Posts Tagged ‘profinet’
PROFINET Does That: An Engineering Thought Process – Part 2
This is Part 2 in a two part series helping to convey what we really mean by “PROFINET Does That”. The engineering thought process of our fictional Senior Advanced Manufacturing Engineer is our guide. In Part 1 we left off with him realizing that: the multi-vendor approach of PROFINET means he has a choice in…
Read MorePROFINET Does That: An Engineering Thought Process – Part 1
The theme for our General Assembly Meeting this year was “PROFINET Does That”. It has actually been a theme the entire year. If we had to read between the lines however and find the subtext of the meeting it would be that there are many manufacturers out there looking to upgrade their aging automation systems.…
Read MorePROFINET and PROFIBUS Rock Summary
For news of the PI North America General Assembly Meeting see: Automation World: Industry Suppliers Explain Support for Profinet & Profibus The Manufacturing Connection Control Engineering (with video) PROFIblog series Some final thoughts: I enjoy collecting the survey responses from the meeting. This year everyone said the meeting met their expectations and most said they…
Read MoreMultipoint Grounding
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 our…
Read MoreThe Office and the Factory Are Exactly… Different
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: temperature…
Read MoreTell Me More about PROFINET
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 itself…
Read MoreSo Is Ethernet Deterministic or Not?
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 of…
Read MoreRandom PROFINET Links
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 always…
Read MorePROFINET versus OPC Part 2
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 just…
Read MorePROFINET versus OPC
“I have OPC so I don’t need PROFINET.” “I have PROFINET so I don’t need OPC.” Neither of these statements is right. PROFINET and OPC are complementary. PROFINET is seen from a controller down to IO; OPC is seen from a controller up to an HMI. PROFINET moves data fast; OPC moves information more slowly.…
Read More