Control Intelligence

From 2023 to 2026: Predictions for control systems

In this episode of Control Intelligence, which was written by contributing editor Shawn Cox in June of 2023, more than two and a half years ago, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses the predictions for control systems. Cox’s article was revisited by many as we closed out 2025, and it became one of Control Design's most popular reads in December. Let’s revisit his thoughts from the summer of 2023.

Choosing between motor starters and variable-frequency drives

Control systems engineering requires a broad knowledge base of many components. Why? Applications of all shapes, sizes, functionality and needs are brought to machine-builder tables, and automation is requested to provide solutions to manufacturing problems.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses motor starters and variable-frequency drives.

How is Ethernet-APL reshaping Industry 4.0?

Did Industry 4.0 go away? No. It seems that, behind the scenes, the open-source platform community is just working along, developing the next go-around of competitive devices for the traditional automaton folks to keep up with.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses Ethernet-APL.

What is SRCI?

Integration of PLCs and robots has become standardized. Standard robot command interface is a means for robots to increase its interface capacity with programmable logic controllers, but SRCI has been around for a while.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses the standard robot command interface.

How field-mounted devices can be networked together

Field-mounted devices change the way controls engineers approach industrial networking. The shift toward on-machine connectivity can simplify design, streamline wiring and enable strategies like conveyor zone management.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Rick Rice, editor in chief Mike Bacidore talks about how field networking unlocks automated setup and diagnostics.

CERN's FCC and China's CEPC could be the world's largest machines

While China's technical design report for its proposed circular electron-positron collider (CEPC) is still awaiting government approval for inclusion in the next five-year plan, hope is still strong that construction of the $5.2 billion supercollider could begin as soon as 2027 and be completed in a decade, surpassing CERN's large hadron collider (LHC) as the world's largest machine.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore talks about the race to surpass the world’s biggest machine.

A conversation with control automation's Kind Canuckian

The guest on this episode of Control Intelligence is Jeremy Pollard, who was a 10-year veteran of Allen-Bradley as a technical specialist. Pollard established Allen-Bradley's Toronto District Training Office where PLC-2, PLC-3 and PLC-5 courses were implemented, and more than 1,000 students were personally trained by him.

Pollard has consulted for SoftPLC, Flexis Control, Wonderware and IndX Software and was responsible for product development and direction for PLC support software packages under DOS, OS/2 and six different Windows iterations.

He is the former North American Managing Director of PLCopen, the international association for standardized control system solutions. Pollard has written countless articles for various automation trade publications, and he is our longest-standing monthly columnist on Control Design, where he writes the Embedded Intelligence column.

Pollard holds a diploma in electrical engineering technology from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto. He's worked on projects for companies ranging from Baxter Pharmaceuticals and General Motors to Chevron and Labatt Breweries.

Determinism, jittering and load balancing: strategies for real-time control

For many years, real-time control software, whether running on a dedicated controller or an industrial PC, operated on a single CPU core. The runtime scheduler could precisely calculate scan times, and the engineer’s mental model of “one processor, one control loop” held true.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Joey Stubbs, editor in chief Mike Bacidore shares how to handle determinism, jitter and load balancing in multicore control architectures.

What to expect from the automation supply chain

The combination of technology and market forces is reshaping the automation supply chain for machine builders. Where can you turn for guidance?

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses automation distribution and Control Design's upcoming webinar on the supply chain.

Transforming industrial operations with vision systems

At its core, an industrial machine vision system comprises high-resolution cameras, specialized illumination, image processors and software algorithms. The system captures images or video of products and processes and then analyzes this visual data to detect defects or anomalies, measure dimensions with high precision, verify the presence or position of parts and guide automated equipment or robots.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Charles Palmer, editor in chief Mike Bacidore shares how vision systems impact industrial productivity.