Industrial Communication Technology Handbook, 2nd Edition

Preface

The first edition of the Industrial Communication Technology Handbook was published almost a decade ago, in 2005. It gave a fairly comprehensive picture of the specialized communication networks used in diverse application areas. Solutions and technologies proposed for and deployed in process automation and on the factory floor dominated the volume. Not surprisingly, the late 1980s and the 1990s were the years when a large number of frequently competing solutions and technologies were introduced by major automation vendors and industry consortia. At the end of the 1990s, the Ethernet emerged as a contender for real-time applications, including safety-critical ones—largely on the factory floor. The Ethernet was also viewed as a potential ...