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A microcontroller based solution is rarely a good replacement for a PLC. You can find integrators willing to come out and troubleshoot your device in the field
by spauldo 1mo ago
A microcontroller based solution is rarely a good replacement for a PLC. You can find integrators willing to come out and troubleshoot your device in the field a lot more easily than embedded progammers and vendor support is usually excellent. When your plant is down, that sort of thing matters. PLCs handle harsh environments for decades, whereas with a microcontroller all the thermal issues and power conditioning are all on you. When something fails, it's usually just a matter of pulling a spare module off the shelf and plugging it in.
If that's an old GE 90-30 (a common FANUC system), it's time to replace it. You're currently in that period when the CPU has reached end of life but the modules are still supported and the vendor has an easy upgrade path. Emerson owns the brand now, and can sell you a new unit that'll run your old program with minimal changes. You can call them and get a list of integrators in your area. It'll be pricey, but you won't need to do it again for another quarter century.
- giantg2 1mo ago"but you won't need to do it again for another quarter century." Hmm, so how do they handle the new cyber threats, since most of these are connected? It seems upgrades would need to be performed to address new threats. And just because something is not internet connected doesn't make it immune (eg stuxnet).
- black6 1mo agoThey shouldn't be connected is the point of the article. All PLC and DCS manufacturers are constantly working on threat mitigation and pushing out updates to address vulnerabilities. It's on the Process Controls team to decide what is an actual threat that requires patching.
- amluto 1mo agoThis system barely deserves a PLC. The modules are only a couple of extremely basic analog inputs and outputs, plus a wildly outdated and unsupported HMI. And the entire plant could possibly be replaced with something more modern for less money than upgrading the PLC. (Or I could get something cheap from AutomationDirect - I have no idea how good their PLCs are.)
- KetoManx64 1mo agoI worked at a manufacturing plant that had originally been setup in ~2003 or so and they had a bunch of servers and desktops still hanging on by a fingernail when started there. It took me about a year of but I was able to clone and virtualize them all and they all ran fine on a 6 core Proxmox server with 32GB of RAM. Really drove home the realization of how far technology has progressed and how commoditized manufacturing/enterprise tools have become.