PROFINET Applications in Cars and Planes
The automotive industry has long been a user of PROFIBUS and PROFINET. Now amusement park cars are using PROFINET, too. The last time I was at Disneyland, the new “Cars” area was under construction. Now it’s done and it uses PROFINET and PROFIsafe. The cars in the Radiator Springs Racers report their position wirelessly using…
Read MoreThe EtherNet/IP FUD-sicle – Melted Again
The EtherNet/IP folks just can’t stop talking about PROFINET… and just can’t stop getting it wrong. It’s almost like they’re deliberately misrepresenting PROFINET. The latest example is in the Industrial Ethernet Book article “Working successful motion control via standard Ethernet.” The article has no new FUD*; I’ve been calling them out on this same thing…
Read MoreWhy Aren’t More People Getting on the Fieldbus Bus?
Indeed: “Why Aren’t More People Getting on the Fieldbus Bus?” as Bruce Brandt asks at Control Engineering. I would answer that with one word: “inertia.” That’s short hand for those still stuck in the hard wiring mode saying “We’ve always done it this way.” Of course, what they’re missing is improved uptime – uptime achievable…
Read MoreHanover Fair 2: How Did PROFINET Get a Speed Upgrade
Three techniques are employed to give PROFINET its speed boost to a 31.25 microsecond cycle time: fast forwarding, Dynamic Frame Packing, and fragmentation. Fast Forwarding Every microsecond counts. When a PROFINET frame passes through an Ethernet switch in a linear topology, the switch examines the frame to see if it should forward it or use…
Read MoreHanover Fair 2: PROFINET Speed Upgrade
One of the displays in Hanover Fair’s Field Communication Lounge (described in an earlier post) showed how a new Siemens chip supported the PROFINET speed upgrade. First, a little background: The PROFINET specification that this is based on is PROFINET version 2.3 which was released in late 2010. The speed upgrade was one of the…
Read MoreHanover Fair 2012
Hanover Fair concluded last Friday after 190,000 visitors had trouped through the 5,000 exhibits (from 69 countries). Twenty of the Halls were occupied, but I never made it out of Hall 9 with most of my time spent in the Field Communication Lounge, the stand cosponsored by PI. Five digital communications organizations cooperated to create…
Read MoreGlobal PROFINET Standardization
If you make an automation device, it can be shipped globally. If you make a machine, it can be shipped globally. If you make a consumer product, it can be manufactured globally. One of the “5 Criteria for choosing an Industrial Ethernet” is global support that is local. PROFINET is supported all over the world and…
Read MoreReplace PROFINET Device No Computer Needed!
What if you could replace an IO device on a PROFINET network without using a computer? Surprise, there is no what-if here – you can do this now. And there are no addressing switches to set either. Oh, and the network keeps running the whole time, too. We demonstrate this Simple Device Replacement feature in…
Read MorePROFINET Executive Leadership Forum Day 2
Day 2 of the PROFINET Executive Leadership Forum featured presentations from Raj Batra, President, Industry Automation Division at Siemens Bernie Anger, General Manager Control and Communication Systems at GE Intelligent Platforms Michael Bastian, Controls Manager at Ford Motor Company (Powertrain Division) Joerg Freitag, Chairman of PI Tom Koulopoulos The press has already reported in depth…
Read MorePROFINET Executive Leadership Forum
The PROFINET Executive Leadership Forum was held on February 23 and 24 in Miami. PI North America members GE Intelligent Platforms and Siemens cosponsored the event with us. The Forum provided a platform for PROFINET suppliers and users to highlight how PROFINET supported their efforts to innovate. Here’s how PI North America Executive Director Michael…
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