Teach Me PROFIBUS
Are you new to PROFIBUS? Ready to start a new PROFIBUS project? Are you required to troubleshoot and maintain a PROFIBUS network? Here are some suggestions to learn about PROFIBUS: Read about PROFIBUS. The best place to start is the 36-page System Description: PROFIBUS Technology and Application. It’s contents: Chapter 1 contains an introduction to…
Hannover Messe Report: Ease of Use
If there was one big blinking neon light not to be missed from Hannover Messe this year it was: OPC UA. Like Karsten mentioned in PROFINEWS, it was everywhere -that and TSN. But what is the subtext to be gleaned behind these technologies? -EASE OF USE- This is the holy-grail for all manufacturers, and is…
Tech Tip Roundup – Updated
One of our favorite topics is tech tips. We provide many in PROFINEWS. If you are a subscriber, you have been kept up-to-date with tech tips. If you are not a subscriber, subscribe here. Then read on for a current list (and read PROFINEWS for new ones). If you were already updated through the original…
PI Profile
PI (PROFIBUS and PROFINET International) is a successful organization. Here’s why… First, why only one “P” in the name? When we started, there was only PROFIBUS. PROFINET came along later. I kind of visualize PI like this: The superimposed PROFINET green P is eclipsing the PROFIBUS Blue P in PI. But both are there and…
PROFINET and PROFIBUS Growth
Every year PI conducts an audited count of new nodes installed for PROFINET, PROFIBUS, PROFI in Process, PROFIsafe, and more. No other organization does this, so any numbers you see for nodes of EtherNet/IP or EtherCAT are estimates. The count is conducted by an independent third party. He sends a request to device makers who…
Completing a PROFINET Project
What’s the logical sequence to use to describe PROFINET? For the one-day training classes, we put everything in the context of the PROFINET of Things (IIoT and Industrie 4.0). For the PROFINET introduction webinar, we went from definition to use in application spaces (factory, process, motion) to features. For the PROFINET System Description, we moved…
PROFINET is 100% Buzzword Compliant
In order for your product or technology to succeed you have to be able to “check the right boxes.” PROFINET checks all the right boxes making it 100% buzzword compliant. These are some of the buzzwords we encounter in industrial automation today: Ethernet, Real-Time, TSN, Big Data, Analytics, Industrial Internet of Things, and Industrie 4.0….
IO-Link versus AS-i
You’re designing a new machine. Should you use IO-Link or AS-interface (AS-i)? Yes. Yes, you should use the one appropriate to the task at hand. There’s never a substitute for doing the engineering. Use AS-i for: A long string of pushbuttons (as along a conveyor). A long string of Emergency Stop pushbuttons (as along a…
PROFINET Can (Still) Use a Cheap Switch
If you want to get someone to remember something you can’t repeat it too many times. Case in point: I saw another new blog post from someone who thinks you cannot use a standard Ethernet switch for PROFINET. YOU CAN! Seven years ago, I blogged that PROFINET can use a Best Buy Ethernet Switch, really?…
Where Networks Fit in the IIoT
There has been a raft of articles about networks and their place in the Industrial Internet of Things. Basically, IIoT is at the intersection of IoT and Industrie 4.0. Here’s a 46-second video reminder of how the relate. There were three articles that caught my attention: 1. Modbus As an IoT Protocol??? John Rinaldi makes…