Assignment advice for a student

[Donny84]

Hi guys, I'm a keen student of engineering and of all my engineering subjects, I find working with PLC's to be the most enjoyable and as my first choice i'd love to do this for a living. I currently have an assignment to complete regarding PLCs, but I am struggling with 2 of the tasks. The questions are as follows; a) compare the current capabilities and limitations of a PLC b) identify possible areas of future development for PLC's Any help with these questions would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Crossbow]

Well those questions are extremely vague. How is anyone just starting out in school going to know the status of the market? To me those sound more like questions a product marketing manager should be asking when looking to develop new products. Here's my 2 cents... Keep in mind that every vendor is different. A: it is impossible to compare all of the capabilities of PLCs today, as there are hundreds of manufacturers and PLCs available in the market. Some have Ethernet capabilities (which is a whole topic by itself since there are so many Ethernet-based networks), some have motion capabilities, some process control, some robot control, etc. B: Better capabilities for remote monitoring, possibly including apps for smart phones and tablets. Notice I did NOT say remote programming or modification. Stuxnet ring a bell? That's about all I can say on the topic.