Red Lion Controls, a provider of communication, monitoring and control solutions introduced Sixnet (News - Alert) EtherTRAK-2 I/O module a new flexible industrial automation solution. This solution increases configuration and functionality options that concern oil, gas and water/wastewater environments.

Jacob Colegrove, product manager at Red Lion Controls, said, “The rugged design of our Sixnet RTUs and EtherTRAK-2 I/O modules allow them to be used in virtually any harsh, remote application. Furthermore, recent firmware enhancements provide several capabilities to increase system reliability, and to simplify remote management of our RTUs.”

Serving the needs of industrial automation and networking, the company has also enhanced firmware for its Sixnet series RTUs in addition to introducing the new Sixnet EtherTRAK-2 I/O module. This solution will be ideal for both distributed and local I/O applications where a high density of mixed I/O types is needed.

The new EtherTRAK module features dual Ethernet ports that are suitable for fault-tolerant ring topologies. The inputs and outputs enabled in a discrete topology can range up to 20 inputs, including four isolated high-speed counters, and eight outputs. In analog topology it provides eight 4-20mA inputs and four 0-20mA, 4-20mA, 0-5V outputs.

Officials explained that this mix of high-density I/O will reduce costs for customers. Also the module’s four isolated, high-speed counter inputs enable easy metering and flow rate for applications in oil and gas and water/wastewater applications.

The atomic configuration loading functionality in the solution helps automate the remote configuration process and reduces batch loading times for hundreds of RTUs. Users can create a configuration and load it to the RTU either by manual means or by command line.

The UDR-A authenticated protocol protects assets by limiting RTU access by employing user-specific credentials.

Other functionalities include simple network time protocol (SNTP) synch bit that will indicate the successful synchronization of the SNTP time with the help of a time server that ensures that all system clocks are synchronized. The datalog status feature increases diagnostics as it shows when datalog configurations have been loaded to the RTU.