Providing Solutions

Since PCO’s birth in 1995, PCO has strived not only to repair and supply electronic/electrical equipment, but also to provide solutions to problems or issues. PCO’s mission is to solve your problem from the transmitter in the field to the DCS, PLC, or computer station in the control room.

These solutions come in many forms, such as innovative hardware or software solutions, enhanced testing capabilities, and electronic design and redesign of obsolete products and integrated circuits.

PCO has received many items that were deemed unrepairable by other organizations. In most cases, PCO was able to repair the item.  In cases where the part was beyond repair we provided a solution such as exchange of the item or sale of a replacement. In rare occurrences an immediate upgrade is needed to get the end user back running at optimum levels safely.

Let us know your problem; chances are we have your solution.

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PCO’s ABB Product Support Ramps Up

ABB_logoIn 2009, with the hiring of Jim Seifert and subsequent opening of our Tampa facility, PCO has increased our support level for many ABB product lines. This includes, Bailey Net90 & Infi90, Mod300, Analytics, Instrumentation, and many more.

We have enhanced our Bailey products by creating a NPSI Series Power Supply replacement. This replaces the OEM version that was susceptible to thermal induced failures. The PCO version features solid state technology that is commonly used in the military and aerospace industries. Another enhancement we have made is the Bailey LCD. This replaces outdated CRT Displays with current LCD/LED technology. The contrast ratio has improved, the longevity has increased, and the strain on the operator’s eyes is reduced. It also has a reduced thermal signature with less power consumption.

Our Mod300 enhancements include an SC Power Supply replacement that has current monitoring, ORing diodes, LED display, locking power switch, LED indicators, and power fail alarm systems. PCO’s ABB Mod300 LCD replaces outdated CRT displays with current LCD/LED technology. The contrast ratio has improved, the longevity has increased, and it also has a reduced thermal signature with less power consumption. In addition, the Mod300 Bus Mouse Converter allows for the use of a standard PS2 mouse on the ABB Bus.

PCO has expanded our capabilities for process analytics and instrumentation as well. At our facilities we are able to perform quality services such as system testing, calibration, and process simulation on instrumentation and analytic products. We support a comprehensive range of instrumentation including pressure, temperature, flow, and level devices. As for process analytics, we can help maintain your continuous gas analyzers and process gas chromatographs.

All of the product lines we support go through rigorous repair and test procedures as we follow Isoqual criteria. We incorporate system testing, functional testing, in-circuit testing, manufacturing defects analysis, and visual inspection. Each product line has specific testing and calibration requirements. These are developed by our engineering department. Introduced earlier, Jim Seifert, our resident test engineer, has over 30 years of experience. He has an extensive background developing test procedures for QCS/DCS systems, drives, and process analytics and may be able to assist you in diagnosing a problem. Feel free to contact him at the information below.

Contact Information:

Process Control Outlet
11232 Challenger Ave.
Ste. B
Odessa, FL 33556
Phone: 727-807-7068

 

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Tell Your Doctor!

Your process is controlled by hundreds, if not thousands of circuit board assemblies, frequently called modules. As long as everything is optimized and functioning properly, your products and profits are flowing. However, sooner or later a failure will occur in one or more of your modules. When that failure occurs, it is critical that you capture all available information related to the failure. Why you may ask?

Well, from time to time we all go to the doctor because of illness. So, now imagine sitting in the exam room, the doctor walks in, and asks you “how are you doing?” And then proceeds to ask “what’s wrong?” You just sit there and don’t say a word. Now, the doctor has a real dilemma. Since you will not tell him what is wrong, the doctor has no idea of where to start to resolve your illness. The analogy is similar to your failed process control modules.

It is highly likely you will want to repair the failed module and use it as a spare for the next failure. Capturing the failure information will allow the repair supplier….your “module doctor”…to more quickly and accurately diagnose and repair the failed module.

Boards usually exhibit “hard failures,” meaning even if you pull the module from a rack and re-insert it, the module still exhibits the same failure. Less frequently (fortunately) modules exhibit intermittent and thermal types of failures. Intermittent / thermal failures can be very difficult to diagnose. When your module doctor is aware up front the failure is thermal / intermittent, it saves time for you and your module doctor. Perhaps more importantly, knowing the module has an intermittent problem guarantees that your module doctor will be looking for an intermittent problem, eliminating the possibility of a missed diagnosis and getting back the same intermittent module.

Bottom line: Regardless of what doctor you use to repair your failed modules, always provide the information you have regarding the nature of the failure and follow these simple steps:

  1. Treat the modules same as you would a new module. Don’t inflict more damage!
  2. Use a ground strap and place the module in an ESD safe bag.
  3. Package the ESD protected module into a suitable box for shipping.
  4. Provide information pertaining to the failure…..Tell Your Doctor!
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Xerox and Dropbox Make for Easy Mobile Printing

I’m sure at some point we have all wished we could print something from our phones without having to email it to ourselves and then open it on our computers. Well Xerox may have inadvertently solved all of our mobile printing conundrums.

