International Society Of Automation Research Articles

Cloud-Fog Automation: Vision, Enabling Technologies, and Future Research Directions

The Industry 4.0 digital transformation envisages future industrial systems to be fully automated, including the control, upgrade, and configuration processes of a large number of heterogeneous wired/wireless interconnected devices in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments. Most of the industrial automation systems today are based on the traditional International Society of Automation (ISA)-95 model, with some recently transitioned to Cloud Automation systems. Latest developments in network connectivity technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud/Fog computing technologies have motivated us to rethink the ISA-95 model. In this paper, we propose a vision that aims to migrate most of the computational and automation tasks closer to the ground, which we term the collaborative “Cloud-Fog Automation” paradigm. We perform a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art and formulate the three pillars of this vision: Deterministic Connectivity, Deterministic Connected Intelligence, and Deterministic Networked Computing. In each of these pillars, we review their latency and reliability, security, and functional safety requirements and challenges. Finally, we articulate and highlight key future research directions to realize this vision.

Safety and security risks management process for cyber‐physical systems: A case study

AbstractCyber‐physical systems (CPS) are applicable in emerging industries such as health, energy, autonomous vehicles, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). In CPS the physical assets, that is, actuators and sensors, etc. communicate with each other over a messaging protocol. This communication process of CPS makes them vulnerable to cyber‐attacks which challenge the system safety, making security and safety two major concerns for CPS. Both safety and security risks are considered separately in literature. However, the International Society of Automation (ISA) focuses on the alignment of security and safety risks of CPS. Weak or no alignment in safety and security of a system may result in an inefficient or partially protected system which could end up in disasters. This pressed the need for an integrated safety‐security risk management process. For this purpose, we used a tetra packaging case study to (i) examine the vulnerabilities of CPS by running the risk management process, (ii) identify safety‐security requirements, and (iii) align retrieved safety‐security requirements with the relevant standards. The results show (i) safety hazards and security risks along with their severity and priority, (ii) mitigation guidelines are provided by consulting IEC 61508, and (iii) 15 safety‐security requirements are identified and are aligned with ISO9001 Packaging and labeling machine standard.

Too many or not enough? A methodology for evaluating fire and gas detector layouts at LNG facilities

AbstractNFPA 59A Standard for the Production, Storage, and Handling of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) requires facilities to have the equipment necessary for the detection and control of fires, leaks and spills of hazardous materials, yet provides no requirements or guidance on the location of the detectors. Literature available in the public domain outlines key factors to consider in developing layouts for flame and gas detectors, but a methodology to use this information in evaluating a hazard detector layout is not clearly defined; instead, generic and non‐quantifiable terminology such as “quick and reliable” is often used. As a result, there is no consistent approach to developing flame and gas detector layouts for land‐based LNG facilities and there is no systematic method for regulators to evaluate these designs. The ability to quantify hazard detector performance and define performance targets are of particular interest to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which regulates numerous LNG facilities in the United States. Blue Engineering and Consulting is working on a DOT‐PHMSA sponsored project to develop a risk‐based approach and criteria for hazard detector layouts at LNG facilities. This project builds upon performance‐based design principles outlined in NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code and the International Society of Automation (ISA) technical report 84.00.07 Guidance on the Evaluation of Fire, Combustible Gas, and Toxic Gas System Effectiveness. The methodology divides the LNG facility into Detection Areas based on the hazards present and the plant layout, identifies the appropriate hazard scenarios to evaluate the detector layout, establishes performance targets for each Detection Area, and quantifies hazard detector coverage. This paper will describe and demonstrate the proposed methodology. It should be noted that, while performance targets must be chosen for the purposes of the demonstrative included in this paper, these targets should not be interpreted as requirements of DOT‐PHMSA nor as acceptable to them.

