Machinery monitoring with wireless vibration and advanced alarm management - Emerson has just released the AMS® Suite: Machinery Health Manager 5.3, part of its industry-leading asset management software. The new AMS Machinery Manager release expands end-user machinery monitoring by adding Smart Wireless vibration data, new autoplot capabilities, and advanced alarm analysis and management. Ê

British-based facility to develop and test complete solutions - GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, today announced the opening of its Engineering Center of Excellence (CoE) for Oil & Gas and Safety in Luton (GB). The centre represents an expansion of the company's commitment to the Oil & Gas industry allowing GE Fanuc to test and provide complete solutions based on GE's best of breed products.

Pesticide analyser reference package for enhanced performance in pesticide applications - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the launch of a unique Pesticide Analyzer Reference package designed to revolutionize the way pesticide analyses are set up and performed. The new, all-inclusive solution provides information on extraction, consumables and assists users in method development for the analysis of pesticides using the Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum GC triple quadrupole GC-MS/MS.

New products provide a complete sound and vibration stimulus response system from single vendor - National Instruments has announced a new portable bus-powered dynamic signal acquisition (DSA) module and a suite of vibration sensors that are ideal for making high-accuracy vibration measurements required for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and machine condition monitoring applications. The NI USB-4431 DSA module acquires data at rates from 1 to 102.4 kS/s, which makes it possible to obtain a wide measurement bandwidth.

a complete library of hardware-initialization, control and application functions -

Great minds think alike! It isn't often that two leading commentators in the world of Automation agree on things but Automation World's Gary Mintchel and Control's Walt Boyes have come out in their blogs on the same day about Invensys. Things are coming together at Invensys...." starts Gary while Walt comments: "Bhattacharya Resurrects Invensys..." Gary commented to Walt (on twitter where else?) after they had coincidentally posted their blogs, "Uh, oh, Walt, not sure it's a good thing when we agree on something ;-) ..." Both seem to agree that the company is "poised for a renaissance."

Pentek has released Wind River's VxWorks operating system support for its Model 4207, the company's flagship processor board for high-performance I/O and data acquisition systems. It is uniquely designed for connectivity. The fabric-transparent, zero-latency crossbar switch connects the PowerPC, XMC module sites, the VXS connector, front-panel optical transceivers, Fibre Channel controller, and FPGA ports together using high-speed gigabit serial data paths.

Usable energy from landfill gas - In the true spirit of environmental consciousness, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' customer Innovative Energy Systems (IES) has developed a clean energy solution that recovers methane gas from landfills and converts it into electricity as an alternative energy source. The solution uses GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' controllers, HMI/SCADA software and operator interface equipment to facilitate the processing of the gas and keep the system running efficiently and effectively, providing Innovative Energy with a sustainable and competitive advantage.

How many do you know? - Just announced is the list of

Walt Boyes was honoured at the 2008 event

honourees to be presented at the annual ISA Gala, this year to be held in Houston (TX US) in October. Included in this distinguished and truly International list are recipients from all corners of the globe, Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, Russia, Brazil and Italy. Among awardees we noticed well deserving of recognition were vetern automation professional Leonard Moore of Moore Industries and, in a sign of the development of technology Eric Byres of Byres Security (Cyber Security) and Kris Pister of Dust Technology (Wireless "mesh" networking).
See who you know!

Sign of the times - As project budgets continue to tighten, customers are faced with the balance of cost cutting without sacrificing job quality. With this in mind, MatrikonOPC is offering a limited time discount on our most popular OPC Servers. Until August 31st, the following OPC servers will be available for just €400 each: MatrikonOPC Server for Siemens PLCs MatrikonOPC Server for GE Fanuc PLCs MatrikonOPC Server for Modbus MatrikonOPC Server for OMRON MatrikonOPC Server for Allen Bradley PLCs This savings of €200 per license is only available on orders received on or before August 28th, 2009. If you have an upcoming project requiring OPC connectivity to these systems please contact me for an updated proposal and details on ordering your software at the reduced price (available only in Europe).

Controller ideal for computationally intensive RF and wireless test applications - National Instruments has introduced the NI PXIe-8108 high-performance embedded controller, which features an Intel(R) CoreTM2 Duo T9400 processor and is designed to significantly reduce test times for PXI Express- and CompactPCI Express-based automated test systems.

New field service organisation established - Real-Time Innovations (RTI) has announced strategic enhancements to capitalise on growth for its Data Distribution Service compliant middleware. RTI has established a Field Operations organisation, which brings together all customer-facing functions: worldwide sales, professional services and customer support.

Aerospace Industry to Aid European Large Scale Metrology Market - The European large scale micro metrology market is anticipated to register low growth during the first few quarters of 2009 due to the economic downturn. An upturn in the economic situation by the last quarter of 2009 is set to spur market growth with resurgent demand from the automotive industry. With an operational and capital expenditure freeze in all end-user segments, growth in this market is dependent on demand from the aerospace industry.

Ideal for image sensor testing or digital pattern generation - ADLINK Technology has announced the release of the PCIe-7350, the latest addition to their popular series of PCI/PCI Express® high-speed digital I/O cards.

