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DEBUNKING THE MYTHS
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| THE
MOST SUCCESSFUL FIELDBUS IN HISTORY |
| PROFINET
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN ROLLS ON |
|
INDUSTRIAL ETHERNET
WEBINARS
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| EDUCATION,
EDUCATION, EDUCATION: FREE TRAINING; PROFINET DEVELOPER'S
WORKSHOPS |
| GENERAL
ASSEMBLY SET FOR AUGUST |
| THREE
WHITE PAPERS TO DOWNLOAD |
| BLOGGING
IN THE INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION SPACE |
| HANNOVER
FAIR REVIEW |
| WORLD
NEWS: MIDDLE EAST, CZECH REPUBLIC, CHINA, SOUTHERN AFRICA,
UK, BELGIUM |
| CASE STUDY:
NORTH AMERICA / WASTE WATER |
| NEW PRODUCTS: DP/PA
GATEWAY DTM; M12
CONNECTORS FOR CAT5e; PROFIBUS
PA ASIC; TOPOLOGY
EDITOR FOR CONFIGURING PROFINET INFRASTRUCTURES;
PROFINET
SUPPORT FOR VISION SENSORS; SERIAL
TO PROFIBUS DP GATEWAY; IO-Link
ENTRY LEVEL PRODUCTS. |
| |
DEBUNKING THE MYTHS
 Standard
Unmodified Ethernet (SUE) made a modest return recently,
in the form of a discussion point on weblogs, including
Gary Mintchell's. The intro discussion attracted a comment
from the PTO's Carl Henning. Read the original posts here
and click the 'comment' link to read Carl's riposte.
Have you any PROFIBUS or PROFINET
myths to report. If so, let
us know.
Download
Polly's pdf to learn more about PROFINET myths, especially
SUE, and the facts.
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THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FIELDBUS IN HISTORY:
PI, the umbrella organization of PROFIBUS and PROFINET, recently
announced that PROFIBUS passed an important milestone in 2006.
A further 3.4 million PROFIBUS-equipped devices were
sold. Not only was this the largest annual total ever but
it also brought the total number of installed nodes to 18.8
million. How do we know how many? We count the chips. Almost
all PROFIBUS devices use an Application-Specific Integrated
Circuit (ASIC) to unload communication tasks from the main
device CPU. These chips are available from a number of suppliers
who provide us with an accounting of their numbers. No other
fieldbus comes close to our total, making PROFIBUS the most
successful fieldbus in history. The story gets better too,
because the rate at which PROFIBUS is gaining new users is
accelerating, which means that the 2004 prediction of 20 million
devices by 2008 will be reached early - possibly by the time
you read this! What next? 30 million?
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 PROFINET
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN ROLLS ON: PTO
began a series of display advertisements in Control Engineering
and Automation World in February. The initial ad -
'We Don't Eliminate the Competition. We Integrate Them' -
made the point that PROFINET is the only Industrial Ethernet
solution that does not seek to displace its competitors but
welcomes them on-board via a unique 'proxy' solution that
has already provided an interface for PROFIBUS (naturally!).
Other
proxies allow the PROFIBUS PA solution for process automation
to be incorporated, plus DeviceNet, Interbus, Modbus, Serial,
HART and, soon, Foundation Fieldbus! A second ad is starting
now, focused on the unique diagnostic capabilities of PROFINET.
The headline - 'Turn and Cough' - should raise a smile at
least! Special microsites have been built for both: read 'Don't
Eliminate' and 'Turn
and Cough'.
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 INDUSTRIAL
ETHERNET WEBINARS: Ever wondered
what Ethernet is? Especially in the context of automation?
Want to use PROFINET yet don't know enough about the underlying
fundamentals? At our PROFINET seminars we've found that many
questions appertain to Ethernet itself so we've developed
a way to help you learn more by introducing Webinars. Carl
Henning blogged about the first one here
or you can jump to our archives here
and follow it and subsequent ones at your leisure. Find
details here
for upcoming webinars. We may add some additional Ethernet
Basics coverage if there is a demand. Let us know. There's
also a pdf here
that tells you more.
