The original network analysis tool was the National Instruments Bus Monitor, developed at approximately the same time as Foundation Fieldbus was being introduced. This tool was designed to monitor the data traffic on fieldbus networks. It was not until Relcom introduced the FBT-3 that a physical layer troubleshooting tool specific for Fieldbus was available. Prior to the FBT-3 the only options were multimeter and oscilloscope, with no way of knowing which devices were communicating when a signal trace went by.

Advocates of sustainable business and manufacturing practices, including me, have been saying for years that a sustainable enterprise is not only possible and practical, but that it is profitable beyond the low hanging fruit of energy savings from replacing light bulbs and the like.

Here's an article from our sister publication @SustainablePlant that says we have not been wrong.

I was very happy to see the recent S4 Conference validate what I have been saying for more than the past 10 years about the cyber vulnerability of control system devices. The S4 Conference opens some very serious questions about the effectiveness of DOE and DHS in securing critical infrastructure. Dale Peterson had publicized the Basecamp project for many months.

I, along with several other people, have been predicting the arrival of "lick and stick" sensors-- very inexpensive wireless sensors capable of being used in many industrial and building automation applications. Here's a press release from Omega Engineering that makes my case. Note the price.

This just in on a Friday:

Ah, the law of unintended consequences! It always works to bring a good idea back to reality. All we have to do is to make electric cars and the carbon problem and the pollution problem will go away! Well, not exactly.

Batteries are made of hazardous materials and must be disposed of. The electricity to charge and recharge those batteries must be made in coal- or oil- or natural gas- or nuclear-fired power plants. Each of them has wasteproducts and pollutants, although the least polluting obviously is nuclear.

Deadlines for the ISA Communications Division two Spring Symposia are quickly approaching.
The first event this April in Troy (Detroit) Michigan is a joint offering with the ISA100 WG16 committee that will be two half-days focused on Wireless applications in the Factory environment. Key topics at this event include: Wireless for Factory Automation User Requirements, Secure Wireless Sensor Networks,
IEEE P1451.1.4 and Smart RFID use for Factory Automation, and Emerging Wireless Technologies for Factory Automation.

Country rocker Toby Keith has a hit song called "Made in America" where the chorus goes, in part, "Spends a little more at the store for a tag in the back that says USA."

This press release just came in. I'd seen the results of the survey last week, but now it has been made public. It is a pretty damning assessment of the future of high technology in the USA. It says quite a bit about the, well, frankly, stupidity, of previous Administrations and many corporations who've essentially refused to do anything to attract young people to high technology jobs in manufacturing, and who've supported moving those jobs outside the USA.

Now the proverbial chickens are roosting. (There's more commentary after the press release)

Enclosed is a note I received this morning from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): "We're aware that there's very little in NSS