Bubble formation in globe valve and flow characteristics of partially filled pipe water flow

Air bubble entrainment is a phenomenon that can significantly reduce the efficiency of liquid motion in piping systems. In the present study, the bubble formation mechanism in a globe valve with 90% water fraction flow is explained by visualization study and pressure oscillation analysis. The shadowgraph imaging technique is applied to illustrate the unsteady flow inside the transparent valve. This helps to study the effect of bubbles induced by the globe valve on pressure distribution and valve flow coefficient. International Society of Automation (ISA) recommends locations for measuring pressure drop of the valve to determine its flow coefficient. This paper presents the comparison of the pressures at different locations along with the upstream and the downstream of the valve with the values at recommended positions by the ISA standard. The results show that in partially filled pipe flow, the discrepancies in pressure between different measurement locations in the valve downstream are significant at valve openings less than 30%. The aerated flow induces the oscillation in pressure and flow rate, which leads to the fluctuation in the flow coefficient of the valve. The flow coefficients have a linear relationship with the Reynolds number. For the same increase of Reynolds number, the flow coefficients grow faster with larger valve openings and level off at the opening of 50%.

A Proposed Alignment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Framework with the Funnel Risk Graph Method

The safe and secure operation of critical infrastructure is dependent on appropriate responses to safety, security, and operational priorities into integrated control and safety systems (ICSS), at design stage and throughout the life of the system. Digitization as well as networked automation and control infrastructures have increased in the past years and are leading to remarkable potential security risks. Recent news about serious security incidents, such as the WannaCry ransomware, affecting the whole world are heard more often. The objective of this paper is to come up with an integrated and optimised evaluation framework for ICSS and related subsystems considering cybersecurity and safety. This can be achieved by the alignment of the cybersecurity framework formulated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology with safety and security standards ISA84 (IEC 61511) and ISA99 (IEC 62443), and the novel funnel risk graph method. The need of such alignment between safety and security has been recognized by the research community, the industry, as well as the International Society of Automation (ISA).

Technology Focus: Drilling Systems Automation and Management

Technology Focus Systems automation is generating considerable interest within the drilling community. Results of extended field operations with these systems were published this year. An offshore deployment in the North Sea shows savings of approximately 10%, with exceptional repeatability and optimization of activities such as breaking gels. An onshore deployment in a factory-drilling environment in the Bakken, using wired pipe, shows good results in delivering top-quartile performance while indicating room for improvement in systems automation. As systems automation becomes more widespread in drilling, simulators are required to plan, train rig crews, and monitor real-time operations. The role of drilling simulators can only increase in the future, because training of crews must improve for automation. Demanning at the wellsite is feasible only if the remaining crewmembers are well-trained across multiple disciplines. Real-time monitoring using simulators is not new, but it is approaching a higher level of sophistication with real-time calibration and validation of modeled parameters. Alongside automation, in-depth studies at the field level can produce exceptional improvements in drilling efficiency, especially when planning and optimization use new technologies to drive that improvement. This systems approach to drilling is aimed at better understanding of issues that hinder efficiency, coupled with implementing methods and technologies that are available in the industry to address identified barriers to efficiency. The thought-provoking papers presented here represent a good overview of these topics in drilling systems automation and drilling management. Systems architecture is a structure used to describe the hierarchy of digital feedback loops with different latencies that are inherent to any system. For the drilling industry, the system architecture construct is the drilling systems automation, decision-making, and control framework, which is based on the International Society of Automation 95 standard used in many other industries. This structure allows drilling-automation and drilling-management developers to describe the data flow and control in manual and automated systems at different operational levels. One of the recommended additional-reading papers—SPE 178814—describes how this framework was developed to bring cohesion to the highly fragmented nature of the drilling industry. The recommended additional reading shows the high level of activity, and level of broad drilling knowledge, within drilling automation and management. A special mention should be made of SPE 174920, which was written by the winners of the first SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) drillbotics competition. The drillbotics competition objective was to build a fully automated model of a drilling rig that can drill through an unknown block of rock. The paper is quite instructional and shows the wealth of talent available to the oil industry. Read it; you will not be disappointed. JPT Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE/IADC 178814 Systems Architecture and Operations States for Drilling and Completion: The Foundation to Real Performance Measurement and Drilling- Systems Automation by John P. de Wardt, De Wardt and Company, et al. SPE 174920 Design, Construction, and Operation of an Automated Drilling Rig for the DSATS University Competition by V.A. Bavadiya, Saudi Aramco, et al. OTC 27145 Real-Time Monitoring Using All Available Data Plays a Vital Role in Successful Drilling Operations by Cory Moore, Ikon Science, et al. SPE/IADC 178850 True Lies: Measuring Drilling and Completion Efficiency by John P. de Wardt, De Wardt and Company, et al. SPE/IADC 178862 Use of a Transient Cuttings-Transport Model in the Planning, Monitoring, and Post-Analysis of Complex Drilling Operations in the North Sea by Eric Cayeux, IRIS, et al.

