Solutions for Industrial Computing News

For mission-critical medium-density data centers, security systems, process control, and telecom/VoIP equipment, a 5 and 6 kVA UPS protects against damage, power disturbances, and outages. It offers hot-swappable battery and control modules to aid maintenance, and tools to monitor conditions and troubleshoot problems.

Panasonic will offer Qualcomm's Gobi global mobile Internet solution in its line of Toughbook mobile computers. Using the multi-mode Gobi solution, they can access high-speed mobile Internet services offered in virtually all parts of the world. The laptops will operate on both CDMA2000 and W-CDMA (UMTS) wireless networks. [A short registration may be required.]

In a utility, water plant, or oil and gas refinery, you likely use SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) process control computers to manage industrial machinery. Using Windows and Linux as a base helps lower the ownership cost of these systems, but leaves them more vulnerable to attack. How can you protect your system?

One day, industrial networking may be simple. For now, we need to rely on EDDL. EDDL's goal is one language that can look for any device diagnostics, configuration, and run-time operations, and do it independent of the device manufacturer. This ControlDesign.com article says three major Fieldbus organizations are making progress.

Can intuitive test improve your embedded designs? Embedded designs provide a variety of new products and services across a range of industries and applications. Embedded designs deliver smaller, more cost-effective solutions, and speed part and sub-system selection in everyday items including computing, appliances, and tools.

Embedded dual-processors manage critical safety applications and allow more passenger throughput in a Chinese railway application. Bombardier's people mover installations are typically elevated single-track loops. The trains use dual computing for redundant operation and parallel calculations. These rail systems handle a tremendous amount of communication I/O.

Applications ranging from industrial controllers to protocol converters to gateways can be implemented using a high-performance ARM single board computer. The SBC uses StackableUSB technology and is suited for remote, low-power applications such as industrial control systems, mobile, hand-held, military, medical, and remote communications applications.

Single-board embedded modules can help get your systems to market faster. The also allow customizable design, and can provide built-in analog and digital I/O. Applications include medical device monitoring, robotics and unmanned vehicle control, machine condition and electrical power monitoring, and portable noise and vibration analysis.

In many industrial projects and particularly in aerospace projects, much of the knowledge vital to success exists in the minds of a few engineers. This Opinion piece in EE Times Asia says that imperfect memories, career changes, and retirement often mean this information is lost. John Goodman, author of Knowledge Capture and Management for Space Flight Systems, says early space efforts took just a few years to complete. But the program to-date spans an engineer's career. In 2010, when the Shuttle program halts, how many of the original engineers will still be around? How will you preserve project knowledge?

Several billion years after Big Bang that got the universe going, scientists surmise that a following Little Bang spawned our solar system. They now have a computer model to back up the idea that our sun is the product of an explosive event. The new modeling finds that a supernova, or exploding star, could have triggered the start of our sun in a dense cloud of gas and dust. This is the first time a detailed model for a supernova triggering the formation of our solar system has been shown to work.

Brain Books for the Brain Drain?

In many industries, knowledge capture is critical. Whether it's for a personal or corporate project, do you plan to protect project procedures? How will you do it?