Hydrocarbon Processing - August 2021 - 78

MIKE RHODES, MANAGING EDITOR
Mike.Rhodes@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Innovations
Software to schedule,
plan and track quality
assurance (QA)
test activities
ESC Spectrum has released QAInsight,
a subscription-based software that
helps utilities and other industrial companies
solve the challenges of scheduling,
planning and tracking a myriad of
activities related to performing QA tests
required by state and federal agencies.
QAInsight serves as a company's single
source for QA test data, ensuring access to
information across different facilities and
departments, as well as eliminating mistakes
caused by missing or incorrect data
resulting from spreadsheets or other error-prone
collection and storage methods.
QAInsight users can see an overview
of their QA activities (including QA test
completion dates, operating data and recertification
event deadlines among many
others) color-coded to help them quickly
set priorities.
While QAInsight can be configured
to work with any data acquisition system
(DAS), it automatically imports critical
information from ESC Spectrum's StackVision™
DAS.
Link guardian
unidirectional media
converter
ComNet, Communication Networks,
an ACRE company and a U.S.-based
manufacturer of fiber optic transmission
and networking equipment, is expanding
its line of cybersecurity products by adding
to its line of intelligent media converters.
These intelligent media converters
with Link Guardian create a physical layer
of protection that limits network traffic
to one-way communication between
the source and destination networks.
The ComNet CNGEUMC4+2(TX,
RX)/M (FIG. 1) is designed to prevent cybersecurity
attacks by limiting data flow
to one direction between a secured and
unsecured network. How the devices are
deployed will determine which direction
the data will flow.
Called a " unidirectional media convertFIG.
1. The ComNet CNGEUMC4+2(TX, RX)/M.
er, " this physical security is more effective
than software-enabled network firewalls.
The company says that data connection is
unhackable and invulnerable to malware.
The ComNet CNGEMUMC4+2(TX,
RX)/M is a hardened, four-port, all-gigabit
intelligent media converter. This product
is designed to provide deterministic
data transfer in only one direction (unidirectional),
to segment and protect networks,
devices and other digital assets (databases,
historians, SCADA, PLCs, DCS,
etc.) from external cyber threats.
Free firmware upgrade
IDEC Corporation has released a free
FIG. 2. IDEC Corporation's firmware upgrade.
78 AUGUST 2021 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
firmware upgrade (FIG. 2) enabling new
and existing MicroSmart FC6A Plus PLC
CPUs to support the industry-standard
MQTT protocol. The upgrade can be
downloaded to the FC6A CPU, so it is
easy for users to connect all types of field
data to onsite and cloud-based brokers,
and make the information readily available
for users and analytical applications.
Users can also send commands to the
FC6A using MQTT.
Users everywhere know that Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) data acquired
from their manufacturing sites-whether
from machine automation, building utilities,
smart devices or any other source-is
essential for supporting many other activities.
Live and historized data drives visualization,
alarming/notifications, control
commands, predictive maintenance, deep
analytics and more so sites can operate at
maximum efficiency.
Traditional industrial poll/response
communications protocols used with
PLCs and HMIs are robust and useful, but
they can be demanding for users to configure
and maintain, they may inefficiently
use limited bandwidth, and they often do
not provide sufficient cybersecurity.
MQTT has emerged as a preferred
IIoT communications protocol because it
uses a lightweight and efficient publish/
subscribe methodology for secure messaging
between devices and centralized
brokers, making information easily available
for all authorized applications.
The FC6A with MQTT capability is
ideal for new automation system designs,
or for adding IIoT connectivity to existing
systems. MQTT is supported on Ethernet
port 1, so the FC6A can use existing
wired, Wi-Fi or mobile data wireless networking
to connect with onsite or cloudbased
brokers. A typical application
would publish machine data from many
machines to the cloud, where it would
be historized and could be transmitted to
subscribing mobile applications.
No additional hardware is needed. Users
can take advantage of the traditional
PLC control logic and I/O functionality,
or they can use the FC6A as an IIoT data
concentrator for many other PLCs and in
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