Implementing the ISO 15746 Standard for Chemical Process Optimization.

This paper proposes an approach to integrating advanced process control solutions with optimization (APC-O) solutions, within any factory, to enable more efficient production processes. Currently, vendors who provide the software applications that implement control solutions are isolated and relatively independent. Each such solution is designed to implement a specific task such as control, simulation, and optimization - and only that task. It is not uncommon for vendors to use different mathematical formalisms and modeling tools that produce different data representations and formats. Moreover, instead of being modeled uniformly only once, the same knowledge is often modeled multiple times - each time using a different, specialized abstraction. As a result, it is extremely difficult to integrate optimization with advanced process control. We believe that a recent standard, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15746, describes a data model that can facilitate that integration. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel method of integrating advanced process control using ISO 15746 with numerical optimization. The demonstration is based on a chemical-process-optimization problem, which resides at level 2 of the International Society of Automation (ISA) 95 architecture. The inputs to that optimization problem, which are captured in the ISO 15746 data model, come in two forms: goals from level 3 and feedback from level 1. We map these inputs, using this data model, to a population of a meta-model of the optimization problem for a chemical process. Serialization of the metamodel population provides input to a numerical optimization code of the optimization problem. The results of this integrated process, which is automated, provide the solution to the originally selected, level 2 optimization problem.

Hydrogen Sulfide Measurement With Wireless Technology

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 171720, “H2S Measurement Using Wireless Technology,” by P. Phelan, A.-R. Shames Khouri, and H.A. Wahed, Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, prepared for the 2014 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, 10–13 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) represents a major hazard in oil and gas production, and the efficient and reliable detection of gas leaks is a critical safety aspect. Wireless-detection systems offer an opportunity to expand the measurement area. This paper reviews a specific application of wireless technology in gas detection and details the steps taken to assess the integrity of the wireless system and the considerations necessary to ensure the reliability and availability of the signal transmission. Wireless-Sensor Networks (WSNs) WSNs are an alternative to hard-wired systems where the cabling is replaced by radio-frequency (RF) transmission of the measured data into a host system. The network may be point-to-point or meshed transmission. Meshed transmission allows for multiple alternative routes and, therefore, offers potential improvements in the ability of the system to ensure that the data are delivered to the host system. WSNs have been developed since 2003 on the basis of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 802.15.4, which defines the operating frequency of 2.4 GHz and other aspects of the basic physical layer of communication. This is currently adopted by the process industry as the essential foundation for most wireless-measurement systems. Subsequent to the definition of the physical layer for communication, the HART Foundation, which was originally established to define protocols for serial data communication between cabled field devices, was extended to cover WSN technology. This wireless HART technology was subsequently approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2006 as IEC Standard 62591. A parallel development was undertaken by the International Society of Automation (ISA) in the US under the ISA 100.11a standard in 2009. Each of these standards seeks to establish interoperability of the different equipment manufacturers, and it is important that this convergence be achieved to prevent development and adoption delays. The development of battery technology is also an important aspect of WSNs. Significant advances in battery design, solar-cell charging, and energy harvesting are expected to play an active role in the future. In present systems, sophisticated software is used to turn on and wake up components to minimize power consumption. It is also imperative that monitoring of battery status be managed actively by the host system.

New method for predicting the incipient cavitation index by means of single-phase computational fluid dynamics model

Due to its serious consequences, cavitation in pipeline systems is one of the main concerns of engineers. In this context, the incipient cavitation index defined in many international standards such as those from International Society of Automation and International Electrotechnical Commission is a very important parameter as it accounts for the onset of cavitation. However, the standards define only the experimental determination of the incipient cavitation index, which is furthermore difficult to perform due to the considerable technical and economical burden of the experimental tests, above all in case of large-size systems. In this work, we propose a new method for predicting the incipient cavitation index by means of computational fluid dynamics, avoiding the need of making any experiment. The method is based on the generalized pressure criterion and requires only one Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulation of single-phase incompressible flow to provide estimates of the incipient cavitation index. The method is applied to predict the incipient cavitation index of multi-hole orifices with different geometrical characteristics, in terms of equivalent diameter ratio (0.40–0.70), relative thickness (0.73, 1.00), and number (13–52) and disposition of the holes. The experimental data revealed the reliability of the method. Its applicability was also confirmed for more complex geometries, and an application example regarding a control valve is briefly illustrated at the end of this article.

