What is PROFINET?
loading… PROFINET is a mechanism to exchange data between controllers and devices. Controllers could be PLCs, DCSs, or PACs. (Programmable Logic Controllers, Distributed Control Systems, or Programmable Automation Controllers.) Devices could be I/O blocks, vision systems, RFID readers, drives, process instruments, proxies, or even other controllers. PROFINET exchanges data quickly and deterministically. Required speeds vary…
Complementing PROFINET
loading… “Nice job, PROFINET.” “Way to be deterministic there PROFINET.” No, not complimenting PROFINET, complementing PROFINET. PROFINET is a great backbone for I/O, controllers, vision systems, drives, and more. But it isn’t all things to all devices. There are times and places where PROFINET is not the logical network to use. Fortunately, PROFINET integrates complementary…
Computer History
loading… This post is mostly off the PROFINET and PROFIBUS topics, but there is plenty of engineering-related material here… Prior to the Silicon Valley PROFINET one-day training class, I had a chance to visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Following the recommended path through the museum takes you through the history of…
A Social Media Milestone
loading… I honestly don’t know how this happened. But the PROFIblog started ten years ago… quite inauspiciously. The first post said that we’re starting to blog. And check back a couple times a week for updates. Well, the couple times a week proved to be unsustainable. In fact, there were times when posts were few…
Ask the instructor: PROFINET Developer Training
loading… Kyle McMillan is a guest blogger and the PROFINET Certification lead at the PROFI Interface Center – a PI-accredited Test Lab. Recently, we began offering a formal Developer Training course to complement our PROFINET Certified Network Engineer curriculum. Carl invited me here to explain why. It’s simple: I’m lazy. Really, I am; I like…
Developing a PROFINET Product – Member Resources
loading… We at PI North America and PI Competence Centers like the PROFI Interface Center are happy to help anyone who is developing a PROFINET product. But we can offer more resources to members. In my last post I outlined some resources that are available to anyone. This post is about the resources that are…
Developing a PROFINET Product
loading… There are so many choices of ways to add PROFINET to an automation device that it is difficult to know where to start. Where to start depends on: Existing design Type of product Quantities expected Time to market needed For a product with an existing Ethernet controller, a PROFINET software stack can be added. …
The Data-Driven Factory
loading… Being in the business of moving data with PROFINET, references to the data-driven factory* appeal to me. Appealing as that is, it’s an incomplete story. Like a word-driven blog post. Random words collected do not a blog post make. Random data collected does not a factory drive. Data is the raw material. Turning it…
2015’s Most Popular PROFI Stuff
loading… It is traditional to spend time in January looking back and evaluating the preceding year. In the world of PROFINET and PROFIBUS this was the most popular stuff from 2015: Web page: PROFINET Technology Everything you need to know about PROFINET on one (very long) web page. But if you would rather download something…
Getting Data to IIoT
loading… The Industrial Internet of Things (which is a subset of Internet of Things and a subset of Industrie 4.0) needs data. The data can be used to analyze and feed back improvements to the process. But how do you get the data? PROFINET! Yes, PROFINET is ideal for collecting data from sensors and other…