What is Instrumentation and control engineering??

Instrumentation 

Instrumentation is defined as the art and science of measurement and control of process variables within a production or manufacturing area. The process variables used in industries are Level, Pressure, Temperature, Humidity, Flow, pH, Force, Speed etc. 

Control Engineering 

Control engineers are responsible for the research, design, development and control devices/systems, typically in manufacturing facilities and plants. Control engineering or control systems engineering is the engineering discipline that applies control theory to design systems with desired behaviors. The practice uses sensors to measure the output performance of the device being controlled and those measurements can be used to give feedback to the input actuators that can make corrections toward desired performance. When a device is designed to perform without the need of human inputs for correction it is called automatic control (such as cruise control for regulating a car's speed). Multi-disciplinary in nature, control systems engineering activities focus on implementation of control systems mainly derived by mathematical modeling of systems of a diverse range. 

Instrumentation and Control Engineering 

This term refers to the graduate discipline which many universities provide at graduate and postgraduate level.Control instrumentation plays a significant role in both gathering information from the field and changing the field parameters, and as such are a key part of control loops.The Instrumentation Technology, being an inter-disciplinary branch of engineering, is heading towards development of new & intelligent sensors, smart transducers, MEMS Technology, Blue tooth Technology. This discipline finds its origin in both electrical and electronics engineering, and it covers subjects related to electronics, electrical, mechanical, chemical and computing streams. In short, it deals with measurement,automation and control processes.In today's scenario, there are many people who are willing to make a career in this stream. Almost all process and manufacturing industry such as steel, oil, petrochemical, power and defiance production will have a separate instrumentation and control department, which is manned and managed by instrumentation and control engineers. 

“Automation is the buzz word in process industry, and automation is the core job of instrumentation and control engineers. Hence, the demand for instrumentation will always be there." 

Nature of Job 

 An instrumentation engineer is required to 

1. · Design and develop control systems 
2. · Maintain the existing control systems 
3. · Manage the control systems 
4. · Manage projects within the given restraints including cost and time 
5. · Troubleshoot 
6. · Ensure that the instruments comply with health and safety regulations 
7. · Ensure that quality standards are maintained 
8. · Provide consultancy support 

Requirement 

Instrumentation engineers have a role to play in all the fields where there is automation. The instruments created by control engineers to automate the processes, thus reducing the involvement of manpower. An instrumentation and control engineer is expected to learn subjects like 

• Industrial Instrumentation 
• System dynamics 
• Process control 
• Control system 

Knowledge of PLC programming, Panel view HMI screens, SCADA Application programming preferred. 

Goal of Instrumentation and control engineers 

Instrumentation and control engineers works with the goal of improving 

• Productivity, 
• Optimization, 
• Stability, 
• Reliability, 
• Safety, 
• Continuity. 

These engineers design, develop, and maintain and manage the instruments and the instrumentation systems.

REFERENCES

"Instrumentation engineering ", The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology., Retrieved 17 October 2012.
"Instrumentation engineering in demand", The Hindu, April 16, 2012
"Instrumentation and Control Engineering is for Perfectionists", Diksha P Gupta

PIN Less ATM

INTRODUCTION:

Automated teller machine  also known as an automated banking machine (ABM), is a computerized telecommunications device that enables the clients of a financial institution to perform financial transactions without the need for a cashier, human clerk or bank teller. Using an ATM, customers can access their bank accounts in order to make cash withdrawals, debit card cash advances, and check their account balances as well as purchase pre-paid mobile phone credit. Thus, ATMs often provide one of the best possible official exchange rates for foreign travelers, and are also widely used for this purpose.

ARCHITECTURE:

An ATM is typically made up of the following devices:

·         CPU (to control the user interface and transaction devices)

·         Magnetic and/or Chip card reader (to identify the customer)

·        PIN Pad (similar in layout to a Touch tone or Calculator keypad), often manufactured as part of a secure enclosure.

·         Secure crypto processor, generally within a secure enclosure.

·         Display (used by the customer for performing the transaction)

·         Function key buttons (usually close to the display) or a Touchscreen

(used to select the various aspects of the transaction)

·         Record Printer (to provide the customer with a record of their transaction)

·         Vault (to store the parts of the machinery requiring restricted access)

·         Housing (for aesthetics and to attach signage to)

·         Sensors and Indicators

WORKING SYSTEM:

The customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date or CVVC (CVV). Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN).

