IEC extends partnership with EtherCAT Technology Group

Summary

March 21, 2013 - IEC extends liaison partnership with EtherCAT Technology Group The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has expanded its D - type liaison partnership with the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) for the IEC SC22G MT16 working group. 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. EtherCAT has been an official IEC standard technology since 2005 and the EtherCAT Technology Group has been a D - type liaison partner of several IEC working groups for digital communication for years. With IEC’s extension of these liaisons to IEC SC22G MT16 the ETG has the opportunity to directly take part in the maintenance process of the EtherCAT standard. The MT16 working group deals with device profiles for power drive systems such as servo controllers, frequency converters or stepper motor controllers. Dr. Guido Beckmann, chairperson of the ETG Technical Committee and representative of the organization in the work of MT16, explains: “With our participation we strive to continue and strengthen our active contribution to the standards maintained by SC22G MT16, e.g. to the next edition of IEC 61800 - 7. Since the first release of this standard, the mapping of the drive profiles CiA402 and SERCOS to the EtherCAT technology was part of the specification.” One of ETG’s main goals is to have independent control architectures and to reduce integration efforts. The organization deems worldwide standardization of device profiles as an important measure to unify device implementations. About EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG): The EtherCAT Technology Group is an organization in which key user companies from various industries and leading automation suppliers join forces to support, promote and advance EtherCAT technology. With over 2,300 members from 56 countries the EtherCAT Technology Group has become the largest fieldbus organization in the world. Founded in November 2003, it is also the fastest growing fieldbus organization. About EtherCAT: EtherCAT is the Industrial Ethernet technology which stands for high - performance, low - cost, easy to use with a flexible topology. It was introduced in 2003 and has been an international standard since 2007. The EtherCAT Technology Group promotes EtherCAT and is responsible for its continued development. EtherCAT is an open technology: anyone is allowed to implement or use it.