eHandbook: I/O Systems

Your next control upgrade might not be hardware at all

Process automation has spent decades tied to rigid hardware and the rip-and-replace cycles that come with it. Now software is loosening that grip. In the new Control E-Handbook on I/O Systems, you’ll see how system virtualization, containers and unified namespace (UNS) architectures help users break free of traditional PLC-bound thinking. A battery plant swapped roughly 500 PLCs for 155 edge servers and now saves an estimated $5-10 million a year. A rural water district is going open and non-proprietary to cut travel and windshield time. Along the way, you’ll get a handy glossary of the virtualization and AI toolbox, from Kubernetes and Node-RED to MCP servers and Sparkplug B.

But what happens when the vendor tools you’ve relied on for years vanish? One story follows an engineer facing an unsupported alarm management suite and a vendor that won’t own the problem, and it makes a case for open process automation as an escape from the endless snipe hunt. Then, another article asks whether field-device diagnostics can truly deliver instrument reliability gains, or whether Ethernet-APL and the inertia of “just doing what we always did” will keep good ideas on the shelf.

Finally, if you’ve ever struggled to get a control improvement approved, you’ll want to read the first installment of a three-part series on justifying advanced control with real process economics. Using quality giveaway and distillation column flooding examples, it shows how tighter control can open a roughly 25% increase in vapor rate, which is just the kind of number managers understand. Add in product spotlights on intrinsically safe I/O, high-density temperature monitoring, and heavy-duty terminal blocks, and this is a must-read for anyone designing, maintaining, or optimizing automation systems.

Inside this E-Handbook:

• Free to move
• Hunting the elusive snipe
• Justify improved control via process economics
• Just doing what we always did