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 EDUCATION,
EDUCATION, EDUCATION: Analysts
tell us that more than 50% of plants still don't use digital
networking technology! This means the biggest potential growth
market is still largely untapped and untouched. The most important
role for PTO staff, therefore, is summed up by these three
words - Education, Education and, oh yes, Education! Getting
end users to think of using digital technology is one major
goal. Getting them to pick PROFIBUS and PROFINET comes close
after. PTO meets this challenge with an ongoing series of
Road Shows, Seminars and Workshops that covers all North American
regions. Follow the links below for more information about
PTO events in your area.
- FREE TRAINING:
The 2007 series of FREE one-day training classes centering
on PROFIBUS, PROFIBUS in the process industry and PROFINET.
Keep monitoring the Schedule
here to find a course near you. For updates please visit
this
page or monitor this
page. All attendees receive a certificate for 5.5 PDH
(Professional Development Hours). Attendees of PROFIBUS
and PROFINET one-day training events participate in a raffle
for a free seat in a Certified Network Engineer class
(= $2,695 value).
- PROFINET DEVELOPER WORKSHOPS:
We've announced three PROFINET Developer Workshops to provide
potential developers with information they need to select
a development partner. The workshops are designed for device
developers, development managers and product marketers.
The objectives are to provide delegates with technical information
and enable them to meet and talk with a variety of PROFINET
tool vendors. Industrial Ethernet is a continually growing
force in factory automation and we want developers to be
completely knowledgeable about the latest tools. We've assembled
major suppliers of PROFINET development tools in one room
so potential users can select the ones that best fulfill
their requirements. During the workshop, the ARC Advisory
Group provides a market overview. The PTO will give an overview
on PROFINET and the PROFI Interface Center will provide
a high-level look at various tools and applications. Exhibitors
include: Comtrol Corporation, Hilscher North America, Inc.,
HMS Industrial Networks, Inc., IXXAT, Inc., Real Time Automation,
Siemens Energy & Automation, and Softing North America.
The workshops are entirely free of cost or obligation. Coffee,
a light breakfast, lunch and a hosted bar are provided.
Workshops are scheduled for Detroit
(May 22), Scottsdale
(July 31), and Boston
in October. To register visit the relevant link or call
480-483-2456.
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 GENERAL
ASSEMBLY SET FOR AUGUST: The PTO’s 13th Annual General
Assembly Meeting will begin on Tuesday evening, July 31, with
a Welcome Reception. August 1st and 2nd will be filled with
meetings to provide vendor and user members with updates, news,
and networking possibilities. Visiting experts, magazine editors
and users will present. Immediately preceding the General Assembly
Meeting are two free training classes. The first is a PROFINET
IRT class on Monday afternoon July 30. Details will be published
shortly. All-day Tuesday, the west coast PROFINET Developer
Workshop will be conducted. You don’t have to be attending the
General Assembly Meeting to participate in these free classes.
You can register for the PROFINET Developer Workshop here.
The workshop is targeted at device manufacturers to assist them
in speedy development of PROFINET products. Details and registration
for the PROFINET IRT class will be available soon.
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THREE WHITE PAPERS TO DOWNLOAD:
- PROFINET AND MES - CLOSING THE COMMUNICATION
GAP: PI, the umbrella organization
of which PTO is a part, is the first Industrial Ethernet
organization to formally address how Ethernet network interfaces
to higher level systems such as MES should be standardized.
It has just released the 'PROFINET and MES Maintenance Operations'
guideline, which describes interface functions supporting
maintenance systems and facilitating consistent communication
from the field up to Top management. The White Paper is
available here.
 TOOL
CALLING INTERFACE: TCI is
a manufacturer-independent interface for engineering tools.
It allows dynamic parameters to be loaded to PROFIBUS and
PROFINET devices from a variety of vendor-specific engineering
tools via a common interface, making it much quicker and
easier for users to configure systems and machines. The
TCI specification
has been developed in collaboration with AIDA (the Automatisierungsinitiative
Deutscher Automobilhersteller - Automation Initiative of
German Automobile Manufacturers). The White Paper
can be found here.
- PROFINET IN THE PROCESS INDUSTRIES.
As a backbone network, PROFINET is ideally suited to the
task of surfacing process data stored in control systems
and field devices. Media gaps that hinder the flow of critical
data between process equipment and enterprise systems can
be bridged with PROFINET proxies, creating an all-encompassing
network architecture that brings the now ubiquitous industrial
Ethernet into the process plant. The White Paper, by market
analysts ARC Advisory, can be read here.