SECURITY ISSUES RELATED TO ATM:

Card skimming or card cloning involves the installation of a magnetic card reader over the real ATM's card slot and the use of a wireless surveillance camera or a modified digital camera or a false PIN keypad to observe the user's PIN.

Trapping the card inside of the ATM's card reader which is referred to as a Lebanese loop. When the customer gets frustrated by not getting the card back and walks away from the machine, the criminal is able to remove the card and withdraw cash from the customer's account, using the card and it’s PIN.

IRIS TECHNOLOGY:

In order to avoid the above stated security issues in ATM the “Pin-less” ATM card is introduced. The secret code used to get money from an ATM is about to get more secure with a code that we will never forget. Within a couple of months, the banks are ready to introduce "pin-less" ATM's. ATM lets you get your cash with the blink of your eye. A new technology called Iris Recognition records your eye for identification.

IRIS PATTERN:

An iris pattern is highly distinctive. Ten times more unique than a fingerprint. Because it is so distinctive, we can tell with absolute accuracy that you are who you say you are. We can proudly say that

“Thieves can steal your number not your IRIS”.    

IRIS ART OF WORKING:

The key to your ATM account is the personal identification number or pin. A thief with a high powered video camera, hidden from view, can record you putting the number in, unless you cover your hand. With iris recognition, a video camera safely records an image of your iris. That's the colored part of your eye.Computer uses a complex formula to turn light and dark flecks of the iris into digital code.IRIS TECHNOLOGY creates, effectively, a human bar code and that human bar code becomes identity inside the ban.The person iris code is compared with the bank's copy. As the person look at the yellow light, it will take his picture. It's finished and the screen recognizes the correct person .This technology is not only fraud proof; it's foolproof because you can't forget it like a PIN number.

Iris Recognition ATM's Help Keep an Eye on Crime.

SMART AND COOL RIDING SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

“To err is human; to forgive is god”; an old saying but here 

“To err is human; to stop it is technology”; A new saying that will suit this paper.

      

In the modern world, nowadays the Micro-Controller plays a vital role in the electronic component manufacturing purposes. It also reached a peak on its application in automobiles. Generally today’s people are filled with a lot of tensions, appointments, etc. So it is a tough job to keep the bike keys more securely, in case if they lost their bike key; it leads to a high tension and BP. So in order to eliminate all these problems here comes one of the applications of the Embedded Systems namely “Smart and cool Riding System”. 
The main attraction of this paper is there is no key needed to operate the automobile and it also provides the theft control. Only the bike owner can operate this automobile by handling any password, this also protects the bikes from thefts. This is now in a research in New York Research Institute, which is now almost completed successfully. May this application reach the people so quickly.

IMPLEMENTATION OF CAN TECHNOLOGY IN TRAIN TO ALERT THE PASSENGER

“To realize the value of one minute, ask the passenger who slept in train.”

Generally when we travel in train we keep looking forward our station each time and especially during the night journey, we most of the time stay awake in the fear of missing the station .We are here trying for a solution to overcome this where there will be vibrators placed beneath the seat. 

This warning system would provide automatic vibration alerts to passengers corresponding to their respective railway station. So the passengers can wake at their stop just in time and prevent them from missing the station. 

The passengers would only need to register on a time of boarding the train for which stop they would like to get the vibration alert by using keypad. The vibrator will give an indication 10 mins before the station arrives which helps us to sleep peacefully as well as prevent us from missing the station and also safe journey too.

AUTOMATIC WIRELESS HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM IN HOSPITALS FOR PATIENTS

ABSTRACT:

In this project, a wireless communication system is designed and developed for remote patient monitoring. The primary function of this system is to monitor the temperature of a patient’s body, and display the same to the doctor through RF communication.

In hospitals, where patient’s body temperature needs to be constantly monitored, is usually done by a doctor or other paramedical staff by constantly observing the temperature and maintaining a record of it. It is a very tedious method. In this proposed system transmitting module continuously reads patient’s body temperature through a digital temperature sensor, displays it on the LCD screen and sends it to the micro controller which transmits the encoded serial data over the air by RF (radio frequency) through an RF module. At the receiving end, a receiver is used to receive the data, decode it and feed it to another micro controller which is then displayed on an LCD screen. The receiver module is kept in the doctor’s chamber to continuously display the patient’s body temperature wireless.

This project can be further enhanced by sensing and displaying other vital statistics of a patient like blood pressure, pulse rate etc. Another feature can be added where a warning signal is generated if the parameters cross the safe limit.