The Future of Remote I/O

Industrial I/O devices have become a much-needed compulsion in the world of automation and form the nervous system of modern machines. Reliable and instant remote monitoring and control of equipment, control-systems, DBs, etc. have always been the key goals of all industrial plants. Since the inception of computers or more specifically PLC (programmable logic controllers), there have been many protocols and gateways that have allowed remote operation in one form or another.

A few examples that are very much established in the industry include:

1. Host-resident I/O boards

These are boards that plug into a computer’s expansion slots and allow the transfer of data, e.g. PCI Express and PC/104+ cards.

The boards offer high performance levels, while keeping costs to a minimum however they can become complicated with increasing number of connections resulting in bundles of cables, loop-problems and life-expectancy.

2. RS-232 Ports

The RS-232 gateway is an extremely popular mode of connection and is still used in industrial connections such as PLCs, Energy Meters, etc. They are widely available and have become standardized over the years, but their expansion capabilities are very much limited by a slow baud rate.

3. RS-485/RS-422 Ports

May be considered as a more developed version of the RS-232, these ports are moderately expandable but have a more limited range, and less readily available.

4. Ethernet

Ethernet offers great flexibility in the handling of protocols. Almost every industrial protocol such as MODBUS has a TCP (ethernet) implementation.

The Future of Remote I/O is highly constrained by factors such as:

Keeping in check with these conditions, several breakthroughs have been made to further increase the reliability, speed and interoperability of Remote I/O systems.