As more and more companies recognize the vital role that edge computing, control and analysis will play in their immediate future (by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be collected and analyzed at the edge), of course more suppliers jump on the edge bandwagon. Into the familiar field of PLCs and PACs, the newest edge devices are edge controllers and users are embracing these for the ease with which they make edge analysis and communications fast and simple. But the number one demand is that the new controllers maintain the unassailable reliability of traditional control devices.
In a recent article in Plant Engineering, an Emerson edge expert talks about how users and OEMs can best evaluate the new entries into the edge technology race. He says, “A true edge controller is an even greater evolution of the PAC and should be designed in a way to provide the benefits of edge technology without taking away the basic conditions necessary for an industrial controller.” He goes on to delineate, “First and foremost, an edge controller is an industrial automation controller that needs to provide real-time determinism to control the machine or process.” A true edge controller should comprise:
This article is packed with useful information and rules-of-thumb whereby users can measure edge control capabilities for their applications – read it in full here.
Have you employed edge control yet?