When the plant manager's breathing down your neck and production is stopped dead, you don't need theory-you need answers. Fast.
Boots on the Ground: Instrumentation & Signals delivers exactly what traditional technical manuals miss: systematic thinking under pressure. Written by a field technician who spent 30 years fixing failures at 2 AM, this isn't another academic textbook-it's the troubleshooting guide you wish you'd had on day one.
The Reality of Field Work
Most technical books teach you what sensors do. This one teaches you what to do when they don't. Author Bob, a former Technical Leader at Dow Chemical with two engineering patents, built this series around a simple truth: when equipment fails and everyone's watching, you need a framework that cuts through panic and gets straight to the problem.
The SITVD Framework
At the core of this book is SITVD-Symptom, Isolate, Test, Verify, Document. It's an anti-panic protocol that gives you a systematic path forward when nothing makes sense. No guessing. No throwing parts at problems. Just logical steps that work whether you're troubleshooting a discrete output, an analog loop, or a temperature sensor that's reading "believable but wrong."
What's Inside
This field guide covers the instrumentation and signals that cause 80% of your downtime:
- Discrete Inputs/Outputs - Why your solenoid won't energize (and the six-step process to find out why)
- Analog Loops (4-20 mA) - Zero current? Noisy signal? Stuck reading? Decision trees for each scenario
- Temperature Sensors - RTDs, thermocouples, IR sensors, and the #1 mistake that gives you wrong readings
- Pressure, Flow, and Level - Impulse lines, transmitter types, and what to check when readings don't match reality
- Proximity Sensors - PNP/NPN confusion, detection problems, and the material correction factors nobody mentions
- Photoelectric Sensors - Through-beam, retroreflective, diffuse-plus why shiny targets fool standard sensors
- Cable & Wiring - The wiggle test, EMI problems, and how to half-split a 200-foot cable run
- PLC Basics - Reading ladder logic, finding false permissives, and what to check when "it just stopped working"
Built for the Field
Every chapter includes full-page decision tree flowcharts you can photocopy and laminate. Keep them in your toolbox. Tape them inside panel doors. Use them at 2 AM when your brain won't cooperate.
The book is deliberately sized (6"×9") to fit in your back pocket or toolbox. It's meant to get dirty. Dog-ear the pages. Highlight the war stories. Write notes in the margins. This isn't a reference manual for your shelf-it's a working tool.
Robert Cummer is a veteran engineer with more than three decades of experience in industrial automation, process control, and large-scale engineered systems. His career spans engineering innovation, systems integration, cross-disciplinary R&D, and executive leadership in global operations.Currently, Cummer is co-founder and CTO/COO of Molly's Grape & Citrus Company, where he oversees technology, digital infrastructure, and food-safety programs. A Michigan native, he holds multiple U.S. patents and has spent his career solving complex engineering challenges across automation and controls.In addition to his technical work, Cummer is the author of the Knox Ramsey thriller series, including Dark Recipe.