Recently while installing a new Xerox 6010N, I found a program called Xerox PrintBack. It allows you to print from your iOS or Android device to your printer no matter where you are. I have used a similar program from Canon. The catch with the Canon program is you have to be on the same WiFi network as the printer and it only works with some Canon printers. While that might work for some folks, sometimes we need to print something from our phones while we are out of the office or where there is no WiFi. The nice thing about PrintBack is that you can use it while on WiFi or a cell network and it will work with any brand of printer. So, I decided to check out this PrintBack program.

First it requires you to have an e-mail or Dropbox account in order to work. I recommend Dropbox because the integration is seamless. You have to first install the software on your computer that the printer is connected to. When you run through the installation it asks you how you want to setup the delivery service. I chose Dropbox. Then you need to select a printer to print to. It automatically uses your default printer selection as the printer to print to. In this case, I have a Cannon MX410. Once you have linked your Dropbox and PrintBack program together, you need to install the app on your mobile device. This is as easy as searching for PrintBack in your app store and downloading the app. The setup on the mobile device is pretty the same as the computer minus choosing a printer. You just need to link your delivery account to the app. Again I chose Dropbox.

Now let’s try to print something. I have an iPhone so I will be using those steps. (I imagine that it would be similar on an Android device.) Once you have selected something to print, this can be a Microsoft Office* (Word, PowerPoint®, Excel®), Adobe® PDF, etc, you select the “Open In” button. This will bring up a list of icons. Select the “Open in PrintBack” icon. You will then see the print settings screen for PrintBack.

iOS Open In DialogThey are pretty self-explanatory. Once you have chosen your settings go ahead and click “Print”.

If all goes well your document should be printing. All in all it is a pretty simple program to use. I would even recommend it to my grandma.

I’m not sure if Xerox intended for this program to work with any printer, but it does solve the problem of having to have different apps for different printer manufacturers or having to buy an Airprint compatible printer. Best of all it’s free.

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Paul Allen’s Patent Infringment Woes

Interesting news since we last spoke. It turns out that the co-founder of Microsoft Corp. Paul Allen has decided to go forward in a patent lawsuit against a myriad of companies; such as Apple Inc., Google Inc., Facebook, AOL, and even eBay.

Paul Allen helped start up Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975 before resigning as a Microsoft Executive in 1983. He then went on to start a company of his own known as Interval Licensing LLC in 1992, which is a research company. It looks like he’s been researching all over the internet to find possible patent infringements which he says are being used by most of the internet giants these days. He claims that Interval was a key player in the research and development of the advancement of the internet in the early 1990’s, where they worked and produced over 300 patents for various projects.  The four patents in question all relate to how data on the web is sorted and presented to a user.

The claims against Google are that the search engine company is using a user’s search queries to match advertisements that would appeal to that particular person. This is similar to what AOL does to match news stories to a user’s interest. Interval also says that Apple’s iTunes, eBay Inc, Facebook, Netflix, Yahoo Inc, and Office Depot’s websites have infringed this particular patent that they hold.

Interval also feels that two of their patents were used to provide certain features in AOL’s Instant Messenger, Google talk, Apple’s Dashboard, Gmail Notifier, the Android phone system and Yahoo Widgets.

The last patent relates to Web browsers being alerted to new items of interest based on the activity of other users. Interval says that AOL uses this technology on its shopping sites, while Apple’s iTunes uses it to recommend music.

No comment by the lawsuit or Interval on whether or not Microsoft is included as a patent holder or infringer, even though they offer similar products as all of the other companies.

Paul Allen has pleaded with the court for damages and a ban on all the products that use the disputed technology. This would be his second time trying to see the end of this lawsuit as it was thrown out by a Judge earlier in the year on the grounds that it did not specify specific products or devices.

A Facebook Spokesman has gone on to say in an email “We believe this suit it completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously.”

It will be an interesting case to keep an eye on. Please if you have any comments or new updates about this article keep us posted.

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A Group Effort

There are traces of at least 30 different programmers in the Stuxnet Worm source code.

At a small conference on cybersecurity sponsored by TechAmerica, Symantec’s Brian Tillett put a number on the size of the team that built the virus. He said that traces of more than 30 programmers have been found in source code.

Another tidbit that I hadn’t seen reported elsewhere is that the peer-to-peer network built into the worm was encrypted. And not only was it encrypted, Tillett noted, but encrypted to FIPS 140-2 standards, which — judging by the noise of the crowd — is very impressive to security geeks.

Emphasis is mine.

Funding, and operating a project this size while keeping it secret is powerful indication that this was a state run thing.   Where and how did they they get the source code for this thing?

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Gesture Computer Interface Being Developed

Glove Developed for Gesture Interface

Most of us have seen the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise, where he acts as a future police officer who mans a computer he can control using only his hands. Gesture computing has been an idea in the minds of many for a long time now, and I’ll admit I once went looking for a solution so I could control my own computer with gestures.

At the time I found something interesting using a white glove and an everyday webcam, an open-source project with a name I cannot remember, but I was too late; the project had been pulled due to bugs and errors in the code but I did see videos of users controlling the windows on their screens using their hands. So I knew we really weren’t that far off. If you’re an Opera user you might be familiar that the browser incorporates mouse gestures as an option; giving you the ability to control the refresh, back and forward buttons with movements of the cursor.

