Articles and News

To best meet the rising demand for official EtherCAT Conformance Tests, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has expanded the EtherCAT testing services.

It has now been 10 years since the organization first began its activities at the 2003 SPS IPC Drives show with 33 official founding members.

By Bill Lydon, Editor While industrial Ethernet is being adopted at a high rate, the majority of connected nodes (73%) are still traditional networks like DeviceNet, PROFIBUS, Modbus, SERCOS, Foundation Fieldbus, ASi, and others. In order to gain a clearer understanding of the trends, I spoke with Tom Moore, Research Analyst at IHS's Electronics and Media Group.

By Bill Lydon, Editor As Industrial Ethernet protocols have proliferated on the factory floor, IP devices have become vulnerable to cyber threats. Ironically, while the importance of cyber security protection is being emphasized, the industrial Ethernet protocol associations have no firm plans to migrate to new Ethernet standards that offer higher cyber security protection.

The EtherCAT Test Center (ETC) in China issued its first official Chinese conformance certificate to Tsino Dynatron Electrical Technology.

From October 15th to 24th, 2013, no-charge full-day seminars on the subject of EtherCAT technology will be held across the U.S. and Canada. The seminars are educational events delivered by the foremost EtherCAT experts from the ETG and the sponsoring companies.

Altera’s solutions implement both the protocol IP and software stack into an FPGA using programmable logic and a soft embedded processor.

By Dr. Guido Beckmann, EtherCAT Technology Group EtherCAT is an open, real-time capable communication system which is widely used in manufacturing automation and, due to its properties, is also ideal for mobile applications such as heavy vehicles.

ETG.5003-1 standard covers nine specific device profiles for the semiconductor industry.

IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) was first approved as an IEEE standard on 23 June 1983 and since then has been regularly updated. Now that it's 30 years old, can we trust it?

By Bill Lydon, Editor On May 30, 2013, I attended the grand opening of Beckhoff Automation’s new $8 million North American headquarters. The facility features a training center, an ESD-protected PC repair center, and a building automation system based on Beckhoff‘s own hardware and software.

NI will sell Kollmorgen’s EtherCAT AKD brushless servo drive and single-cable AKM motor.

The 16-page document covers 1200+ data acquisition and control, signal conditioning, and data communication products.

Industrial Ethernet nodes in process industries are projected to rise to 8.7 million units in 2016, up a whopping 96 percent from 4.4 million in 2011, as Ethernet increasingly challenges fieldbus for leadership in the industrial networking market.

On February 6th, 2013 the EtherCAT Technology Group held its kick - off event, “EtherCAT in Mobile Applications,” with 115 participants.

As a result, the ETG now has the opportunity to actively collaborate in the maintenance program for Part 7 - xxx of the IEC 61800 series.

IMS Research says the growth rate for new motor control Ethernet nodes--including PROFINET, Ethernet/IP, POWERLINK and EtherCAT--is projected to be the highest across the whole industrial space at nearly 30%.

IXXAT Automation is a supplier of communication technology for industrial automation, machine manufacturing and the automotive industry.

ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF) has become the 2,000th member of the world’s largest fieldbus organization, the EtherCAT Technology Group.

Automation.com, January 2013 By Bill Lydon, Editor Industrial Ethernet networks and protocols have become a workhorse of automation systems. But how extensively should it be used? Ethernet is not ideal in all applications. Consider the good, the bad and the ugly.