Multipoint Grounding
loading… Multipoint grounding – a post in which I draw a target on myself. I’ve been involved in some really contentious arguments on the topic. I wish I could say they were discussions, but the religious fervor of some single-point grounding advocates precludes that. I’ve had some constructive conversations on this topic in some of…
The Office and the Factory Are Exactly… Different
loading… The office and the factory are especially different when it comes to networking. For IT folks who are used to the office environment, the factory is a shock. They have to leave the comfort of carpet for the factory’s comfort of concrete. The office provides a conditioned atmosphere; the factory – not so much:…
Tell Me More about PROFINET
loading… An advantage of PROFINET being the world’s most popular Industrial Ethernet is the number of resources available for additional information. Let’s categorize those resources as those you can Read, Watch, and Attend. Read. You will of course want to read the manuals for the equipment you are using. Really. But for information on PROFINET…
Secret PROFINET and PROFIBUS Meeting
loading… This meeting is so secret that we have a link to it at the top of the PI North America home page. <smile> But it is an exclusive, members-only meeting. (If you are not a member, you probably should be; join here.) The meeting is the 19th annual PI North America General Assembly Meeting….
PROFINET Uses TCP/IP?
loading… In the Dallas PROFINET one-day training class a couple weeks ago, one of the students commented on his Course Evaluation: “How do you say that PROFINET has high marks for TCP/IP, when 99% of the traffic doesn’t use TCP/IP.” Obviously, I gave high marks to PROFINET for using TCP/IP. I probably should have expanded…
PROFIBUS and PROFINET in Oil and Gas
loading… Discrete manufacturing is not the only sector where PROFIBUS and PROFINET have found widespread acceptance as automation backbones. While currently undergoing rapid growth, the Oil and Gas market is one where the use of PROFIBUS has a long history and is well known. It is found in all phases of the petroleum industry. In…
Profibus PA – The times, they are a-changin’
loading… [A guest post from James Powell, author of Catching the Process Fieldbus, reviewed here.] “The times, they are a-changin’”. Bob Dylan wrote these words decades ago (and about a very different topic!), but when I look at the Profibus PA market today, this song immediately pops into my head. Last year at this time,…
So Is Ethernet Deterministic or Not?
loading… So, is Ethernet deterministic or not? The answer is a definite “maybe.” More realistically, that’s the wrong question. Ethernet by itself is not a complete communications system. You need a protocol on top of it. (See Ethernet is not a protocol.) And what does it mean to be deterministic? I looked for a definition…
Random PROFINET Links
loading… Not ‘random’ – ‘carefully chosen.’ Some topics, mostly PROFIBUS or PROFINET-related, gathered from my news feed: GE Intelligent Platforms has a blog called “A Connected World” that you should check out. I guest blog over there occasionally. You can subscribe for monthly emailed updates. In my OEM days, I subscribed to Machine Design. I…
PROFINET versus OPC Part 2
loading… I realized that I oversimplified OPC by lumping DA and UA together and by impugning the speed of OPC. I think the oversimplification was valuable in noting the differences between PROFINET and OPC, but the engineer in me cannot avoid adding some details and clarification. Here they are: HMI. Although I pictured OPC as…