PROFINET Wins, Organization Expands, PROFIenergy Products
loading… Lots of news from PI today: PROFIBUS and PROFINET by the numbers I hate to get too wrapped up in node counts, but here are the installed nodes through 2009: PROFIBUS 31,400,000 (5,400,000 in the process industries) PROFINET 2,100,000 PROFIsafe 850,000 Press Release: Healthy growth for PROFIBUS and PROFINET The only thing these numbers…
Who Should I Turn to…
loading… Who should I turn to… …when the PROFIblog turns away. Not that it would deliberately turn away, but the PROFIblog is only one small part of the resources available to users of PROFIBUS and PROFINET. There are many other places you can turn to for information. In North America, PTO and the PROFI Interface…
Fieldbus Speeds
loading… Last week one response on the Atlanta Course Evaluation thought my comparison of fieldbus speeds was “sales-weasely.” Must have been written by a muggle. <smile> To be fair, he also said that I did not say anything untrue. Anyway, the writer objected to my comparing the speeds of PROFIBUS DP and DeviceNet but not…
PROFIblog Policy Statement
loading… The PROFIblog turns four years old today. So, I thought it was time to state what PROFIblog is and how it is supposed to work. About time, eh? PROFIblog is mostly about PROFIBUS and PROFINET. And automation and fieldbuses in general. And sometimes goes way off topic. I’ll try to warn you when I…
Functional Safety over the Network Webinar
loading… We’ve shortened the PROFIsafe section of the PROFINET and PROFIBUS one-day training classes this year. So naturally we’re getting some requests to beef that up. Instead, we’ve decided to do a webinar on the topic. It’s scheduled for 2:00pm Eastern Time on April 1. You will find a little more information and a link…
PROFINET can use a Best Buy Ethernet Switch, really?
loading… PROFINET can use a Best Buy Ethernet Switch, really? Yes, really. At the Atlanta PROFINET one-day training class one of the attendees thought I was being “disingenuous” claiming that PROFINET can use an Ethernet switch from Best Buy. (I thought he meant I was lying, but the dictionary says that disingenuous is “lacking in…
Wireless or Wireless
loading… One of my pet peeves is lumping all wireless types together and treating them as one. Wireless is not one monolithic thing. I see four types of wireless in industrial automation: 1. Backhaul (as I think ISA characterizes it). Typically this is long distance radio bringing data from an RTU perhaps at a wellhead…
PROFINET Data Wrangler Avatar
loading… Many of you have seen the movie Avatar. I was a little late, but I did finally see it (and in IMAX 3D). The special effects were, of course, amazing. I was not so thrilled with the theme which was something like “Corporations, bad; primitive people, good.” But that did not stop me from…
Multitasking on Industrial Ethernet
loading… 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…
Training Class Sneak Preview
loading… Our one-day training class schedule for 2010 continues to firm up. We are revamping the material based on feedback from attendees in 2009. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the content for 2010: PROFIBUS classes are relatively unchanged, but we’re going to shorten the introduction. People don’t come to hear about the organization. …