Multitasking on Industrial Ethernet
Automation World has an interesting article in the February issue and online: “Ethernet Protocols’ Flexibility A Boost For Manufacturing.” It manages to mention five different Industrial Ethernet protocols but then goes on to focus on PROFINET and Ethernet/IP. This is a sensible focus since PROFINET and Ethernet/IP are the market leaders. A recent study showed…
Read MoreSPS Report 6: Walking the Show Floor
Although I spent most of my time at the SPS Show in the PI booth, I did get to visit the booths of some PTO members. I already mentioned Stahl, WAGO, Siemens, and Phoenix Contact. Here are some others: HMS was showing the PROFINET relatives in their Anybus family. These included boards for PROFINET RT…
Read MoreSPS Report 5: PROFIenergy
At the show PROFINET was ubiquitous, but I think the biggest news of the fair was PROFIenergy. First, PROFINET. Here is a ten-second pan of the PROFINET wall in the PI booth. And this is the PROFINET display at the Phoenix Contact stand: Now to PROFIenergy: PROFIenergy is an application profile for PROFINET that makes…
Read MoreSPS Report 4: PROFIsafe
I do not understand the slow acceptance of functional safety over the bus in North America. PROFIsafe has been around for more than 10 years. It covers functional safety for discrete, process, and motion control applications in the same system. It works on PROFIBUS and PROFINET. It works via wire or wireless. It accepts AS-I…
Read MoreSPS Report 3: IO-Link
IO-Link is a fieldbus-neutral, point-to-point connection and communication method for intelligent IO. I think of it as HART for discrete because it superimposes a digital signal over the regular wiring. More information on IO-Link is at www.IO-Link.com. And for my past posts on the topic, use the IO-Link tag. IO-Link was big again this year:…
Read MorePROFINET is not a Star
PROFINET is not a star… but it can be when you want it to be – speaking of topologies, of course; in performance PROFINET is a star! I read the article “Network Behemoth” by Dan Hebert at Control Design which featured this section: Hard to Deal with Stars Dealing with stars can be difficult, whether…
Read MoreTraining Class Discount
It doesn’t happen often, but the last two PROFItech classes of 2009 have some seats left. We’d like to fill them. If you are not a member of PTO, we’ll give you a 10% discount for these two classes only. (If you are a member, you already get a discount!) Register by November 4 and…
Read MoreDeveloper Resources
Again in Minneapolis last week, there were a large number of automation device manufacturers. It’s clear that more manufacturers are adding PROFINET to their products. On the Course Evaluations there were a number of requests to provide additional information specific to them in our free PROFINET one-day training classes. Alas, there is little time available…
Read MoreFive Criteria for Choosing an Industrial Ethernet
As Manny walked the exhibition floor at ISA he encountered device vendors who needed an Industrial Ethernet. PROFINET would have fit the bill for them, but some were leaning toward something else and some had already chosen something else. One of those device manufacturers encountered told Manny that Modbus/TCP was the most popular protocol. (Clearly…
Read MoreIndustrial Ethernet Market Shares
I was asked at a recent PROFINET one-day training class why we didn’t compare PROFINET to SERCOS III. I answered lamely that we just didn’t encounter it and besides it was a motion control-only bus while PROFINET is a very comprehensive bus of which motion control is only one part. Today I stumbled upon an…
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