Different software, programming

Switching to MCPs is not an evolutionary step. It requires software designers to think differently than in the past, according to NI’s Weltzin. “Designers must concentrate on parallelism and consciously split their applications into multiple threads to realize the benefits. This represents the central challenge to MCP technology’s adoption today,” he said. “Researchers, tool providers, and engineers/programmers must work on this issue together.”

Developers face other challenges in working with parallel code. First, the mechanism for connecting data caches among cores—or memory architecture—affects the rate at which code running on those cores can share data, hence it is vital to overall application performance. Debugging and visualizing interactions between threads is a further challenge, Weltzin explained.

He mentioned availability of software tools to ease memory cache issues and debugging, but more innovation is needed (see more online). “Essentially, these tools take information about dependencies specified in code and then use that information to automatically map applications to multi-core CPUs,” Weltzin said. An underlying technology called “dataflow” removes the need for designers to manually identify parallel sections of code. Dataflow is part of NI’s LabVIEW software, which is typically used with up to eight CPU cores. “In addition, many software tool providers are actively investing in debugging tools that allow developers to trace the execution of individual threads and visualize interactions between threads,” Weltzin continued.

Processors with four or more cores are readily available, with much higher core count under development due to relatively easy hardware replication. "As number of cores on a chip continues to grow, making effective use of available cores will be a central challenge and virtualization technology is a promising potential solution,” he said. With many cores, say 16 for example, keeping track of parallel chunks of code becomes truly difficult. A smart compiler can come to the rescue to automatically map application code to the processing hardware (as in LabVIEW), but even compilers have limitations, Weltzin noted.

Intel’s Gilvarry agreed that application software developers will need to change their architecture to ensure advantages of extra cores are realized. For most users it means making their software code more parallel. Typically two methods are used: multitasking, a simpler first approach; and threading. The second provides the best performance but requires greater effort, according to Gilvarry.

He outlined four steps needed to convert a serial software application to a multithreaded application, namely: analyze, express, exploit, and optimize parallelism. ”Threading, when done well, makes best use of cache and runs repetitive algorithms faster,” Gilvarry added. “Starting a new thread for repetitive processes will run faster than starting a new process because often the memory segment doesn’t need to be changed and the instructions needed may still be in the instruction cache. (See more coverage of threading, multitasking, and software tools online.)

MCPs are moving into automation systems, first in higher-end controllers with lower-end systems expected to follow as implementation costs come down and user experience develops.

An IPhone As Your Next HMI?

Consumer-Grade Smartphones And Tablet Computers Are Fast Becoming Commonplace Extensions Of Industrial Networks, Permitting Process Monitoring And, Even (Gasp!) Process Control.

It was a typical buffet breakfast at a process industry user group meeting. Your correspondent was enjoying an unhealthy dose of high-cholesterol selections and making small talk with other attendees. One took out his Apple iPad and began checking email. After a few moments, the discussion turned to ways he used that device, and he said, very of matter-of-factly, that he could use it to access his plant networks using a wireless Internet connection and see how the process was running. If necessary, he could log in and even control the process via that device. He and one other colleague had the credentials to do that. This was not some young tech native, but a gentleman probably in his sixth decade. The plant in question was a full-scale paper mill.

It’s possible that he had become blasé about the level of technology that it represented, but I suspect he realized that the others of us at the table found the whole idea fascinating and maybe a little scary. The notion that such an interface is practical over the Internet, wirelessly, and using an off-the-shelf Apple device, stands much industrial networking convention on its head. What’s next? Controlling a chemical plant with a Mac? That may be a bit too much, but why shouldn’t industrial applications use this level of convenience, provided there is an appropriate level of security? Smartphones and tablet computers, regardless of the manufacturer, are hugely powerful and represent a useful extension of industrial networks, especially Ethernet- and Web-based communication. Apple claims there are more than 425,000 apps available for iPhones, so it’s no surprise that some extend into industrial contexts. The number of offerings for Google’s Android platform is not far behind.

Many industrial system suppliers, particularly those that are a level removed from large plant-wide control platform suppliers, are working with these types of apps, providing extensions of plant networks in process and discrete manufacturing. The basic concept of this is not all that new. Earlier versions typically used an interface to send automated voice or text messages to operators’ cell phones if specific events happened. These were particularly popular in applications such as enabling an unmanned pumping station for a water utility to send an automated alarm message. Such uses go back into the 1990s and are still available today.

However, today’s applications are vastly more sophisticated, taking advantage of the growth of wireless networks, the growing capabilities of portable devices, and rapidly expanding Ethernet networking. Once a system is connected to the Internet, all such barriers disappear, for better or worse. Moreover, the mind-boggling proliferation of applications for smartphones and tablets seem to enable just about anything from anywhere. As tech natives move into manufacturing, there is an expectation that such capabilities are available as a matter of course.

Adding mobility

Most major control system suppliers have added some mobile worker HMI (human-machine interface) capability via wireless devices, often using ruggedized armor-plated laptops, such as Panasonic Toughbooks, although such connectivity usually doesn’t go much beyond the fence. However, compared to an iPad or smartphone, these are bulky, heavy, and expensive. Consumer-grade devices are usually considered too fragile and there is no certification for hazardous locations. Still, proponents contend that every device does not need the ability to work from any conceivable location in an oil refinery. In most applications, consumer-grade devices are more than adequate, and their ubiquity enables virtually anyone to have one.

Driving the process

“Mobile access is driven by the need for continuous ubiquitous viewing, from management watching production to an operator remotely adjusting a process,” says Mark Lochhaas, automation I/O product manager for Advantech Industrial Automation. “Using a smartphone to access SCADA or HMI data is simply a type of thin client function on a small wireless platform. Conceptually, any device that can browse the Internet could be used to dynamically access automation data, either real time, or historically, perhaps from the cloud. The server must be able to host a mobile app, and the mobile device must have an app that is compatible with the host.”

The companies that are pressing this development are not necessarily the large control system architects, but smaller companies that support networking and are more willing to experiment with new things. Most of the driving force has come from the IT side, reflecting growth of mobile applications on that side. “Within the convergence of IT and the factory floor everything is being connected, from individual devices to factory floors being connected to supply chain management systems to integration with the rest of the business,” says Brian Vezza, director of machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions at Wind River. “The combination of M2M, cloud, and smart consumer devices is driving powerful new business opportunities for industrial, energy, medical, and other markets. Within the manufacturing plant environment, M2M devices enable enhanced situational awareness where plant managers, business leaders, and others can see a much deeper understanding of their operating environment, resources, objects, and things. By combining information generated from M2M devices with other systems (e.g., the context) and using analytics or other forms of control and/or business logic, business becomes more intelligent and valuable.”