NN Asks: What have recent projects taught us about the move from analog to digital plant controls?

[Marlin]

NN Asks: What have recent projects taught us about the move from analog to digital plant controls?

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-29/article-8166/what-have-recent-projects-taught-us-about-the-move-from-analog-to-digital-plant-controls/

[Core Content]

Transitioning to digital instrumentation and control systems requires a fundamental shift in commissioning strategies, moving from physical field verification to software logic validation. By validating internal signals during factory assembly, teams can reduce on-site testing time and avoid redundant checks. Success in these modern environments depends on engineers who can effectively bridge the gap between digital software and traditional hardware requirements.

Transitioning in nuclear from the U.S. Navy to the commercial industry was always a goal for me, but stepping directly into a fully digital control room was a paradigm shift. Moving from the tactile, analog world of my military background to the data-rich environment of modern advanced reactors was jarring. Digital systems offer an unprecedented...

Commissioning analog plants meant physical verification, such as lifting leads, injecting signals, and manually tweaking potentiometers to calibrate gains and offsets. Digital instrumentation and control (I&C) completely redefines this landscape. Today, nearly all plant data are available at our fingertips, but this brings the challenge of filtering an immense amount of data and system alarms. Troubleshooting has largely migrated from the field and into software, following digital signals from...

Read the full article at ans.org:
https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-29/article-8166/what-have-recent-projects-taught-us-about-the-move-from-analog-to-digital-plant-controls/