Collaborate Disseminate
It should be no surprise to many that one can use a Raspbery Pi SBC as an industrial controller, but is it any good at that? That was the question which [Dough Reneker] and [William Shaffer] built a test rig to see how a Raspberry Pi performs in head to …read more
Continue reading Evaluating Raspberry Pi as a Programmable Logic Controller
Gosh, what a shame: it turns out that perhaps 2 billion phones won’t be capable of COVID-19 contact-tracing using the API that Google and Apple are jointly developing. The problem is that the scheme the two tech giants have concocted, which Elliot Williams expertly dissected recently, is based on Bluetooth …read more
Critical vulnerabilities in the Siemens S7 Simatic programmable logic controller (PLC) have been discovered by cybersecurity researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Technion Institute of Technology. Prof. Avishai Wool and M.Sc student Uriel Malin of… Continue reading Vulnerabilities in Siemens’ most secure industrial PLCs can lead to industrial havoc
LOGO!, a programmable logic controller (PLC) manufactured by Siemens, sports three vulnerabilities that could allow remote attackers to reconfigure the device, access project files, decrypt files, and access passwords. About LOGO! LOGO! is an intellige… Continue reading Siemens LOGO!, a PLC for small automation projects, open to attack
A lot can be done with simple motors and linear motion when they are mated to the right mechanical design and control systems. Teaching these principles is the goal behind the LCMT (Low Cost Mechatronics Trainer) which is intended primarily as an educational tool. The LCMT takes a “learn by doing” approach to teach a variety of principles by creating a system that takes a cup from a hopper, fills it with candy from a dispenser, then sorts the cups based on color, all done by using the proper combinations of relatively simple systems.
The Low Cost Mechatronics Trainer can …read more
Continue reading Watch The Low-Cost Mechatronics Lab Dispense Candy, Sort Cups
As we have talked about in prior blogs, industrial cybersecurity is a journey. This is a journey that is never-ending, as control system technology advancements are adopting information technology (IT) and cloud-based solutions at a faster rate than ev… Continue reading ICS Cybersecurity: Visibility, Protective Controls, Continuous Monitoring – Wash, Rinse, Repeat
If your usual tools are the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi, you might find it surprising that the industrial world tends to run on Programmable Logic Controllers, or PLCs. You can think of a PLC as a very rugged industrial Arduino, but it’s best not to take that analogy too far. Some PLCs are very simple and some are quite complex, but one thing they do have in common is they are usually programmed using ladder logic. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to program PLCs — a very marketable job skills in some places — you can now …read more
Hackaday readers don’t need an introduction to the Arduino. But in industrial control applications, programmable logic controllers or PLCs are far more common. These are small rugged devices that can do simple things like monitor switches and control actuators. Being ruggedized, they are typically reasonably expensive, especially compared to an Arduino. [Doug Reneker] decided to evaluate an Arduino versus a PLC in a relatively simple industrial-style application.
The application is a simple closed-loop control of flow generated by a pump. A sensor measures flow for the Arduino, which adjusts a control valve actuator to maintain the specified setpoint. The software …read more
How to train young engineers in industrial automation is a thorny issue. Most factories have big things that can do a lot of damage and cost tons of money if the newbie causes a crash. Solution: shrink the factory down to desktop size and let them practice on that.
Luckily for [Vadim], there’s an off-the-shelf solution for miniaturizing factory automation: FischerTechnik industrial training models. The models have motors, conveyors, pneumatic cylinders, and sensors galore, but the controller is not exactly the industry standard programmable logic controller (PLC). [Vadim] set out to remedy this by building an interface between the FischerTechnik …read more
Industrial controls are fun to use in a build because they’re just so — well, industrial. They’re chunky and built to take a beating, both from the operating environment and the users. They’re often power guzzlers, though, so knowing how to convert an industrial indicator for microcontroller use might be a handy skill to have.
Having decided that an Allen-Bradley cluster indicator worked with the aesthetic of his project, a Halloween prop of some sort, [Glen] set about dissecting the controls. Industrial indicators usually make that a simple task so that they can be configured for different voltages in the …read more
Continue reading Industrial Indicator Makes the Move from PLC to FPGA
