Good morning Class.
Todays topic of discusstion shall be the forming of a totally new control system. The system will have the following:
1) 13 control stations filling parts into boxes
2) Centralized control of all Stations
3) Data collection for all stations
4) RFID read/write heads at all stations
5) Alarm Handeler
6) Bar Code printers/readers at one station
7) Automation to be spread out over three rooms
Sounds like fun right! Well it will be (eventually) Oh, before I forget, the control stations are mobile and interchangeable. If I move one or take it offline, I cannot loose the rest of the network. Ethernet IP - TCP/IP looks good but not all the equipment has that capability.
Oh I know what you were thinking Remote I/0, Profibus, Devicenet and the likes. All of which are unsuitable comm protocols for this venture. If you loose one drop, the network will fault.
I'm in contact with AB, Moeller and GE. I'm (sort of) getting the "deer-in-the-headlights" look from them with "I'll have to make some phone calls and get back with you."
Any Ideas?
Tim R
Todays topic of discusstion shall be the forming of a totally new control system. The system will have the following:
1) 13 control stations filling parts into boxes
2) Centralized control of all Stations
3) Data collection for all stations
4) RFID read/write heads at all stations
5) Alarm Handeler
6) Bar Code printers/readers at one station
7) Automation to be spread out over three rooms
Sounds like fun right! Well it will be (eventually) Oh, before I forget, the control stations are mobile and interchangeable. If I move one or take it offline, I cannot loose the rest of the network. Ethernet IP - TCP/IP looks good but not all the equipment has that capability.
Oh I know what you were thinking Remote I/0, Profibus, Devicenet and the likes. All of which are unsuitable comm protocols for this venture. If you loose one drop, the network will fault.
I'm in contact with AB, Moeller and GE. I'm (sort of) getting the "deer-in-the-headlights" look from them with "I'll have to make some phone calls and get back with you."
Any Ideas?
Tim R