New release of toolkit eases system extensibility for ecosystem partners - Wonderware has announced Wonderware DAServer Toolkit 3.0, which gives customers and partners the capability to create, test and deliver custom interfaces to equipment with unparalleled ease of use.

Safety report on Buncefield! -

The UK Health and Safety Executive have released the Phase 1 Report on the Explosion Mechanism Work (pdf) at Buncefield. This was the huge explosion that occured in Hemel Hempstead in England in December 2005

Testing the high road to success - CentraTEQ has a partnership agreement with Cooper Research Technology Ltd to distribute their unique range of high-performance testing equipment for asphaltic and unbound materials used in road construction. The new agreement includes the distribution in Britain and Ireland and complements CentraTEQ's existing range of Test and Development equipment.

Wireless Tx & receiver provide secure, low cost transmission of level data - K-TEK has announced the availability of the DX80 Wireless Transmitter & Receiver, a low cost method for transmitting data between process sensors and higher level systems, such as DCS or SCADA systems.

Trouble with your maths? - Take advantage of the knowledge of an experienced process control engineer! The handy desk reference, Basic Math for Process Control (Bob Connell, ISA) helps students learn the mathematics common to the field, and provides practicing engineers with a quick-and-easy review.

Breakthrough LC technology that dramatically increases lab productivity - Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced the expansion of its quaternary solvent delivery systems with the release of the Accela 600 HPLC and Accela 1000 U-HPLC. The new Thermo Scientific Accela 600 and Accela 1000 are designed to enable rapid method development while significantly reducing solvent consumption.

Providing analytical support and consultancy services for automated inhaler testing - RTS Life Science has partnered with Hall Analytical Laboratories to provide analytical services and consultancy in the area of automation and inhaler testing. Initially focussed on inhaled drug delivery devices, the two companies will share facilities, technology and resources to provide a range of services to help organisations improve efficiency in the development, adoption and use of automation.

ALICE finally sent 'To The Moon' - A custom-engineered spectrometer from Ocean Optics, part of the scientific payload on NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, was successfully launched into space on Thursday June 18th from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. "ALICE," as the spectrometer is affectionately known, was drafted for the mission to help analyse the makeup of the lunar craters, with the goal of locating water below the moon's surface.

Social media survey of Automation professionals - In the 2009 April issue of ISA Insights, a social media survey was posted for readers to provide input on the various types of social media they use--both personally and professionally, and where--and how, ISA fits into this new phenomenon called social media.

e-letters during week ending 26 June Connections for growth and success Process Control Update INTECH e-news ControlDesign e-news Automation Weekly ExpoExchange e-news Control Engineering EME Business Marketing on-line INTECH's Digital Magazine on Flow Level Wireless Up-Date INTECH e-news David W Spitzer's e-zine Mackey's Musings ControlGlobal e-news There are a number of newsletters we receive which are only available in pdf format or are not available in as web pages. These may not be listed here!

Bakery flowmeter - Flow Technology (FTI) has announced the availability of the DC-F Series Positive Displacement (PD) flowmeter for use in bakery and snack food applications. With only two moving parts and a unique bearingless design, this PD meter offers "bullet-proof" performance and a low total cost of ownership.

Workshops - Re-training programme for redundant engineers - National Instruments UK & Ireland has just announced a programme to support engineers who have recently been made redundant, by greatly reducing the cost of NI LabVIEW training and certification. This re-training programme for redundant engineers provides reduced priced LabVIEW certification that will increase engineer's software development skills and help to boost their career potential with an additional professional qualification. Successful certification will see engineers join a growing band of over 3,000 certified professionals worldwide. Achieving certification through exams helps engineers and scientists differentiate themselves and offers employees a highly credible way to identify job candidates with relevant skills.

Automation standards recognised - The Automation Federation has announced a noteworthy recognition of their Founding Member, ISA. The ISA99 Manufacturing and Control Systems Security Standard and ISA100 Wireless Systems for Automation?, the emerging standard for industrial wireless, have been identified for use in the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap for the (US) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Read the report, developed and delivered to NIST by EPRI.

Portable temperature - The D-Series available from Audon Electronics are a range of portable, battery operated stand-alone temperature, humidity and thermocouple data loggers. There are 3 models in the range.

Frequency inverter range up to 22 kW - Nord Gear's SK 500E series frequency inverters were introduced in 2005 in drive sizes 1 through 4 for motor power ratings up to 7.5 kW. The range has become well established as an intelligent, flexible and cost-effective drive system and Nord have now fully released drive sizes 5 and 6 with ratings to 22 kW on three phase 380 to 500 VAC supplies.

New source for studies - ISA has partnered with ARC Advisory Group, the leading market analysts for the manufacturing and utilities segments, to bring memberrs ARC Insight articles at discounted prices, providing guidance and timely information on industrial automation and enterprise solutions market trends, technologies, and strategies for success. Non-members may alos purchase through the ISA website

Workshops - The latest application workshop (#17 - Separator Cyclone Monitoring) from VEGA draws our attention to the whole series of workshops they publish from time to time! Yes,0 we know that many vendor workshops are aimed at selling product it is indisputable that they often contain valuable process or application information. This is a list of Vega's Application Workshop.