Microsoft , OPC (OLE for Process Control) and IOT

Object Linking and Embedding is a Microsoft developed technology for the Windows OS. Most of you must have used it one time or another. OLE Client and OLE Server based technology that was present in most of Microsoft products.

The OPC Foundation started by industrial automation vendors took OLE, COM and DCOM one step further to create the basic specification for OLE Process Control which is Universal.

Basically the standard focuses on interoperability of device instrumentation; controllers that utilize device information output; software and enterprise systems.

There are several specification groups in the OPC standards such as:
OPC Data Access
OPC Alarms and Events
OPC Batch
OPC Data Exchange
OPC Security
OPC XML-Data Access
and many more including a Certification Process. Read more about certified products here:

https://opcfoundation.org/certified-products

Read more here:
https://opcfoundation.org/

Pioneering the 4th industrial operation, the OPC Unified Architecture making the IoT to happen.
Make sure you get this PDF from here:
https://opcfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/OPC_UA_I_4.0_Pioneer_US_v2.pdf
 

Conference stop: Oracle's mega event - Oracle OpenWorld 2014

This is a mega event with lots of interesting sessions especially big on IoT.

 

Just the Internet of Things gets addressed in 261 Sessions with some 62 speakers in JavaOne. This is about 50% of all sessions in JavaOne.

The number of exhibitors for IoT is rather small but includes EuroTech (www.eurotech.com) and IBM (http://www.ibm.com/solutions/oracle/us/en/landing/ibmopenworld.html).

Here is Oracle's Video ad for this event:

Major Indian firms sponsor this event: Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy

Testing Windows Store App on Simulator has lots of advantages

Simultor that you bring up in Visual Studio 2013 for Windows with Update (2 or 3) has lots of features that you should use to check out your app. The Simulator is a desktop application that simulates the Windows Store app.

You can simulate a lot of interesting things,

• Touch and rotation events-Change device orientation
• Physical Screen Size and resolution
• Geo-location of user inputs
• Network connections
• Capture screen shot of the application
• Give access to many more tools

However you should target the Simulator when you run the app in Visual Studio. You pick Simulator from the drop-down menu as shown after choosing the Windows 8.1 project as the start up project.

Click Simulator to choose (the default is the local machine and the application fills up the desktop).
The Simulator is displayed and the app gets loaded as shown.
This one is from a Web App using the Web App Template to display my blog.

 

On the right hand extreme you have vertically arranged icons which when activate lets you make changes to the simulator. You can see the various screen sizes, from 7" to 27". Note that location settings need permission.

 

Note that the Web App Template converted my blog but the various other controls outside the web page in black still reflect the items in the JSON file.

 

Windows Store developers: Get Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Update 3

In a previous post the details of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 was described.

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2014/08/visual-studio-2013-update-3-is-now.html

It was mentioned that you could also download Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Update 3, a program that you can use to build apps for Windows Store and Windows Phone. You need Windows 8.1 on your computer to install Visual Studio Express 2013.
You can download the file from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43729

Version: 2013                                Date Published:7/30/2014

File Name:                                     File Size:
vs2013.3_winexp_ret_ENU.iso    4.3 GB
winexpress_full.exe                       1.1 MB

This download includes the latest updates. This also includes tools for Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1

However if you already have Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows and you just want the update then you can get it from this link.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43721

Since Visual Studio 2013 Express for Windows Update 2 was already present on this computer:

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2014/05/microsoft-visual-studio-2013-update-2.html

The previously mentioned link was used to download just the update. 

Version: 2013                                 Date Published:  7/29/2014         
File Name: VS2013.3.exe              File Size: 1.74 MB
                  
The following KB article provides the full details.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2933779

The installation took quite some time on my Wi-Fi connection.

Also note that if you had Update 3, when you launch the IDE you should be able to learn about Update 3 in the notification area at top right of the IDE. Also after launching the IDE you can connect to your Microsoft Account.

The update contains bug fixes; and some enhancements. The following site lists some of the changes.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/all-caps-begone-visual-studio-2013-update-adds-mixed-case-menu-option/

I am not sure why the capitalization or otherwise of menu options should matter. It appears this one of the most requested changes by users.

By default the menu bar after Update is as shown.

If you want to change this go to Tools | Options as shown.

 

Place a check mark for the first checkbox on the right panel for General. The menu bar changes as shown.

Make sure you check out the interesting on line samples that you can access to work with Azure Mobile as well as creating cross-platform apps.







 

Navdy: Crowd sourced Head Up Display(HUD)

Automobiles are changing in many different ways. All electric automobiles will enter main stream
although right now they are still in their infancy. Hybrids like Toyota Prius will fill up the transitional period before going all electric like TESLA, Nissan Leaf, Mahindra Reva and others being developed in many parts of the world. Of course they too will have a short run as hydrogen/Oxygen based fuel cells will surely takeover to address the pressing issue of pollution. Acutally car using hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells they are available already in Japan or will be available soon.

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2014/07/toyota-fchv-concept-vehicle.html

The other areas where there is a lot of interest are driveless cars and cars equipped with better
navigational features. 

Head Up Display, displaying drive parameters like speed; traffic conditions, turn-by-turn
driving directions, maps, and other vital navigational information right in front of the driver
without the driver taking his/her off his/her eye from the road to check is another area of great
interest to auto manufacturers as well as customers.

The HUD would project the information on a transparent screen right in front of his/her view on the
wind shield or a litle beyond (as in the case of Navdy) the wind shield. Combine with this the
ability to mimic most of the smartphone activites including hand gestures, voice; texting,etc. and
you have what is believed to be the ultimate accessory. These are already available in some highend
cars such as BMW, Audi, Cadillac but come in as expensive options. It is also now available in less
expensive Toyota Prius and Mini.

Navdy (watch the video) is a  recently launched proto-type HUD. You could buy a HUD from crowd sourced device for a mere $250  (price will go up after the sourcing is completed) or so, even cheaper,....


Follow the rest of the story here:
http://hodentekmobile.blogspot.com/2014/08/do-you-want-to-drive-car-with-head-up.html