April 27, 2008 - Hannover, Germany -- SERCOS International announced that the evaluation by TÜV Rheinland and BGIA St. Augustin of the CIP Safety on SERCOS specification has been completed and it is being released as a function-specific profile (FSP Safety) for Industrial Ethernet-based SERCOS III. The extensions specified by SERCOS International will be included in Edition 2.2. of the CIP Safety specification and will be published in the IEC 61784-3 international safety standard.
Thus, users of the SERCOS III real-time Ethernet technology can rely on an established network-spanning safety protocol, CIP Safety of the ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendors Association). CIP Safety on SERCOS is based on the CIP Safety safety protocol and provides for safe data transmission over SERCOS III up to SIL 3 (Safety Integrity Level) according to IEC 61508. The safety protocol uses the SERCOS Messaging Protocol (SMP), which enables the representation of the CIP data and services on configured, cyclic data containers in the SERCOS telegram.
Due to the routing capability of the CIP Safety protocol, a safety network can stretch across several diverse communication networks (e.g., DeviceNet, Ethernet/IP, SERCOS III). According to the CIP Safety specification, the safe data container embedded in the SERCOS frame can contain between 2 and 250 Bytes of safe user data. Independent of the type of data -- command values, logical signals, or safe logic or process information -– SERCOS III provides a homogeneous, continuous solution for modern automation concepts.
“The combination of CIP Safety with the Ethernet-based SERCOS III fulfils the desire of users and suppliers to embark on a global standard instead of supporting different safety protocols,” states Peter Lutz, Managing Director of SERCOS International. “CIP Safety on SERCOS also opens up new perspectives. For example, using the direct cross communication supported by SERCOS III, basic, safe slave devices can be linked without any additional safety control – and this with minimal reaction times. Thus, SERCOS International has achieved an important step in establishment of the SERCOS III Real-time Ethernet technology as a universal network solution for a broad range of manufacturing systems.”
