ProSoft Technology®: High-speed industrial radios

The new RadioLinx® industrial radios support IEEE 802.11n and provide premier performance for high-capacity networks. They offer high-reliability networking to applications with moving devices and/or obstructed environments that are traditionally difficult to solve with wireless solutions. The offering consists of a single-radio Industrial HotspotTM, and a single-radio Industrial Client.

802.11n Industrial Wireless solutions, which leverage the latest technology to provide greater flexibility and performance to a broad range of manufacturing and production applications. The need Since 2002, hundreds of thousands of 2.4 and 5 GHz radios have been installed by and for Automation Engineers. They are today operating in every industry. In the past, some applications have required throughput that has been highly demanding given available wireless technology. Other applications had to consider limited RF-channel availability. In some cases, long distances impacted transmission and a changing RF-environment due to moving metal structures also influenced transmission. While industrial 802.11a/b/g solutions are already suitable for a wide variety of applications, industrial 802.11n radios are a welcome improvement.  Industrial 802.11n eases implementation of wireless networks for critical and challenging applications and offers wireless options to a wider range of applications.

The solution
The new RadioLinx 802.11n radio utilizes MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology. It uses up to three antennas to enable high-speed data rates up to 300 Mbps, providing advanced performance in industrial environments.

Where network crowding is a concern, the combination of 2.4 + 5 GHz bands offers 3 + 19 non-overlapping channels (3 + 24 for applications exported to North America). Operating at 5 GHz also provides an alternative to the popular 2.4 GHz band, which may have limited availability if already used in existing installations.

Harry Forbes of ARC Advisory Group comments: »These new ProSoft Technology radios are among the first to bring 802.11n technology to industrial automation networks. IEEE 802.11n brings a higher level of wireless performance to plant-floor applications. Also, MIMO technology reduces the multipath interference that is common in industrial installations. Standards-based radio technology is continuously improving, and ProSoft Technology is quickly making these improvements available to the plant floor.» The benefits Compatible with existing 802.11 RadioLinx solutions, the RadioLinx 802.11n Industrial radios improve performance for high-bandwidth applications and high packet-rate control applications. They also provide better signal sensitivity and range in environments like mobile factory settings.

Two RadioLinx 802.11n solutions are available today: a single-radio Industrial HotspotTM (RLXIB-IHN) and a single-radio Industrial Client (RLXIB-ICN).

Easy to Configure and Monitor
RadioLinx WirelessN Discovery Tool is a configuration and monitoring tool for the RadioLinx 802.11n Industrial Hotspot radios. This software tool allows viewing the network topology, assigning IP addresses to radios for configuration, monitoring network diagnostics, updating radio firmware and detecting the presence of any 802.11 radios on the network. In addition, ProSoft Technology´s free OPC Server allows for HMI-based wireless network diagnostics. Automatic or manual network configuration is user selectable (can be prioritized or fixed) with self-healing functionality and master redundancy for reliable large networks.

Additional Features
The RLXIB-IHN includes the industrial features of RadioLinx products including hazardous location certifications (UL1604 Class I Div 2, ATEX Zone 2 Category 3), extended operating temperature range, high vibration/shock resistance, DIN-rail mounting, Power over Ethernet and simultaneous bridge / repeater / Industrial HotspotTM mode. All ProSoft Technology products come with a three year warranty and unlimited technical support for the life of the product.

For further information, e-mail: bforgue@prosoft-technology.com  Refer to page 163   

The cloud-based Netbiter
solution from HMS enables remote
management of industrial applications

The Netbiter® remote management solution enables users to monitor and control machinery such as power generators, tanks, wind turbines, building applications and base stations from a standard web browser.

Remote access to industrial applications and cloud computing are hot topics today as more and more companies are looking to save time, energy and resources. With this in mind, HMS can now offer a remote management solution for industrial applications based on cloud technology.

How Netbiter works
The Netbiter remote management solution is unique since it is an all-in-one solution including communication gateways, secure hosting servers and a web user interface.

