15+ years in DCS & PLC programming, upgrade, migration, and commissioning.
Expert in functional safety, combustion control, and advanced process control.
I'm a Control Systems Engineer with a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specializing in reliability-based fault tolerant control. My career spans over 15 years in industrial automation, from DCS and PLC programming to functional safety and advanced process control.
Based in London, Ontario, I've delivered control system upgrades, combustion safety systems, and automation projects across the petrochemical, pipeline, and energy sectors. I am a Professional Engineer, a member of IEEE, ISA, and PMI, and a Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE).
Prior to workng in the process control industry, I conducted research in advanced control theory — including fault-tolerant control systems and reliability optimization — with publications in international journals.
Due to client confidentiality, specific project details cannot be disclosed. Below are the categories of work delivered.
Migrated legacy DCS and PLC systems to modern platforms — including Honeywell TDC→Experion, GE/Siemens→Modicon, and safety manager replacements. Led programming, panel design, FAT, and commissioning.
Designed and commissioned Burner Management Systems and combustion controls for boilers, heaters, and power houses. Led BMS logic, fuel safety regulatory approvals, and commissioning across multiple sites.
Automated unit operations including flow computers, railcar offloading, VFD installations, emission monitoring, PLC panel design, and remote site communications. From concept through commissioning.
Configured and commissioned model predictive controllers for industrial dryers worldwide. Ongoing technical support and model maintenance across multiple international sites.
Doctoral research on fault-tolerant control systems, reliability optimization, and probabilistic controller design. Published in international journals.
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao · International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 18(16), pp. 1551-1574
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao · International Journal of Risk and Reliability, 222(4), pp. 553-560
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao, Zhenyu Yang · Journal of Control Science and Engineering, Article ID 265189
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao, Zhenyu Yang · International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, 17(4), pp. 491-504
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao · Circuit, Systems, and Signal Processing, 26(3), pp. 325-351
Hongbin Li, Qing Zhao · Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, 220(5), pp. 329-338
Why failure should not be feared — drawing on the Incident Learning Process, Kathryn Schulz's 'Being Wrong,' and Matthew Syed's 'Black Box Thinking' to reframe mistakes as essential opportunities for growth.
How frequency-domain thinking guides PID tuning in practice — bandwidth, phase margin, and low-frequency gain explained through a worked FOLPD example.
A review of 'Rational Accidents: Reckoning with Catastrophic Technologies' by John Downer — why ultra-high reliability can't be engineered before deployment, and must be learned through recursive operational experience.
Understanding ISA99/IEC 62443 cybersecurity standards for industrial control systems.
Methods and calculations for pollutant emission rate determination in industrial processes.
How we can understand behavior and brain activities.
A practical guide to fuel safety in combustion systems — covering BMS design, interlocks, and safety considerations.
The Monty Hall problem explained — why switching doors gives you better odds, and why intuition fails us.
Exploring the role of human operators in automated control systems and the design principles for effective human-in-the-loop automation.
How to monitor fuel air ratio control and meet the latest Canadian fuel safety code — covering flue gas oxygen monitoring, fuel air ratio calculation, and field data validation.
Whether you have a project opportunity, a question about control systems engineering, or just want to connect — I'd love to hear from you.