Collaborating with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the International Society of Automation (ISA) highlighted the latest developments, technologies and trends in instrumentation, process measurement and control through expert-led technical sessions, paper presentations and training courses at its 60th International Instrumentation Symposium in London (GB) last month.
Some of the brightest minds from industry and more than 15 countries—particularly from the aerospace, oil and gas, chemical, and manufacturing sectors—and academia attended the symposium, which provided an opportunity to share knowledge, successes and best practices as well as address both common and emerging challenges. As part of the event, leading companies demonstrated their newest solutions and services at a vendor exposition.
The content-rich technical program, which included the presentation of more than 30 technical papers, featured many hot-topic areas of interest, notably:
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| One of the sessions at the joint symposium! (Pic: Rodney Jones, ISA) |
The content-rich technical program, which included the presentation of more than 30 technical papers, featured many hot-topic areas of interest, notably:
- Cybersecurity
- Optical thermal history coatings
- Thermographic phosphors
- Sensors and transducers: theory, design and testing
- Turbine engine measurements
- Process measurement
- Wireless and automated systems
Given increasing concerns among industrial and manufacturing leaders about the risks posed by cyberattack, the opening session and keynote address focused on industrial cybersecurity.
Several global experts in industrial automation and control systems security emphasized the critical need to improve cyber defenses of critical infrastructure and adopt the guidelines of the US Cybersecurity Framework unveiled by US President Obama earlier in the year.
In addition to leading the conference’s initial session on cybersecurity, Adam Sedgewick, Senior Information Technology Policy Advisor of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, delivered a keynote address on the subject, outlining the key provisions of the Cybersecurity Framework and explaining why owners and operators of critical infrastructure and industrial plants should implement them.
Sujeet Shenoi, F.P. Walter Professor of computer science and professor of chemical engineering at the University of Tulsa, in another keynote address on cybersecurity, urged industrial leaders to quickly shore up defenses of critical infrastructure assets because he said they are currently far too susceptible to attack.
The Automation Federation, ISA’s umbrella organization that has been working with the White House to educate industry and manufacturing leaders on the value of the Cybersecurity Framework, assisted ISA and IET in crafting the cybersecurity portion of the conference program. IET is a member of the Automation Federation.
In addition to the technical sessions, the product exhibition, networking activities, and a reception and banquet, the symposium included three training courses. Two of the courses were ISA courses. They were: Introduction to the Management of Alarm Systems (IC39C) and Industrial Wireless Systems (IC85C). The other course, Introduction to Measurement Uncertainty: Methods and Applications, was based on a popular ISA textbook and desk reference: Measurement Uncertainty: Methods and Applications, Fourth Edition.
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