Networks Take Center Stage
With networking technologies increasingly taking the lead role and acting as the heart of automated processes, does that change the role of controllers in more connected industrial environments?
Dec 14th, 2020
As industry undergoes its digital transformation, networks often seem to be taking the spotlight away from controllers in many automated processes. Sure, controllers still play a crucial role, but not as squarely positioned center stage as they once were.
The reason is the growing popularity of the distributed control premise promoted by Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 initiatives. More and more devices now have programmable microcontrollers built into them, and conventional controllers are increasingly being placed closer to the devices rather than in centralized cabinets. Like other devices on the network, these distributed controllers are reporting data over the network for aggregation, visualization, and analysis elsewhere.