The section of the booth devoted to the PI Competence Centers featured an outline of the PROFINET Design Process.
A number of Development Tool providers were represented in the booth and at the fair: Hilscher, Siemens, HMS, NEC, KW-Software, IXXAT, and Molex among them. Here is Molex’s panel in the PI booth (next to PTO member Northwire).
And some of the others here.
Molex updated me on their development kits including stacks for controllers and devices. Their device stack has been used in situations where another Ethernet protocol was already implemented in a standard Ethernet controller. They are currently working with a large (un-named) device manufacturer in the US.
KW-Software had a panel in the PI booth and I also visited their booth in Hall 9. They have been working on a chip-based solution. They had been calling it the “Tiger chip,” but apparently that was just a code name as their literature calls it “TPS-1.” This chip is for PROFINET IO devices only. They felt that when the cost of auxiliary devices was included, the TPS-1 would be half the price of other solutions that cover both device and controller.
There are lots of tool choices when it comes to adding PROFINET to devices. One of PTO’s main purposes is to help device manufacturers through the selection process. Just ask.
This concludes my report from Hanover. Next week I’m off to Jacksonville for a PROFINET one-day training class. If you are in that area please plan to attend. There are more details and a link to registration online. And all the free courses are listed here.