QuadLab

It is frequently claimed that the students must have an active role in building and transforming their own knowledge, and the teacher's labor is to provide the students the necessary tools in order to reach specific learning objectives, included in a course program. This paper presents an aerial robotic system as a toolkit, and proposes a series of activities focused on the learning in automation and robotics. These proposed activities have been designed based upon the project-based learning methodology, and they facilitate the achievement of the learning objectives presented by Spanish automation committee(CEA) in conjunction with The International Society of Automation (ISA) to satisfy the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) standard. The toolkit and the activities are oriented to impulse the practical teaching, giving the student additional motivation and, in consequence, improving his or her active role. Besides, the toolkit and the activities give the teacher a tool in which it is possible to assess the students learning process.

Performance Analysis of ISA100.11a Under Interference From an IEEE 802.11b Wireless Network

Recently, the International Society of Automation (ISA) released ISA100.11a as an open standard for reliable wireless networks for industrial automation. ISA100.11a operates in the 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) unlicensed band, and may suffer from interference from other radio technologies operating in the same band. This coexistence issue can lead to significant degradation of ISA100.11a performance. In this work, the performance of the ISA100.11a industrial wireless network under interference from an IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network (WLAN) is evaluated. An analytical model for the coexistence between ISA100.11a and IEEE 802.11b is suggested. The packet error rate (PER) and average end-to-end delay are evaluated, where the PER is obtained from the bit error probability and collision time, whereas the average end-to-end delay is investigated from the waiting time in buffer and the transmission time. Simulation results from the OPNET modeler are presented to validate the numerical analysis. It is demonstrated that ISA100.11a achieves acceptable PER and satisfies the delay requirement for industrial process control and monitoring, even under significant WLAN interference.

International Society of Automation (ISA) Standard 71.04 changes approved for the protection of today's electronic equipment - first update in 25 years

International Society of Automation (ISA) Standard 71.04 changes approved for the protection of today's electronic equipment - first update in 25 years

American Control Conference Crosses the Border! [Conference Reports

The author provides an overview of the 2012 American Control Conference (ACC). The ACC is the annual conference of the American Automatic Control Council (AACC), the US national member organization (NMO) of the International Federation of Automatic Control, Montreal, PQ, (IFAC). AACC is an association of the control-related groups of eight member societies: AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers), ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), IEEE, ISA (International Society of Automation), SCS (Society for Computer Simulation), and SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics). ACC 2012 also benefited from the support of IFAC, the Canadian NMO for IFAC. ACC 2012 featured an intensive program of regular, invited, and tutorial technical sessions; preconference workshops; special sessions over lunch and in the evenings; and social events with excellent food, unlimited drinks, and music performed by professionals as well as conference attendees.

ACC 2013 in Washington, D.C. [ACC Preview

The author provides an overview of the upcoming 2013 American Control Conference (ACC). ACC will be held in Washington, D.C. Monday through Wednesday, 17-19 June 2013, with workshops being planned for the Saturday and Sunday (15?16 June 2013) beforehand. The ACC is the annual conference of the American Automatic Control Council [AACC, the United States national member organization of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)]. The eight national and international society cosponsors of the ACC include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the IEEE, the International Society of Automation (ISA), the Society for Modeling and Simulation International (SCS), and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The technical program will feature theme tracks in sustainability, societal challenges for control, and smart healthcare systems. Each theme will include a semiplenary and special track, including tutorial and invited sessions. In addition to the special themes, the conference technical, (semi-)plenary, and special sessions will reflect the diversity of theory and applications of control that is one of the hallmarks of an ACC.

Using layers of protection analysis to evaluate fire and gas systems

An International society of automation (ISA) technical report provides guidance on evaluating the effectiveness of fire and gas systems (FGSs) in reducing risks in processes using an event tree risk model in preference to layers of protection analysis (LOPA) which was viewed as too limited for application to FGSs. This article shows that LOPA can be used instead of event trees to produce equivalent results and that LOPA is preferred for both technical and practical reasons. One of the examples from the ISA technical report is analyzed using LOPA to show how this is accomplished. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2012