A Netbiter gateway connects to any type of remote equipment, usually via the Modbus protocol. The Netbiter sends information via the Internet or a secure GSM/GPRS connection which requires no VPN or static IP addresses.

By accessing the Netbiter ArgosTM data center at www.netbiter.net, users can monitor parameters such as temperatures, statuses and levels from a regular web browser. It is also possible to start or stop equipment such as power generators remotely.

Typical users and applications
The Netbiter solution can be used by anyone wanting to monitor and control equipment remotely. Early adopters use Netbiter to monitor power generators, water/wastewater plants, tanks, building/HVAC installations, telecom base stations and renewable energy. By getting real-time information about equipment in the field, users are able to gain better control and make substantial savings on service trips and machine maintenance.

"Netbiter is already a trusted and proven concept installed in more than 50 countries around the world. With the acquisition of the remaining shares in remote management specialist Intellicom earlier this year, we now put further focus on remote management within HMS and offer the Netbiter concept on a wider scale. With the backing of the HMS global team we can now offer state-of-the-art industrial solutions for remote management,» comments Staffan Dahlström, CEO at HMS Industrial Networks.

Technical highlights
1) The Netbiter gateway sends information via a secure Ethernet or GSM/GPRS connection eliminating the need for VPNs or static IP addresses.
2) The solution is configured in a web interface at www.netbiter.net without the need for any programming.
3) A dashboard tool makes it easy to create graphical displays with gauges and tables of the most important parameters in real time.
4) Historical data is stored on parallel servers in the Netbiter ArgosTM data center, making it easy to create reports and statistics regarding the equipment.

For further information, contact  Michela Nalin, e-mail: min@hms.se or view website: www.anybus.com   Refer to page 324

Atmel QTouch Studio 4.3 software tool eases touch designs

QTouch Studio 4.3 addresses every phase of a touch design and includes the industry's first Touch Validation Wizard, accelerating time-to-market with intelligent touch interface design

Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today launched the Atmel QTouch® Studio 4.3--the industry's first touch design software tool to support the complete touch design flow.  Another first is the Touch Validation Wizard, a feature in the Atmel QTouch Studio 4.3 to help assess design quality by reporting capacitance, noise and reference levels, as well as notifying the user of design marginalities. The software tool is so easy to use that design engineers do not need an expert level of understanding of touch technologies to quickly and effectively integrate touch functionality into their applications.

With Atmel QTouch Studio 4.3, designers can quickly enhance their designs with touch functionality while bringing their products to market faster, thereby reducing the overall engineering workload and accelerating their time to revenue. This software tool supports real-time tuning of the touch sensors, permanent storage of the tuned configuration data into the flash memory, design validation, and debug of the touch interface. Engineers can now easily expand their sensor and manufacturing supply chain by qualifying their systems for multiple material suppliers or contract manufacturers, while testing the performance of the touch interface during development or in production.

The Atmel QTouch Studio 4.3 supports Atmel AVR® 8- and 32-bit and ARM® microcontroller devices.  This software tool can also be used with the Atmel touch evaluation and development kits, including the QT600.

"Atmel is committed to making it easy for design engineers to implement touch in their designs," said Steve Berry, marketing director for touch technologies at Atmel Corporation. "QTouch Studio 4.3 enables engineers in any market to integrate touch functionality into their system designs. The Touch Validation Wizard that we've added in this release is the first of its kind to provide quantitative and qualitative data back to the user, informing the user if any of the touch design rules have been violated."

The Atmel QTouch Studio 4.3 is a free software application that provides real-time tuning, validation, debug, and visualization of touch interfaces. This software is supported by Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

For further information about Atmel maXTouch products, view website: http://www.atmel.com/ maxtouch To learn more about the Atmel maXTouch mXT1386, view website: www.atmel.com/mxt1386 To see Atmel's latest maXTouch videos, visit the Atmel YouTube Channel at: www.atmel.com/youtube You can follow Atmel on Twitter: www.atmel.com/twitter or on Facebook at: www.atmel.com/facebook  Refer to page 193