineer
BMS Design engineer
BMS Commissioning Engineer
HVAC Engineer
BMS Application Engineer




Wednesday 10 December 2014

Aye, Robot! Meat Processor Welcomes Automation

A deli meat and cheese producer finds that a robotic case packer is not so costly and complex after all, and it can handle automated inspection.


For Dietz & Watson (Dietz & Watson, http://dietzandwatson.com), the first time was the charm when it came to installing a robot at its Philadelphia headquarters and production facility. Dietz & Watson is a 75-year-old, family-owned company that produces more than 400 varieties of deli meat and cheese products sold around the U.S. and the world. Until recently the company had not considered using robotics in any of its four U.S. packaging facilities. But the successful installation of a robotic case packer at its Philadelphia plant has given the company a new perspective on the potential for automation in its operations.
“This is our first robotics installation,” says John Schoenfellinger, vice president of engineering. “We have not implemented robotics in other areas because of the diversity of our product mix. Costs and complexity are always a consideration. [But] this installation has proven that the complexity is no different than with any other production equipment, and the costs are justified by the reduced labor required and the increase in productivity.”

Case packing has been done manually on Dietz & Watson’s sliced deli-meat packaging lines. But when the company invested in a new, 144 pack per minute horizontal form/fill/seal vacuum packaging machine, the VisionPak from CP Packaging, it realized that it would not be possible to position enough people at the end of the machine in the space available to keep up with the VisionPak’s high speed. So the company chose an Osprey Case Packing System from JLS Automation (JLS, http://www.jlsautomation.com) equipped with two IRB 360 FlexPicker robots from ABB (ABB, http://www.abb.com).

One drawback to using an automated system in this application, however, was the degree of inspection required for each pack: On existing lines, operators check for leaking packages, and to ensure labels are printed with barcodes and date codes, before packs are placed into a case.
To address this need, JLS implemented—for the first time—its proprietary Package Integrity Validation Technology (PIVT). It integrates vacuum, vision and several other sensor technologies to detect seal contamination, leaks, pinholes and other issues that lead to loss of package integrity.
“The Osprey case packer they bought was intended to be downstream of their vacuum packaging machine,” says Craig Souser, JLS president/CEO. “So we set up the system to deal with the uneven flow of product [from the intermittent-motion machine] and orientation. That’s inherent with vision-guided robotics. But what really enabled this application was PIVT, because without that package inspection, automated case packing wasn’t viable.”

Installed in late March 2014, the Osprey handles 50 SKUs, featuring four different package weights, packed in four different case sizes. The case-packing machine is surrounded by stainless-steel guarding that, unlike Lexan material, can withstand the cleaning detergent used during washdown operations without discoloring.

Packing in action
Use of a vision-guided robot eliminates all product contact, product orientation and product manipulation, as well as case indexing functions, from the standard case packing system.
During operation, packages exit the intermittent-motion vacuum packaging machine in groups of nine and are spread out for picking on a gapping conveyor. After inspection by the Osprey, the packs are dynamically loaded into the case. Since the case does not stop, but is instead tracked through the system, only one adjustment to the side guide is required during changeover.

As far as changeover for package size, “it only requires recipe selection on the control screen,” Schoenfellinger says. The delta robot’s end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) comprises vacuum cups designed to be flexible enough so that they do not damage the packages.

Since installation, Dietz & Watson has accomplished all of its goals for the new system, says Schoenfellinger. In terms of speed, the system is running at 15-16 machine cycles per minute vs. the 10-12 cycles per minute achieved with manual case packing. This is a 30 percent increase in productivity with just one-third the labor, he says. In terms of accuracy, the machine provides 100 percent repeatability, and Dietz & Watson is seeing consistent quality through package leak detection and label, barcode and code-date detection.

“The system has been much easier to integrate into production lines than we had originally imagined,” Schoenfellinger admits—so much so that Dietz & Watson has purchased a second Osprey for installation on an existing vacuum packaging line. The company also plans investments in automation for other production areas, as well as for a $50 million expansion of its Philadelphia facility, announced in June 2014.

What’s Next for Packaging Machinery Automation?

Contributing Editor Keith Campbell scoured the miles of aisles at the interpack 2014 show in Düsseldorf, Germany, to deliver this insightful view of what might be next in the world of packaging machinery controls and automation.

It wasn’t too many years ago that a debate was still raging among packaging machinery builders and buyers about the value of servo motion control for packaging. A walk through the 20 halls of this year’s interpack made one thing abundantly clear: that debate is over. The widespread acceptance of servos has been driven, and rightly so, by the competitive advantage gained by machine builders and the improved performance enjoyed by end users, with both hopefully taking more dollars to their bottom lines. With this enabling technology now so widespread, one can only wonder what’s next? Where will the next significant increase in competitive advantage and performance come from for packaging?

Who better to ask than the world’s leading automation providers and machine builders exhibiting at interpack? Read on for what I learned, or visit to  pwgo.to/1011 to listen to an 11-minute podcast of this information.

