2011 Engineers’ Choice Awards - Spotlight on Innovation

 Cover story: Best automation, control, and instrumentation products in 30 categories.

The 24th annual Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice Awards shines a light on 30 categories of control, instrumentation, and automation products, revealing the best of those introduced in 2010 as chosen by you, Control Engineering’s print and online subscribers. Review the winners and honorable mentions revealed here to see if their innovative solutions can help you solve one of your most pressing problems.

Also, join us in congratulating these technological innovators. Let them know you learned about their solutions in Control Engineering, and what problems you need solutions for next. Their continuous improvement ensures that manufacturers, machine builders, and automation system integrators can achieve the levels of agility, efficiency, and effectiveness necessary to compete—and win—in today’s global economy.

More than 100 product nominations from 65 companies were listed on ballots for evaluation. Automation professionals from Control Engineering’s subscriber lists—all of whom are responsible for or influence technology purchases, or have hands-on day-to-day interaction with the technologies in each category—then voted to identify the products they felt were the most exceptional based on technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact. The result is a short list of Engineers’ Choice Award winners and honorable mentions in 30 categories. A total of 31 winners and 33 honorable mentions were named for 2011, due to ties in certain categories.

Control Engineering staff extend our appreciation to all who nominated products and took the time to vote. Awards will be presented as part of the Manufacturing Automation Summit, a conference to be held March 20-22, 2011, in Chicago. For information or to sign up, see

Machine and motion control, controllers

Machine and Embedded Control - machine vision

      - BOA Smart Camera from Dalsa Industrial Products

Machine and Embedded Control – PACs

      - NI CompactRIO from National Instruments

Machine and Embedded Control - PACs – motion

      - Allen-Bradley ControlLogix L73 and L75 Programmable Automation Controllers from Rockwell Automation

Machine and Embedded Control – PLCs

      - 750-881 Ethernet 2.0 Programmable Fieldbus Controller from Wago Corporation

Motion Control – drives

      - Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 755 AC drive from Rockwell Automation

Motion Control – motors

      - DR Motor from SEW-Eurodrive Inc.

Motion Control – robotics

      - ANT130-XY from Aerotech Inc.

Motion Control - servo drives

      - IndraDrive Cs Economy Compact Servo Drive from Bosch Rexroth Corporation

Networks, power, process

Network Integration - data acquisition, integration

      - OptoEMU Sensor from Opto 22

Network Integration - Ethernet hardware

      - Allen-Bradley Stratix 8300 Layer 3 managed switch from Rockwell Automation

Network Integration - I/O systems

      - WMF 2.5 Multi-Functional Terminal Block Series from Weidmuller

Network Integration - signal conditioning/diagnostics

      - Allen-Bradley Bulletin 931 analog signal conditioners from Rockwell Automation

Network Integration - wireless

      - WirelessHART gateway from Phoenix Contact

Network Integration -wire, cable, cordsets, connectors

      - Belden DataTuff 600V Cat 5e AWM-rated Cable from Belden

Power - monitoring, protection

      - Fluke 381 Remote Display True-rms Clamp Meter with iFlex, Fluke Corporation

Process Control - analysis, optimization, tuning

      - PlantTriage Control Performance Monitoring from ExperTune Inc.

Process control systems

      - Experion R400 from Honeywell Process Solutions

Process Sensors – flowmeters

      - Elite High Capacity Coriolis Meter - Micro Motion, a division of Emerson Process Management

Process sensors - other

      - Raytek MI3 Infrared Sensor, Raytek Corporation

Safety, hardware, software

Safety sensor

      - Harmony Biometric Switch from Schneider Electric

Safety System Software

      - Simatic Safety Matrix Version 6.2 from Siemens Industry Inc.

Safety controller - tie

      - Allen-Bradley Compact GuardLogix PAC from Rockwell Automation from Rockwell Automation

      - Siemens Simatic ET 200pro Fail Safe Controller from Siemens Industry Inc.

Hardware - Handheld testing, calibration

      - Fluke 365 Detachable Jaw True-rms AC/DC Clamp Meter from Fluke Corporation

Hardware - HMI, operator interface, displays

      - Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus 6 HMI terminal from Rockwell Automation

Hardware - industrial PCs

      - C6930 Industrial PC from Beckhoff Automation

Hardware HMI - bar code and ID readers

      - DataMan 8000 from Cognex Corporation

Software - application software

      - FactoryTalk AssetCentre from Rockwell Automation

Software - connectivity, integration software

      - KEPServerEX v5 from Kepware Technologies

Software - design, simulation, diagnostics

      - SolidWorks 2011, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp.

Software - HMI software

      - Monitouch V-SFT from Fuji Electric Corp. of America