The Real Edge of IIoT
Some IoT definers think of edge devices as things like routers and switches. Others think it’s the closest device to the bottom with an IP address. Still others think it’s the gateway device connecting the whatever to the Internet. Those devices may be on the edge of an IT concept of the world, but they’re…
PROFINET – There’s a Lot to Know
As frequent PROFIblog aficionados probably know, I’m a big fan of the Course Evaluations from our free PROFINET one-day training classes. In Louisville last week the results were typical: the course length was right, the training manual was good, and the instructors were great, so said the filled in circles on the machine-scored form. But…
PROFINET of Things: Uptime
Continuing our examination of PROFINET as THE provider of data to the Industrial Internet of Things, we look at additional features of PROFINET – compared to characteristics needed in the IIoT. Uptime is the answer to the mission critical and professional services characteristics of IIoT. Diagnostics Diagnostics provide a means of preventing downtime and recovering…
PROFINET of Things: Data Access
In the last post, IoT AND IIoT, I positioned PROFINET as foundational to the Industrial Internet of Things which lies in the overlap of IoT and Industrie 4.0. In the post before that, IoT vs. IIoT, Michael explored the differences between IoT and IIoT. This post will start to extend that into the PROFINET of…
5 Lessons about PROFINET You Can Learn from Superheroes
Sometimes I just have to try to make PROFINET even more fun than usual. So this is a (DC) comic-relief post. (Bad pun intended.) Speed. Faster than Flash. PROFINET can achieve update times of 31.25 microseconds. Even on busy Ethernet backbones PROFINET can hit 250 microseconds with no special hardware. Wireless. Invisible in…
PROFINET and IIoT in the News
There was a time when I was an engineer who engineered. Now I’m an engineer who writes (and edits and teaches). I edit PROFINEWS and write some articles along with Michael Bowne. And write for the blog. And write less than 140 characters at a time for twice-a-weekday Tweets. But wait, there’s more: Here, with…
Why Use a Fieldbus?
There are two main reasons to use a fieldbus or Industrial Ethernet like PROFIBUS or PROFINET: Save wiring. Prevent downtime. Most users think about saving wiring as the most important reason. Not just wiring, of course. When you reduce the amount of wiring, you also reduce: The number of terminal strips the wire lands on…
Hanover 2015: IO-Link News
IO-Link had some big news at the fair, but first let’s look at some of the IO-Link products. First, the IO-Link wall at the PI booth with more products than ever before. One of those products was an AS-interface master for IO-Link. Ok, there are masters for every other bus you can imagine, but, really,…
5 Simple Facts about PROFINET
1. PROFINET is fast. PROFINET is as fast as you need it to be. Different applications have different requirements for speed – many process applications are slow moving so updates in hundreds of milliseconds is fast enough. Factory automation needs faster response. Motion control needs even faster response. PROFINET covers the gamut. 2. PROFINET is…
PROFINET, the Solute in the Automation Solution
I cannot believe that I could not find his quotation on the Internet: “If you’re not part of the solution you must be part of the solute.” I have seen it written down… on the men’s room wall in the Chemical Engineering building at university. And this does relate to PROFINET, as all things seem…