Fieldbus & Industrial Networks

Articles, Poems, Commentary

There has been a lot of controversy over Fieldbus, the industrial automation network standard that has been a subject of committee deliberations for ... too long.

The suppliers all wish to promote their own proprietary standards by making them "open", but this only results in multiple standards, each with its own following, and all not "inter-operable" with each other.

Meanwhile, the European IEC committe approved a "standard" consisting of eight different standards, which is ridiculous. And the end-users continue to be confused - waiting for the standard that never comes, or working with their choice of one of the several, fairly good, proprietary, "open" networks.

Much of this rather comical confusion is best described in poetry. here you will find several articles and poems which I hope will help you understand industrial networks.

Current news & commentary

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Networks
Everywhere
 Networks everywhere - the Global Brain
It turns out that networks are NOT a relatively recent "invention," something that has to do only with computers. They've always been around; even before we humans came on the scene. Howard Bloom's book: "The Global Brain" explains everything. And it’s enlightening to think of networks this way. This article was published by Automation.com - August 2005.
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Pervasive
Networks
 Pervasive Networks
Within the next few years, literally billions of Internet-enabled microprocessors will provide digital intelligence and connectivity for almost every commercial & industrial product and appliance, extending the Internet into almost every aspect of our lives.
Published by Automation World - December 2004.
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Sensor networks
 Intelligent Sensor Networks
Smart, wireless networked sensors will soon be everywhere, collecting and processing vast amounts data, providing vast arrays of real-time, remote interaction with the physical world. Published by Automation World - May 2004.
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Intelligent, optimized equipment
 Intelligent, Networked Equipment Optimizes Assets
Imagine every piece of equipment monitoring its own operation, including uptime, downtime, dwell-time, energy usage, malfunction and repair-time. Technologies exist right now that can do that in order to help end-users optimize their assets.
Published by Automation World - November 2003.
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Wireless sensor networks		 Wireless sensor networks
Smart, wireless networked sensors will soon be all around us, collectively processing vast amounts of previously unrecorded data to help run factories, optimize farming, monitor the weather and even watch for earthquakes. Published by Automation Techies.com, September 2003.

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Catch the
Fieldbus
How do I catch the Fieldbus?
A wide variety of networks is available in the industrial automation environment and confusion arises because their capabilities overlap. So, which "fieldbus" should YOU use? It all depends on your needs - cost, speed, complexity, compatibility with already-installed devices and future expansion requirements.
First published in ISA Worldbus Journal, Supplement to InTech, October 2000.

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Fieldbus Update
 Update: Fieldbus -
Neutral Instrumentation Vendor's Perspective.
Revision (Dec. '99) of my popular fieldbus paper, first presented at ISA, Oct. '94 and article in InTech, July '95.

Pinto Fieldbus Poems


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Fieldbus Poems
 The Pinto Fieldbus Poems
To liven up the staid and often humorless industrial automation business atmosphere, I've tried my hand at poetic satire. Some of my stuff has been published in industry journals, with good feedback. The continuous confusion in the fieldbus arena is a prime candidate for my metaphorical musings.

Previous writings & commentary


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Fieldbus Debate
 The Great Fieldbus Debate - is Over!
A summary of The Great Fieldbus Debate at ISA TechExpo/99. This event was significant in that each of the participants preached "I did it my way!" - signalling the death of the Fieldbus SP-50 standard, and emergence of several de facto standards in the different classes of applications.

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IEC Fieldbus Vote
 The 8-Part Fieldbus Voting Fiasco
In early January 2000, the IEC "unofficially" voted in favor of an 8-part Fieldbus standard. The ISA webpages reported the news in businesslike prose. I felt that this somewhat comical paradox could only be described with poetry.

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Open Systems Rules
 Rules for Open Systems
This article appeared in Industrial Controls Intelligence, October '99. It presents the Marketing rules which govern the introduction of open and interoperable technology systems.

C=PxV/U
Pinto's Law
 The Law of Market Confusion
A simple formula that demonstrates the relationship between Confusion in the marketplace and the number of Vendors and Happy Users.

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Industrial Computers & Communications
 Industrial Computers & Communications - A Dissection
Long, long ago, I wrote this article as a guest-columnist for Dick Morley's column in Programmable Controls, now Industrial Computng. While reading it recently, I was surprised that some of the ideas are still valid today. I've included it here, to provide a historical perspective on the still important topic of industrial computers, communications, fieldbus and ethernet.
First published in Programmable Controls, Nov/Dec 1987.
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Writings Index
 Index of all JimPinto writings
Take a look at a chronological index of all JimPinto writings and poetry.

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Copyright 2000 : Jim Pinto, San Diego, CA, USA