IEN: What strides do you see in: ease of integration? Flexibility and scalability?
Kulkarni: Engineers and machine builders are under increasing pressure to cut costs and continue to look for ways to incorporate new technology into their existing PLC- or DCS-based systems. Programmable automation controllers (PACs) offer the capability to add advanced I/O, advanced processing, and advanced communication to existing systems. This includes motion, vision, high-speed acquisition, and signals that require special signal conditioning such as electrical power measurements, strain, LVDT, and vibration. Ease of integration, flexibility, and scalability become very important to incorporating these PACs into existing systems. PACs offer an open architecture that lends itself to easy integration with common DeviceNet or Profibus systems. PACs also offer the flexibility of PC-based programming languages that incorporate technologies like web / database connectivity, and .NET support for more powerful system development.
IEN: What improvements can users expect in drives, motors, servers, advanced control, Distributed Controls, Programmable Automated Controls, software, MEMS, deterministic Ethernet, PID tuning, customization, robustness, and elsewhere?
Kulkarni: Engineers can expect to see more embedded technologies being incorporated as part of Programmable Automation Controllers. PACs like CompactRIO allow the user to program the FPGA to interface with modular I/O. This takes performance to a new level with 200 kHz servo update rates for motion control or 20 MHz digital loop rates. Software development environments like LabVIEW target not just PACs but also DSPs and 32-bit microprocessors, giving engineers full flexibility in choosing their desired hardware target.
IEN: How about open standards and data sharing?
Kulkarni: Ethernet is emerging as the standard for machine-to-machine and machine-to-enterprise communications. With so many vendors in the marketplace at the sensor, controls, and enterprise levels, open standards like Ethernet are extremely important for sharing data effectively.