Welcome to the IDX Blog

-
Hi and Welcome from the team at Industrial Data Xchange to the IDX Blog! We are a company of industrial data communication consultants and in the weeks and months that follow we will be posting information about our activities, product updates as well as interesting information about the world of industrial data connectivity. We believe that as the nerve centre of any industrial production process, the data communication systems employed can 'make or break' an enterprise. We are excited at the prospects of publishing useful and interesting insites that help the world of industry become even more productive and gain greater control over the plethera of systems that make them tick!

Popular posts from this blog

Common pitfalls when installing a Modbus RS485 network on site

-
Image
Last week IDX were called to site at  a large commercial residence building in Pretoria, South Africa. Where our  client was implementing an IoT solution for remote monitoring and control of various HVAC and power systems in the building.  The control system the SI chose in this case was a Modbus enabled Industrial Micro PC called the Revolution PI. The client had Modbus sensors connected to boilers, air conditioning systems, ventilation systems and power meters. The Modbus  communications between the controller and the sensors were intermittently failing due to various installation and implementation faults: 1. Earthing and Shielding Within any fieldbus communication installation, one of the requirements to ensure uninterrupted operation is to implement adequate grounding and shielding techniques. Effective grounding and Shielding help to prevent electrostatic and electromagnetic pickup, which can lead to failed communications. Some of the shielding and grounding req
Read more

IEC61850 to Modbus TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP, M-bus, PROFINET or PROFIBUS

-
Image
The SG-gateway family is a current leading Smart Grid application solution, acting as a remote terminal unit for the energy market. The SG-gateway enables the remote control and management of electrical equipment in power grids, controlling and monitoring assets, processes and installations in the field. Networking and interfacing between various fieldbuses and Industrial Ethernet protocols is where this gateway shines, allowing cross interfacing between: IEC61850 (Client/Server) IEC60870-5-104 (Client/Server) Modbus TCP (Client/Server) Modbus RTU (Master/Slave) Various Serial RS232, RS485 and RS232 PROFIBUS PROFINET EtherNet/IP Here are some application examples: Transmission can also be made available via Ethernet or 3G VPN connection into your server. The SG-Gateways sports an easy web based configuration tool using a standard browser, configuring with a simple drag and drop method. Choose the right SG-gateway to suit your requ
Read more

IDX 8 Tag Manager - Managing the unmanagable?

-
Image
Tag management of real-time data systems can prove challenging. As an industrial IT company we frequently come across the problem where tags need to be migrated from one system to another or where tags need to be synchronised and maintained between systems including historians. Generally, this ends up being a manual process, often involving Excel and much diligence and patience of the maintainer’s behalf. IDX Unifig was the first incarnation of a tool we designed with the aim to simplify the migration and management of tags between systems. The tool worked, but with as with most first editions of software tools, we could see the need for improvement and refinement of the approach used. Thus Tag Manager was born, and has become the key stone in the IDX 8 software suite. All other IDX 8 modules, such as Data Exchange, Alarms and Events and the Historian use Tag Manager to store and reference tags. The comparison result we like to see - no changes.   Tag Manager employs a plug
Read more