A method and apparatus for geotechnical soil sampling in conjunction with the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is provided. The apparatus involves a tubular whipstock cell affixed between push rods and the lower elements of a cone penetrometer. The whipstock cell includes a whipstock having a beveled face. The whipstock face is oriented towards a sampling window pre-formed in the whipstock cell. The apparatus also includes at least one push rod connected to the proximal end of the whipstock cell, and an elongated sampling rod dimensioned to be slidably moved through the at least one push rod en route to the whipstock cell. The apparatus additionally comprises a soil sampler residing at a distal end of the push rod. A method of taking soil samples is also provided herein.

A method comprises a network apparatus requesting and receiving, from an industrial automation device via a communications network, identification information on the industrial automation device regarding at least one characteristic of the industrial automation device. Based on the receiving, art interaction specification is retrieved regarding the industrial automation device from a database, the interaction specification indicating at least one protocol for interaction between the network apparatus and the industrial automation device. The at least one protocol is utilized for interacting between the network apparatus and the industrial automation device via the communications network, to read and write information supported by at least one of the industrial automation device and a memory device connected to it.