Drives & Controls May 2022

n TECHNOLOGY May 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com 22 p Safety experts at the University of York have developed a standardised procedure to help assure the safety of robots, delivery drones and other technologies that use machine learning. It helps engineers to build a safety case that establishes confidence in the ML. Called Amlas (Assurance of Machine Learning for use in Autonomous Systems), it has been developed by the University’s Assuring Autonomy International Programme. The AAIP worked with industry experts to develop the process, which integrates safety assurance into the development of ML components. www.assuringautonomy.com p Mitsubishi Electric is shipping samples of 2kV IGBT modules that it says will downsize and reduce the power consumption of converters with ratings up to several MW, such as those used in renewable energy applications. These converters are difficult to design using conventional IGBTs rated at 1.7kV. The new LV100 T series modules have current ratings of 1.2kA. www.mitsubishielectric.com p An Israeli semiconductor company, Polyn Technology , has developed an analogue chip that contains several neural networks and is designed to be used with sensors, and to mimic the way the human brain perceives and learns. The Nasp (Neuromorphic Analog Signal Processor) chip is intended to replicate the pre- processing that the brain’s primary cortical area does at the periphery before learning at the centre. Polyn predicts that chip’s main uses will be in Industry 4.0 applications, wearable products and smart home devices. https://polyn.ai p Teledyne Dalsa has released a multispectral linescan camera with spectrally independent RGB and NIR outputs, making it “uniquely”capable of handling challenging inspection applications by detecting defects in a single scan both on and under the surface of a wide variety of materials, components and products. The Linea ML 8k camera has a 5x5μmpixel size and delivers a maximum line rate of 70kHz. It can be connected directly to fibre optic cables up to 300m long. www.teledynedalsa.com p A new edition of IEC 61918:2018 AMD1:2022 Amendment 1 - "Industrial communication networks - Installation of communication networks in industrial premises " describes the installation of communications networks in industrial premises. It includes details of cabling structures based on single-pair Ethernet (SPE), and addresses one-pair cabling structures for SPE and PoDL (Power over Data Line) remote power supplies. It closes the gap between classic IT infrastructures and IoT/IIoT, and promises higher data rates, more power and greater ranges. It enables the use of TCP/IP-based automation protocols even for long distances. https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/74769 TECHNOLOGY BRIEFS BECKHOFF IS OFFERING a new operating system for some of its industrial PCs as a lower-cost alternative to full Microsoft Windows packages. For many years, the company has used Windows CE as the basic operating system for its IPCs. However, Microsoft has ended mainstream support for this OS and plans to stop distributing it by 2026. So Beckhoff has announced the new system called TwinCat/BSD, which combines its TwinCat runtime platform with FreeBSD, an industrially tested open-source operating system. Like Windows CE, the new OS is relatively low cost – up to 58% cheaper than full Windows when running on an Intel Atom processor, for example. It is based on the Unix-compatible FreeBSD open-source operating system from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which is continually being updated by a large group of developers. Beckhoff has a licence for FreeBSD that allows it to be integrated with TwinCat. FreeBSD supports 32- and 64-bit platforms, providing scalable implementation from ARM CPUs up to Xeon CPUs. It has a small footprint, taking up less than 300MB of RAM. TwinCat/BSD supports all TwinCat 3’s runtime functions. Programming is carried out in the TwinCat 3 XAE environment, based on Microsoft Visual Studio. The new OS offers multi-core support, allowing individual cores to be reserved for exclusive use by TwinCat. HTML5Web browsers can be used as clients for TwinCat HMI, with configuration taking place via the graphic editor of TwinCat 3 XAE. Simultaneous execution of virtual machines (VMs) and TwinCat real-time applications is possible using a tool called TwinCAT/BSD Hypervisor. VMs allow different operating systems to run on one PC and improve security by operating user environments in an isolated, modular fashion. For example, real-time TwinCat real-time applications can run separately from Windows for machine operation, with Windows running in a VM environment. Windows restarts – for example, for updates – will not interrupt machine control. Windows is only restarted in the VM environment, and TwinCat continues to run in real time, supported by TwinCat/BS. https://www.beckhoff.com/en-gb Open-source OS offers a low-cost alternative to Windows for industrial PCs Beckhoff’s TwinCAT/BSD Hypervisor tool allows virtual machines and TwinCat real-time applications to run independently on the same industrial PC. Voice control comes to industrial applications AGERMANCOMMUNICATIONS specialist has developed a technology that allows industrial processes to be controlled using spoken commands, in a similar way to voice- activation technologies such as Alexa and Siri. Dresden-based Voice Inter Connect expects its vicControl embedded voice control system to be particularly useful in applications where work processes make control difficult, or gloves are needed. The technology, available in 30 languages, is said to be easy to integrate, and to meet the highest security and data privacy standards. The voice processing is carried out locally, with no need for an Internet connection. The technology is available either as a software package for installation in embedded systems based on Arm or X86 processors, or as a kit consisting of hardware and software. It supports functions ranging from activation using a wake word, to recognising voice commands. It controls functions using the MQTT protocol. AI-based semantic analyses and sophisticated algorithms for beam-forming and noise-cancelling are said to make the technology ease of use in noisy environments. Audio feedback can be generated in the form of prompts or text- to-speech for voice output. As well as the vicControl software, Voice Inter Connect is offering a DSP-based hardware module that can implement voice control in any product. Called vicControl go, the module controls devices and systems via a serial interface or GPIO. www.viccontrol.com