November 30, 2012 - Profinet communication stacks from KW-Software have been used successfully for many years in sophisticated automation solutions. The new release 3.7 supports Profinet system redundancy for the special requirements of process automation.
System redundancy in automation systems is a crucial criterion for managing process technology sequences. Redundancy must be available here on all levels - on control level, communication level or on the input/output level of the field devices.
Profinet IO supports system redundancy for distributed control systems with standardized communication mechanisms and services. The communication stacks of KW-Software enable the independent scaling of redundancy for every single level. Controls, network and I/O devices can thus be configured differently. This provides maximum flexibility when selecting the specific redundancy concept for different applications.
The new version of the Profinet stacks additionally enables bumpless reconfiguration during running production (Configuration in Run, CiR). Thus, adding, removing or replacing devices, modifying the module configuration or changing parameters is possible without affecting the automation process.