Mathematical modeling
Patrich Marchion is a mechatronics engineer with Swiss machine builder Dividella, which makes Gen 3 machines with high axis counts for the pharmaceutical industry. Marchion believes that the next breakthrough will occur when engineers rely more heavily on mathematical modeling for designing machines. This will be a fundamental transformation of machine design from an art to a science. I have heard a similar idea expressed before from some of the more sophisticated consumer packaged goods companies, those who still rely on their own internal machine design departments for development of machines for their proprietary processes. Performance breakthroughs do come from end users who are not constrained by time and cost concerns when it comes to optimizing the most key machines in their operations. Much more can be done in terms of improving performance if machine designs are subjected to rigorous dynamic modeling to identify resonances and other factors that limit performance. Many designers have made the transition to 3D CADD models, but these are largely static models that help with optimization of part geometry. Taking these static models to dynamic models that embed the complex mathematical relationships of the materials, components, and systems may be a means of achieving break-through performance. There are a lot more opportunities to optimize both the component designs and the drive software to obtain superior performance.

As I mentioned this idea to technology providers, many expressed a belief in dynamic modeling becoming more common in the packaging machinery industry and providing some breakthroughs in performance. They report that only a handful of machine builders are currently taking advantage of mathematical modeling. They also stress the increasing ability of the drives themselves to optimize the machine dynamics. Bosch Packaging was touting a new generation of delta robots that have improved kinematics due to new software. Bosch-Rexroth showed their drives’ ability to detect and suppress vibration. B&R also spoke of suppressing vibration and compensating in real time for the system dynamics. Schneider Electric suggested eliminating the servo motor cogging by using feed-forward and other advanced control loop strategies within the drive. Beckhoff sees a need to model motors, drives, and machines. Both Schneider and Beckhoff stressed advantages to speed. Beckhoff mentioned the need for high precision, high performance synchronization in time frames of 100
nanoseconds, enabling builders to have reaction times in their machines of 60 microseconds. Schneider also sees benefits from being able to change the motion profile of an axis within every cycle of the machine, taking advantage of higher-speed networks and processors. The limiting axis of the machine may change as conditions change, and being able to detect this during runtime and adapt to it could be a game changer. Lief Juergensen of Schneider says that their controllers are able to change a cam profile within one cycle of the Sercos network.

Integration is the key
As machines reach the limits of increasing speed, some believe that more performance improvements will come from system optimization than from machine optimization. Having machines utilize those higher level integration strategies defined early on by OMAC will enable machines to talk with one another and with their human overseers to benefit from improved planning, reduced downtime, and better overall performance of entire packaging legs, cells, or lines. Most of the engineers that I spoke with expressed support for the belief that the next breakthrough will come with the full integration of information from the top floor to the shop floor.
Some of this is in place already. For example, onboard drive diagnostics get passed up from the bottom through software functionality such as that offered by B&R’s System Diagnostic Manager. From the opposite direction, orders get passed down from the top level ERP system to at-line or in-line printers to enable order quantities as small as one. In both cases, integration is the key.

Increasing number of changeovers requires more efficient changeovers. Maurizio Tarozzi of B&R pointed out that with more companies manufacturing for markets in multiple countries, in-line printing offers the opportunity to put country-specific information on the label to satisfy regulatory requirements or to put village-specific information on the package to satisfy marketing needs.
Most engineers mentioned aids to integration such as PackML, Weihenstephan protocol, MTConnect, and SECS/GEM protocol—each of which is meant to solve the same problem for packaging, bottling, machining, and electronic fabrication. Schneider’s Juergensen believes that these standards are all so similar that they should converge, maybe in another dog year. (Isn’t it unfortunate that there is not a neutral arbiter that could cause this to happen in a people year as the computer and cell phone industries seem able to do?)