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 BLOGGING
IN THE INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION SPACE: Are you using Internet
Explorer 7? Then you can easily take advantage of the industrial
automation blogs that are out there. By doing so you can
follow topical debates, see how the industry is moving and
pick up plenty of tips about latest technology. And you don't
even have to keep accessing web sites to do it - simply use
the RSS
or Atom news feeds provided by most of them and receive
alerts each time something of interest crops up. Look for
the icon shown above right to find available feeds. The PTO's
Carl Henning was one of the first to offer an automation blog
and he remains one of the most active. Carl's even including
videos
now. His banter with the true pioneer of automation bloggers
- Automation World's Gary Mintchell - is well worth reading.
That hoary old myth about Standard Unmodified Ethernet is
a current topic. Start
here.
Not using IE7? The download one of the many
specialist RSS readers, like
this one.
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 HANNOVER
FAIR REVIEW: The PI booth was all-new this year. There
was a 10-foot tall PROFINET wall (see right, click for larger
version) made of translucent glass, showing 91 devices from
22 manufacturers, arranged from controllers on top, through
drives in the middle, to IO on the bottom. The
familiar “Automation Lounge” was retained and proved to be
an excellent place to sit down and discuss the latest news.
 The
booth (see our second picture left, again
click for larger version) covered 220 square meters, with
participation by 62 companies. The whole thing was sited alongside
the Interbus Club booth which shared the lounge and seminar
areas. Interbus, the second most popular fieldbus after PROFIBUS,
is also supporting PROFINET, and the wall showed proxy products
available for both PROFIBUS and Interbus devices. Carl Henning's
blog provided a great, day by day, overview of the Fair and
includes videos of the booth and other items! Check
out his commentary.
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| WORLD NEWS |
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MIDDLE EAST:
A new RPA (Regional PROFIBUS Association) has been established
in the region, based in Dubai. The launch meeting was held
on February 12th to formally announce PROFIME (PROFIBUS Middle
East) and attracted representatives from around the world
of PI (pictured above). CZECH REPUBLIC:
A new PI Test Lab for PROFINET has been established, with
IRT and PROFIdrive expertise. Located at ANF Data, who became
a PI Competence Center in early 2005, this brings the number
of PROFINET test labs worldwide to four. CHINA:
The 2006 CPO Members Meeting was held at the end of 2006 in
Beijing, led by Mr. Jiyang Tang, the new CPO Chairman. 24
Member companies attended Three working groups covering Marketing,
Technology and Standards, were founded. SOUTHERN
AFRICA: PROFIBUS User Group Southern Africa will take
part in the Process Show 2007, May 15 to 18, 2007, at the
National Exhibition Center in Johannesburg. The PROFIBUS Breakfast
tradition will also be continued there - on May 16. Another
Breakfast is announced for Friday, May 11, 2007, at Durban.
UK:  The
PROFIBUS International User Conference 2007 at Coombe Abbey,
Coventry on June 26 and 27 will feature a keynote address
from Alaister Gemmill, Engineering Manager of Enpure, a specialist
systems supplier in the water industry. BELGIUM:
In January, Antwerp was the
scene of PROFIBUS Belgium's first 'Breakfast Event' (right).
The theme, 'PROFIBUS in the Process Industry', addressed the
question: how can PROFIBUS technology contribute to higher
efficiency? The full Life Cycle Costs (LCC) or Total Costs
of Ownership (TCO) are the key, said speakers, going on the
explain how PROFIBUS provides best value.
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| CASE STUDY |
 NORTH
AMERICA / WASTE WATER: The town of Rainsville, Alabama
set itself the objective of raising the wastewater treatment
capacity of its sewage treatment plant by an average of 30 percent,
and increasing peak loads to improve the capability to capture
run-off after heavy rainfalls. For the automation solution,
the American systems company Hi-Tech Systems Inc. selected a
network that uses PROFINET and Component Based Automation (CBA),
which combines communication between the automation components
with the advantages of IT solutions with remote diagnostics
functions.
Many different kinds of municipal
wastewater are routed into the municipal sewage treatment
plant. The largest portion is sanitary sewage from private
households, but factories also discharge their wastewater
into the sewage system. If this is contaminated, for example,
with chemicals from a pharmaceutical operation or organic
material from a food processing plant, it must first be pretreated
prior to allowing it to be discharged into the public sewage
system. To protect inhabitants from pathogens, the wastewater
is cleaned and disinfected in several process steps before
it is fed back into the water circuit.
