I talked to a buddy that has worked for Siemans for about the past 17 years or so. I started talking to him about Stuxnet a few years ago & he hadn’t even heard of it.
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Siemens is a big company. Maybe he works in a different division, far away from industrial control products? If he actually works with/on their PLCs and other control products, I would consider not knowing what Stuxnet is grounds for remedial training at the least or possibly termination depending on the role. If it’s an organizational ignorance, the industry - or at least Siemens leadership in it - is doomed.
It’s hard enough to get my automation engineers with 20 and 30 years of history to recognize the world has changed. If their vendors also don’t echo that change, we have a much bigger problem at hand!
If you want to mess around with PLC’s go check out openplcproject.com
All open source, there are simple “hello world” tutorials, and it will run on lots of different hardware (Raspi, Arduino, esp8266, etc). It uses ScadaBR as the interface. I’ve been thinking about dabbling in it myself.
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Your link doesn’t work.
details, details, details…
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Whoops… I fixed the link
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Big Red is still using CANbus modules on all of our equipment instead of PLCs, but I could tell you for certain that an Arduino wouldn’t last long in oilfield conditions. Not to mention the safety standards out here are so redundant that using something like that would take years to get certified by the proper authorities. Yeah, an Arduino could probably perform the same functionality, but the reality is they aren’t built to the same standards and aren’t tested for that kind of use. The reason PLCs cost so much isn’t the actual cost of manufacturing, but the testing and certifications they have to pour into them to meet industry safety and reliability standards.
The best analogy I can think of is my motorcycle helmet. Shoei is a top brand and routinely designs and tests their helmets with both DOT and SNELL standards in mind. Bell usually chooses one or the other depending on their target market, and are thus able to reduce the cost. Their helmet may actually meet both standards, but it costs money both in R&D and money to get the actual certifications to make SURE you meet both. The actual manufacturing cost is probably pretty similar for both companies, but you’re paying a premium for the additional R&D + testing and certifications.
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If anyone has the hardware laying about, and knows the code, I’m all for a PLC Class. More information is better than less.
As for using Arduino in an industrial control system…I think you missed the point. Arduino is just the starting place to learning microcontrollers. Next is RPi, then possibly Xilinx Spartan (very robust and widespread) or even the old Motorola 680x0 (some of these were rated to 300’F WITHOUT a heatsink, and damned near bombproof. Our HAAS VF-2 is controlled by one).
I offered-up an Arduino Devices Class last Summer (when no classes in Arduino were available), which did not get approved. It’s a shame, because the cheap plug-ins and libraries existent in the Arduino sphere are astounding learning tools. I’m not even going to attempt to teach Xilinx or FPGA; it would fall on deaf ears.
True confession: I am guilty of the same sin which I’m now accusing. I did not sign-up for a couple of truly amazing DMS Classes which I’ve seen offered, and they were never offered again, namely: Allen offered a class in DIY Patents (the man is a Patent Attorney), and Josh offered an 8 part class in Genetic Sequencing. I think the powers-that-be need to embrace this sort of high end curriculum, and nurture it through to acceptance and regularity. We would all be the richer for it.
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