Well now it’s time for researchers to try their “hand” at the development of a gesture controlled computer. Developers at… as with a lot of the posts we report here, you guessed it, MIT are working on software that will track a special colored glove using a webcam with a wide angle lens. They claim that they have developed more efficient gesture-recognition algorithms with the help of the glove with specially placed colors. The colors are to help the software recognize even the most subtle gestures, but I’ll admit it looks like the carpet in a day care.

They claim the software would be available for widespread use in a few months, which is very cool. They do state though, that the tracking system for gestures isn’t as accurate as using a mouse or touch screen so there’s still room for improvement. This reminds me, when I was on the lookout for similar programs I got to thinking. Would most people find that controlling everything on their computer by waving their arms and hands in the air a little tiring? Especially if you were using a computer longer than two hours at a time. Just playing Wii for an extensive amount of time tires most people. Well I guess if you’re going to be on a computer or game system for that long it won’t hurt to get a little exercise, even if you look like a mad orchestra conductor while just browsing the web.

Tom Cruise Looking Like a Mad Conductor

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Cyber War

A while ago, James had posted on his concerns about new malware poping up on some Windows 7 Siemens MMI SCADA systems.  Today we know a little more about this nasty bug.  It is more identified as the Stuxnet worm.  This worm may very well be an Israeli cyber attack targeted on the Iranian Nuclear program.  I explore the possibility in another post:

I suspect that a systems integrator might be involved here. Someone financed and developed this worm, and someone planted it.  We can be be sure our current administration didn’t approive of such an anti-Iranian attack, and Israel won’t be forthcoming about taking credit.  There are clues  though in an article posted last year, that fortold of this attack and predicted how such an attack would be implemented.

Such attacks could be immediate, he said. Or they might be latent, with the malware loitering unseen and awaiting an external trigger, or pre-set to strike automatically when the infected facility reaches a more critical level of activity.

As Iran’s nuclear assets would probably be isolated from outside computers, hackers would be unable to access them directly, Borg said. Israeli agents would have to conceal the malware in software used by the Iranians or discreetly plant it on portable hardware brought in, unknowingly, by technicians

“A contaminated USB stick would be enough,” Borg said.

Our real concern is  how we can protect ourselves, from getting burned from such nasty critters such as the Stuxnet Worm., The danger to our our Industries are not just economical but life and health.  This worm is effecting processes, and perhaps processes involving the production of nuclear weapons.

Iran officials have confirmed that there has been a ‘Cyber Terrorism’ attack in their country and that their vital computers have been infected by the Stuxnet worm. The authorities have said that many of their industrial computer systems have been attacked by cyber terrorism and they have been infected by the ‘Stuxnet’ worm virus.

How can we protect our selves?

  • The biggest vulnerability of course is Window. As these incidents prove even the newest Windows 7 can be a thriving environment for these worms and virus. Given a choice Microsoft Windows should be avoided for critical applications.  There are more secure and more reliable operating systems outhere.
  • Ensure that the latest security patches get installed.   Microsoft did issue a patch for this  in July. The patch won’t fox the Damaged data files or the controllers that were changed. but might prevent the spread of the worm.
  • Know that your patches and data is clean? It is critical to know if your venders have an anti Virus program and that their flashdrives are included in a regular scan.   Do the DCS/SCADA systems involved have a current antiVirus program intalled?
  • Fire Walls: Ideally, having a critical control system with any potential connection to the outside  world should be avoided. But connectivity demands of even to collect data and monitor status’ make such isolation almost impossible.  However careful installation and review of firewall policies can protect a system.  The Stuxnet Worm was getting commands and posting data to a remote server. A well configured firewall would have gone a long way to mitigate the damage.

We live in interesting times, if this proves to be a state sponsored cyberattack we users can only  expect such attacks to come more often.  and collateral damage to be common place.


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Enhance Your Google Video Chats

Google Labs has enhanced their video chat in Google Mail, you just have to turn it on. While logged into your Gmail account, visit the GMail Labs Menu and enable “Video Chat Enhancements”.

Turn it on to see immediate improvements in your video chat experience. You’ll notice higher resolution and a bigger video chat window, Google has figured out a way to accomplish this without draining your computers resources. After enabling you’ll be the first to see all the new improvements Gmail rolls out to their video chat feature in the future. To take advantage of the Lab features, both parties need to have enabled “Video Chat Enhancements”.

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Robots Anyone?

I’m going to admit I find robots, or anything made out of metal with a motor, very awesome. It must be a guy thing, it has to be. For all of you who loved to assemble model cars or airplanes when you were younger and have a fascination for robotics might take interest in this Robot Build-off Contest being held by Trossen Robotics.

They have many contests throughout the year, some with themes and others just straight up build-offs. But right now until December 1st 2010 they are challenging new to expert robot enthusiasts to put something together and see how it compares to robots others have built throughout the nation. Best part of all registration is free.

If you’re interested take a look at the contest details here . Their past submissions look pretty impressive but I have a feeling those in our community could do better.

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