A method and apparatus for managing a field device on a network can involve detecting, at a processing device, a connection of the field device in an industrial process control and automation system, receiving data, from the field device, including payload information related to the field device in the industrial process control and automation system, determining, at the processing device, whether the field device uses a specific protocol based on the data, and responsive to determining that the field device uses the specific protocol, generating, at the processing device, a soft modem instance. The method and apparatus can also involve termination of soft modem instance if the field device becomes disconnected. The method and apparatus can also involve demodulating and extracting, using the soft modem instance, the payload information from the data.

A communication simplifier system and method simplify communication between a client application and a single-board data processing system using a tethering architecture. In at least one embodiment, the communication simplifier system and method allows a software developer to build a communication tethering application for the single-board data processing system, define a communication connection strategy, and add a client communication tethering application to a remote computer system, such as a mobile or desktop client computer system, to handle communication with the single-board data processing system. The client computer system also offloads processing from the single-board data processing system by including a processing logic application to implement additional logic to process data received by the single-board data processing system.

The present invention provides a counter unit (10) that supports, in a plurality of output devices, both a case where there is no problem in a state in which common signal terminals or power supply terminals are connected by common wiring, and a case where it is preferable to connect the common signal terminals or the power supply terminals by circuits insulated from each other. The counter unit (10) is provided with a switching unit (15) that performs switching between a non-insulated circuit (16) that connects a plurality of common signal terminals (COMA, COMB, COMC) and/or a plurality of power supply terminals (IOV, IOG) by common wiring, and an insulated circuit (17) that connects the plurality of common signal terminals and/or the plurality of power supply terminals by circuits insulated from each other.

The present invention provides a counter unit (10) that supports, in a plurality of output devices, both a case where there is no problem in a state in which common signal terminals or power supply terminals are connected by common wiring, and a case where it is preferable to connect the common signal terminals or the power supply terminals by circuits insulated from each other. The counter unit (10) is provided with a switching unit (15) that performs switching between a non-insulated circuit (16) that connects a plurality of common signal terminals (COMA, COMB, COMC) and/or a plurality of power supply terminals (IOV, IOG) by common wiring, and an insulated circuit (17) that connects the plurality of common signal terminals and/or the plurality of power supply terminals by circuits insulated from each other.

A programmable logic controller, PLC, comprising: a programmable logic module; a Modbus interface configured to receive one or more Modbus commands, the one or more Modbus commands specifying a configuration for one or more Boolean logic operations; and a programming module operatively coupled to the Modbus interface and the programmable logic module, the programming module being configured to program the programmable logic module in accordance with the configuration for the one or more Boolean logic operations specified by the received one or more Modbus commands.

A stored control program includes subperiods into which an operation period from a start to an end of an operation of an automated manufacturing machine is divided. Each subperiod is assigned with an actuator to act and action information about the actuator. The subperiods are sequentially selected one by one as a control target, and feedback control is performed on an action of the actuator assigned to the selected subperiod. This reduces the number of actuators controlled at the same time for controlling the operation of an automated manufacturing machine including many actuators. The control program can thus be executed promptly with an operation control apparatus having ordinary processing capability.

A system and a method provide an Artificial Intelligence (AI) companion for each Function Block in a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) program to integrate AI in automation systems. Multiple function blocks and system function blocks are grouped into a logic group. A control problem is broken down from a top level into logical partitions as several functions that are programmed as Function Blocks in a PLC program. Each Function Block and the entire PLC program are integrated with an associated AI Companion. A runtime system for the AI Companion provides new runtime capabilities. An approach to implementing the AT Companions is provided. A method of controlling an automation process is also provided.

According to an aspect, there is provided a method for monitoring quality of loose tube fiber optic cable during manufacture in a secondary coating line. Initially, a trained machine-learning algorithm for calculating expected values of one or more quality metrics of manufactured loose tube fiber optic cable based on values of the one or more production process parameters of the secondary coating line is maintained in a machine-learning database. A computing system monitors one or more values of the one or more production process parameters during miming of the secondary coating line and calculates, in real-time during the monitoring, one or more expected values of the one or more quality metrics using the trained machine-learning algorithm with the monitored values of the one or more production process parameters as input. The computing system outputs at least the one or more expected values of the one or more quality metrics to a user device.

A PLC system construction support program for creating a system configuration diagram depicting a configuration of a PLC system constructed causes a computing terminal to function as: an image acquisition section that acquires image data of an image of the PLC system; a system configuration recognition section that creates system configuration information including arrangement information and selected unit information; a system configuration diagram generation section that creates a system configuration diagram based on the system configuration information; and a system configuration diagram editor section that performs display processing for displaying the system configuration diagram on a display section.

A PLC system construction support program for creating a system configuration diagram depicting a configuration of a PLC system constructed causes a computing terminal to function as: an image acquisition section that acquires image data of an image of the PLC system; a system configuration recognition section that creates system configuration information including arrangement information and selected unit information; a system configuration diagram generation section that creates a system configuration diagram based on the system configuration information; and a system configuration diagram editor section that performs display processing for displaying the system configuration diagram on a display section.