Bridging large distances Rainsville/Alabama
has a flourishing textile industry. The municipal sewage treatment
plant serves both commercial businesses as well as private
households and extends over an area of 1.6 hectares. As a
result, a communications solution capable of bridging distances
greater than those normally encountered in a factory was required.
The plant comprises several different
buildings, each equipped with Motion Control Centers (MCC)
which handle the pumping and filtering functions of the inflowing
and outflowing water through various treatment stages, including
pretreatment and germfree ventilation as well as purification
and disinfection. To link the various parts of the system,
Hi-Tech Systems Inc. opted for a redundant fiber optic ring
based on PROFINET. The ring has an overall length of 1,800
meters, with a distance between stations of at least 360 meters.
Scalance X-200 Industrial Ethernet
switches, which are designed for use with both copper and
fiber optic cables, control the data transport within the
network. In addition, they possess an integrated manager for
ring redundancy. The stations responsible for adding chemicals
and other pumping tasks are linked to the network using Simatic
ET 200S I/O modules which directly connected to the PROFINET
main cable. A suitable HMI is necessary to enable the operator
to view events at all times, even those at remote stations.
The Thin Client technology of WinCC, which features a central
server in the control room and 'thin' panels in the individual
parts of the system, is the optimal solution in this case.
It ensures that the operator can always view events, even
if he is located at another station. Even when moving around
the site, the operator is provided wireless access at all
times to information on the system with the help of a Fujitsu-Siemens
PC.
The facility for remote diagnostics
includes a DSL/VPN connection to the main control room. All
connected stations are accessible from this location, even
those at remote locations.
Combined communications solution
The control architecture consists
of the Simatic CPUs S7- 317-2 PN/DP with PROFIBUS and PROFINET
interfaces, which are distributed across the entire sewage
treatment plant. Hi-Tech Systems Inc. selected this combination
of networks because the site already possesses drives that
are networked for PROFIBUS, and because the customer required
a solution whereby the controls and field devices could be
programmed and configured using PROFINET. To facilitate the
transmission of drive data to the main control room, the internal
communications between PLC controllers were set up to use
PROFINET/CBA. Consequently, data transmission need not be
separately programmed, because each PLC is responsible for
monitoring an MCC that is connected to the PROFIBUS.
The use of PROFINET offers a particular
advantage with this application thanks to its ability to use
IE/PB links to seamlessly route information from devices in
the PROFIBUS network to devices in PROFINET. This option was
a prerequisite for supporting the Simatic PDM Asset Management
Tools, which are used for monitoring the drives. For programming
and servicing purposes, technicians can also access every
other device within the system from any PC that is connected
to PROFINET or PROFIBUS. All objectives achieved with CBA
The Hi-Tech Systems technicians were very satisfied with the
PROFINET/CBA solution.
Engineering, installation and commissioning
were performed smoothly without a hitch. With the easy integration
of the building parts, an optimal solution for the plant extension
was found, one that will also allow future remote pump stations
to be integrated. The implementation of PROFIBUS also brought
with it significant time savings during installation and testing.
The project succeeded in doubling the performance capacity
of the sewage treatment plant and will enable future extensions
to be performed without any problem. This will require only
one other PLC in addition to the current three.
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| NEW PRODUCTS |
 DP/PA
GATEWAY DTM: PALINKdtm is a PROFIBUS DP to PROFIBUS PA
Gateway Device Type Manager (DTM) for the SIMATIC DP/PA Link.
It provides quick and easy access to PA devices connected to
DP/PA-Links from Siemens, especially when used with Softing's
popular PROFIdtm. DP/PA Gateway DTM. It conforms to FDT specification
version 1.2 and can simplify commissioning, diagnostics and
maintenance. It assumes the role of a DP-V1 slave on a DP network
and the role of a DP-V1 master on a PA network. There's automatic
scan for devices on the PA segment, an integrated live list
feature with detailed device information and support for FDT
frame applications including CX-Profibus, fdtCONTAINER, FDT
Navigator, FieldCare, FieldMate, PactWare™, SmartVision and
others. Softing North America:
+1 978 499 9650 or Ken.Hoover@softing.com.
