Articles and News

Netilities graphical software tool is useful for engineering, monitoring and troubleshooting PROFINET installations.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Internet of Things (IoT) definition as promoted by major industrial automation suppliers and computer industry suppliers is “IP to the edge.” IP to the edge means using Internet Protocol over wired or wireless Ethernet to communicate with end devices. This concept may not be common sense engineering and sound design for industrial automation systems.

The guide lists 130 providers of nearly 300 Sercos-enabled products and serves as a guide for all mechanical engineers, systems integrators and control unit manufacturers who use the high-performance Sercos automation bus.

By Kepware Technologies Repete implemented Kepware’s KEPServerEX communications platform to address the diverse protocol environments of its growing international customer base.

Molex plant floors consist of hundreds of different machines from a variety of vendors, with each speaking its own language or “protocol.” An OPC server connected them all.

By Rainer Schmidt, Harting PROFINET is an independent, proprietary system, which is primarily used for communication between PROFINET components. If PROFINET wants to seamlessly communicate right into the SAP level, it runs into the structured cabling which the IT infrastructure of the company uses.

Testing tool verifies the correct implementation of the Sercos Internet Protocol Services (S-IPS).

This specification describes the mapping of the Sercos information model to OPC UA so that functions and data of Sercos devices are made available and accessible via OPC UA.

The SIG will proliferate adoption of EtherNet/IP in the process industries, and integrate field devices with industrial control systems and related diagnostic services.

The latest EtherNet/IP Specification provides the framework for users to design energy-conserving functionality into their products for when equipment is in production mode.

The IP core for Sercos III master and slave controllers (SERCON100M/S) includes all hardware functions, such as timing, synchronization and processing of cyclic and non-cyclic data on the basis of two integrated Ethernet MACs.

By Paul Brooks, Rockwell Automation, on behalf of Industrial IP Advantage Without standard, unmodified Ethernet on the plant floor, many industrial automation companies can’t easily take advantage of higher-level protocols and the immense functionality they support. EtherNet/IP enables organizations to save money by moving away from expensive, closed, plant floor dedicated networks.

FDI Cooperation, FieldComm Group and Profibus & Profinet International gave FDI to the FieldComm Group.

PLCopen and OPC Foundation created an open standards ecosystem that simplifies the communications of packaging machines with other plant systems and the business enterprise.

Linux has long been on the “wishlist" for control systems. Until now, most systems have been locked-in to the Windows operating system due to reliance on classic OPC—a ubiquitous communication standard based on Microsoft’s Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). The name of the game is changing, however, with the arrival of the next-generation OPC standard, the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA). The new standard was designed for cross-platform compatibility, which makes room for Linux to gain popularity in the automated control industry.

Traditionally, body panels are inspected by using a robot to present the part to an array of proximity switches. Ford improved on this method by using machine vision. The camera connects to either the robot or the PLC using the Ethernet/IP protocol.

By John Lewis, Cognex The need to use PCs to interface with vision systems and ID readers required the purchase of expensive hardware and development of sometimes complex software. A new generation of vision systems and ID readers with built-in EtherNet/IP connectivity streamlines factory network integration.

Exide had difficulties in reading 2D data matrix codes burned into plastic with a laser burner. The problem was solved by switching to image-based Cognex DataMan 200 readers with 2D decoding software and an EtherNet/IP interface to the PLC.

Using Kepware’s KEPServerEX, Cascades now supports communications across all of its seventeen plants, seventeen paper machines, and nearly ninety converting lines with just one piece of software.

To simplify the development of complex machines, Rexroth is integrating safety technology into the Sercos automation network.