But beyond tag and protocol standards, engineers are talking about something much greater. Gerd Hoppe of Beckhoff described the work taking place in Europe on Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things. Perhaps GEN 4 depends upon Industry 4.0, which imagines automatic configuration of smart cities, smart health, and smart manufacturing. This will take a breakthrough in both technology and the cultural divide that often exists between IT and manufacturing engineering. Those predicting this development aren’t talking about just passing streams of data around, but massive use of computer power in interconnected machines. Motors and drives will have electronic nameplates. Machines will describe their own features through an electronic passport, allowing upper level systems to browse lower level systems to figure out what they do and what they are able to do. Following the model of USB devices plugged in to your computer, a machine may identify itself as a flow wrapper and tell the network that it is capable of running at some speed x, that it supports PackML, and that it contains a recipe management system that is structured like “this.” Work on self organizing sensor networks has been underway for some time, and last year a special interest group of ODVA was initiated to move machines in the direction of self-identifying.
Still need to optimize Gen 3
Several companies mentioned that Gen 3 machines are far from being optimized. Size is one area being worked on by many, and this can be a big payoff for end users who are short of space in existing factories and want to avoid paying for square footage in new factories. Smaller size may also mean less mass, less inertia, and less complexity, all of which eventually lead to less cost.
Cabinet-free construction was being discussed at interpack with the Schubert cabinet-free design most fully demonstrating the concept. Using Bosch-Rexroth drives and motors with Festo valves, all mounted directly on the machine and networked together, there was little need for a cabinet as we now know it. One also wonders about the future need for controls engineers or systems integrators, because these configurations will largely be worked out by the technology suppliers. Modularity is also a benefit of cabinet-free design, allowing machine builders to customize machines using standardized modules, reducing production time and variability in the field and increasing support capability. Developing and applying good cable management practices will be an opportunity for many of these designs, especially in environments where dust or moisture may be present. And one final “less is more idea” involves shedding the HMI. One supplier reported that printing presses are being delivered that use only a tablet or smart phone as an HMI. What’s good for the converter may also be good for the packager.
Other ways of reducing machine size are by using fully integrated robotics, building customized arms, and using control vendor kinematics for implementation. Italian machine builder CAMA went a step further, internally developing robotic software that allowed the placement of 12 pickers in a space of 10 square meters with overlapping work envelopes and operating together with complete collision avoidance. Several engineers pointed out that the true integration of robotics and vision as components in machines is still in its infancy. The converse is also true, that robots have not yet fulfilled their capability to do more than move product. Schneider described a pick-process-and-place application where a robot not only picks up a fish and places it into a can, but cuts, slices, and cleans the fish along the way.
CAMA and a couple other suppliers showed machines at interpack that utilized either the Rockwell or Beckhoff versions of the linear motor racetrack. But there were fewer than six such machines on the floor, reminiscent of rotary servo penetration in 1993. The makers of these systems believe that they are a disruptive technology that will play a significant role in Gen 4. They certainly do have potential for significant reduction in the size of machines. Other direct drive servo configurations may yet to be seen. One can only hope that the patent issues surrounding these devices can be resolved in a manner that they become readily available as components for a wide range of applications that will benefit the packaging arena.
As an engineering colleague of mine frequently pointed out, all good ideas eventually evolve into work, for engineers and others. In the area of engineering, several technology providers suggested that better and more integrated design tools will lead to better machines. Dr. Thomas Cord of Lenze discussed the need for mechanical engineering, controls engineering, and HMI middleware tools to cooperate effectively. Machine builders need better ways to manage the technology in the machines and deal with the complexity, especially of the ever-increasing software components. He believes that before we can get to Industry 4.0, we need to optimize the execution of Gen 3 machines. Siemens, which owns Unigraphics, sees the need for the tools to support collaboration and parallel design. Siemens is not just concentrating on the automation tools, but also the mechanical design tools. While in the future there will still be some specialization, the trend must be to a systems engineering or mechatronics engineering approach. For now, products like Rockwell’s RAPID aim to ease the integration burden and software tools are available to help analyze designs. Schneider’s acquisition of Wonderware should provide new opportunities for integration of tools and applications in the machine space.
So what is a Gen 4 machine? I’m not sure that it is clear that any one breakthrough will dominate the transition. But with simultaneous forward movement on all of the topics discussed here, machines are certainly going to change in significant ways. Dynamic modeling of machines; improved advanced control algorithms in drives; faster processors and networks; Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things; greater integration of machines, robotic arms, and vision; less-is-more modular design; new types of linear motors; and better engineering tools with a mechatronics focus—these will all provide huge opportunities for change and improvement. When someone identifies a clear transition to recognizable Gen 4 machines, let us all know.

Founding of OMAC Packaging Workgroup
During the latter half of the 1990s, with the urging and support of European technology providers, packaging applications using motion control technology began to appear in the U.S. trade press, including this publication. At the 1999 ARC conference, talk was initiated about forming an OMAC working group that would concentrate on packaging. OMAC was then a group focused upon the machine tool industry, led by companies such as General Motors and Boeing. OMAC stood for Open Modular Architecture Control. Later that same year at Pack Expo Las Vegas, a meeting was sponsored by ARC, Packaging World, and Indramat where a panel of engineers from five of the US’s top CPG companies addressed an audience of over 100 people representing packaging machine builders, control suppliers, and other packagers. Participants agreed to meet again in February 2000 at the ARC Automation Strategies Conference, where 50 people representing the same constituents and PMMI agreed to form an OMAC working group focused on the use of motion control in packaging machinery.

A mission, vision, and operating principles document was adopted in March of 2000 at a meeting held in the offices of Packaging World during Manufacturing Week in Chicago. Over 70 people attended the meeting, at which PMMI agreed to endorse and participate in the group. The meeting concluded with the newly-formed OMAC Motion for Packaging Workgroup focused on 4 key areas: Business Benefits; Education; Technical Architecture & Connectivity; and Programming Languages and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). In subsequent years, as the emphasis moved away from bringing motion control awareness to the U.S., the name was changed to the OMAC Packaging Workgroup. The PackML initiative, which is now OPW’s primary focus, grew out of a suggestion brought to the group from Markem.

Source:-http://www.automationworld.com/whats-next-packaging-machinery-automation