Top
 M12
CONNECTORS FOR CAT5e: Woodhead Industries has a new line
of M12 Ethernet connectors and cordsets. This rugged, industry-standard
Ethernet connection system provides superior Cat5e performance
from the office environment to the harsh, demanding environment
of the factory floor. The new product line will be commercially
available April, 2007. Key features include: standard M12 threaded
connectors or the higher-performance Ultra-lock™ connection
system, both unshielded and shielded versions, mechanically
tough PVC-jacketed cable for general-purpose applications and
PUR jacketed cable for increased flexibility and higher resistance
to oil-based fluids and straight or 90° versions. M12 to RJ-45
versions are also available. Woodhead
Industries.
Top
 PROFIBUS
PA ASIC: Softing,
in conjunction with Aniotek, has launched a new fieldbus chip
UFC100-F1,
a comprehensive yet economical solution to incorporating PROFIBUS
PA technology into field devices. It's fully compatible with
the Yamaha YTZ420 ('FIND1+'). The advantages include better
performance in jitter tolerance and a larger FIFO memory resulting
in fewer interrupts to the field device processor. It's compliant
with IEC 61158-2 and the IEC 61158-4 Data Link Layer standard,
and features integrated digital filter circuits providing significantly
better noise immunity. Very low power consumption and wide operating
temperature range are features. The design offers additional
functionality for firmware engineers to enhance future products.
Softing and Aniotek are committed to ensure long-term availability
of the UFC100-F1. Softing
North America: +1 978 499 9650 or Ken.Hoover@softing.com.
Top
TOPOLOGY EDITOR
FOR CONFIGURING PROFINET INFRASTRUCTURES: As Industrial
Ethernet networks become more popular there is a growing need
for accessible network infrastructure tools. So, Siemens has
integrated a Topology Editor into the SIMATIC STEP 7 architecture,
eliminating the need for a separate tool. Because it's integrated,
operators may also view the status of the network infrastructure
online, including the condition of Ethernet switches and wireless
access points. STEP 7 scans the neighborhood relationships via
SNMP and represents the topology of the PROFINET infrastructure
graphically or in a table available online and offline. Siemens.
Top
 PROFINET
SUPPORT FOR VISION SENSORS: Cognex Corporation has announced
In-Sight® Explorer software release 3.4 for In-Sight vision
sensors, including PROFINET communications support. "Adding
PROFINET to the In-Sight suite is yet another example of how
Cognex strives to support the latest industry standards for
our customers," said Kris Nelson, Cognex Senior Vice President,
Factory Automation. "With PROFINET, manufacturers can easily
share and use data for process control and improvement, and
more efficiently manage multiple vision sensors linked across
the factory." In-Sight vision sensors allow trend analysis of
archived data and images for continuous improvement and increased
manufacturing productivity. A free trial version of the PROFINET
software can be downloaded.
Cognex: 1-877-COGNEX1
.
Top
 SERIAL
TO PROFIBUS DP GATEWAY: BradCommunications' new Direct-Link
gateway enables fast and cost-effective communications between
Modbus Serial devices and the PROFIBUS-DP network. DIN rail
mountable and rated for IP20 environments, Direct-Link is
easy to configure using only the PROFIBUS GSD file and an
existing PROFIBUS configuration tool. Parameters are sent
to Direct-Link automatically via the PROFIBUS master, allowing
replacement without need to change configurations. The Direct-Link
gateway communicates on one side as a PROFIBUS-DP Slave and
as a Modbus master or slave on the other side. Up to 20 Modbus
slaves and up to 244 input/output bytes on PROFIBUS can be
managed. It is also possible to integrate other protocols
on the serial network. The Direct-Link gateway is well suited
for simple network extensions or the integration of legacy
devices found in all industries. Woodhead
Industries.
Top
IO-Link ENTRY LEVEL
PRODUCTS: A new IO-Link Starter Kit from MESCO permits
a cost-effective slave implementation. It's offered as a basic
version or with different extensions, depending on the functional
range required. The IO-Link Monitor analyses the communications,
strings, cycle time and frame-specific properties. The IO-Link
Diagnosis Box expands the reading and writing of parameters
and acts as an IO-Link Master. Support for PC communication
via USB has also been integrated. Mesco
Systems: info@mesco-systems.com.
Top
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the home of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in North America
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