Engineering Resources
Working reference material for people who commission, maintain, and monitor industrial control systems. Everything here is free to read, print, and share - no form, no email gate. Each resource stands on its own and cites the primary standards it draws from. For guided reading orders, see the learning paths at Automation University, or browse the video library.
PLC Commissioning Checklist
Seven phases from pre-job preparation to documentation handover: I/O checkout, comms verification, fail-state behavior, and alarm testing, each as a working checklist you can run on screen or print.
Open the checklist → Reference TableIndustrial Protocol Selection Matrix
Modbus RTU/TCP, DNP3, OPC UA, MQTT Sparkplug, EtherNet/IP, HART, and BACnet compared across transport, comms model, report by exception, time-stamping, and security - plus a short decision sequence.
Open the matrix → WorksheetAlarm Rationalization Worksheet
A worksheet for deciding what actually deserves to be an alarm, built on the alarm-management lifecycle concepts behind ISA-18.2, with a worked example and a blank template you can copy.
Open the worksheet → ChecklistInstrumentation Loop Check Checklist
Follows each signal from the field device through wiring and marshalling to controller I/O and the HMI: 5-point checks, fail-direction verification, alarm limit checks, and sign-off documentation.
Open the checklist → Decision GuideRemote Monitoring Architecture Guide
How to pick an architecture for remote sites: decision factors from power budget to security posture, a reference architecture diagram, and a cellular vs satellite vs radio trade-off table.
Open the guide →How These Resources Are Maintained
These pages are written and maintained by the Merobix engineering team in an organization voice. They describe common industry practice, not the requirements of any specific site, standard, or regulator - always defer to your own site procedures and to the primary sources cited on each page. Where a value is genuinely site-specific, the resource says so instead of inventing a number.
If you spot a technical error, we want to know. Report it through our corrections page and we will review it against the primary sources.
Sources & Standards
The organizations and reference documents cited most often across these resources:
- International Society of Automation (ISA) - standards for alarm management, documentation, and control system security.
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) - international standards for industrial-process measurement, control, and automation.
- NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3 - the Guide to Operational Technology (OT) Security.
- CISA - U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency guidance for industrial control systems.
Put Them to Work
Everything on this page is free to use and share inside your team. If you would rather have help commissioning, loop checking, or monitoring your sites, that is the work Merobix does every day.