IET 406: Industrial Automation Course Project (10 points) Pick one for your Course project Topic 1: RFID in Industry Topic 2: Industrial Automation Here is an example of what a project should contain...

Introduction:
Automation by generic definition, is "the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operating independently and automatically without any external human intervention" or "creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products and services."
Automation can be used in a wide range of applications and can be vital in developing processes to increase efficiency and decrease human errors. Some of the widely used applications of automation are:
1. Manufacturing
2. Transportation
3. Utilities
4. Defence
5. Facility operations
Figure 1: Automation in the manufacturing Industry
Similarly, industrial automation involves controlling and monitoring systems based on computers and robots. Automation in industrial workspace or plants helps the management improve the productivity and quality of the output from the plant. This improvement in quality and productivity in turns, reduces the waste and error in manufacturing. Industrial automation yields increased safety, reliability, and profitability. Some of the advantages of using the industrial automation process is given below:
1. Reduce worker fatigue and efforts in intensive or mundane operations
2. Prevent products or materials from being damaged.
3. Prevent non-conforming products from shipping.
4. Increase efficiency
5. Better data acquisition
6. Improved process deployment.
7. Improved reliability and process metrics
Automation in an industrial application can be subdivided into various types based on the degree of adoption, product range, and production volume.
1. Hard or fixed automation: Automation process with high production volume using automated robotics to complete a specific task in the manufacturing lines. This process is fixed, cannot undergo changes quickly, and must be reset. This automation process is fast, reliable, and economical.
2. Soft automation: Automation process with higher adaptability for various product configurations. The automation is controlled through a mainframe computer which can be programmed to modify the operation as per requirement. These automation processes are expensive and slow in nature when compared to hard automation. Soft automation is favourable when the production volume is limited and the category of products is extensive. Further soft automation can be divided into two categories: Programmable automation and flexible automation.
b. Programmable Automation:
b. Flexible Automation:
Automation Process Analysis
The automation system in an industrial area can be applied to any level of operations. Irrespective of the conventional thoughts, the production equipment is made of subsystems that can also be automated to produce small-scale automation. There is five-level of automation provided:
1. Device level
2. Machine level
3. System level
4. Plant level
5. Enterprise level
The level of automation is explained beautifully in the Figure 2.
Figure 2: Level of automation.
Automation workflow cycles mainly have two important features:
1. Processing steps sequence
2. Process parameters
With each workflow, these features change from step to step. The process parameters are the input provided by the program to the machine/robots to manufacture or follow an instruction which can include increasing the temperature, following a particular position, opening and closing a valve for fluid flow, etc. Further, this program is repealed with each workflow cycle without degradation or error. Usually, all the decision-making is done during the programming stage of the automation to decrease the cycle variation and save time on the workflow. This feature variation is subject to change routinely with small-batch manufacturing workshops. Therefore, in such cases, the instruction set deals with the necessary transition into the workspace...