MindSphere, the Industrial IoT as a service solution from Siemens, is now one of the latest solutions that can integrate with TwinCAT. Beckhoff has offered diverse IoT communication capabilities with its TwinCAT IoT product family since 2015. Transmitting data to the cloud or between networked machines in this way creates enormous potential for increasing production […]
Fieldbuses
Contactless energy transfer, cable-free communication open up new possibilities for machine builders
One of the more promising recent developments in connection technology is contactless energy and data transfer and its use in the industrial world. Such technology can replace wiring and cables and cable carriers, lowering costs and streamlining designs. For instance, robotic systems are sometimes limited by constraints in automation and drive technology. However, consider the […]
Micro PLCs now with EtherNet/IP
IDEC Corporation has added EtherNet/IP communications to its MicroSmart FC6A Plus PLC. This update provides more options for end users, designers, and OEMs to integrate the FC6A Plus with many types of I/O systems and intelligent automation devices. The FC6A Plus is already expandable to support up to 2,060 I/O, making it suitable for controlling […]
Power over Ethernet (PoE) and M12 connectors in motion designs
Though the internet of things is most visible to laymen in consumer devices, the IIoT is massive. The majority of applications are in business, factory, and healthcare settings … and more than a third of the nearly $6 trillion IoT market is in manufacturing. Connectivity is the basis of all this IIoT — providing the […]
Part 3: Trends in Ethernet, PoE, IO-Link, HIPERFACE, and single-cable solutions
As we explored in Part 1 and Part 2 of this six-part series, machine designs are evolving with wireless connectivity, cloud-based operations, and open programming. In this installment, we explore how Ethernet has continued its expansion in industrial connectivity. We also detail increasingly useful cable types for IO-Link and HIPERFACE … as well as cross-network […]
What is OPC UA and how does it compare with Industrial Ethernet?
In manufacturing processes and plants, multiple Industrial Ethernet protocols — such as EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, or EtherCAT — are used across different networks to meet specific topology requirements, communication speeds, or latency guarantees. And although these communication protocols are open, they’re often incompatible, resulting in fragmented networks that can’t “speak” to each other. OPC UA (Open […]
What is time-sensitive networking (TSN)?
Most Industrial Ethernet networks can provide hard real-time communication for multi-axis, synchronized motion control. But each one uses its own methods for time synchronization and data transmission to guarantee cycle times, latency, and jitter, making these networks incompatible with one another. Time-sensitive networking (TSN) sets out to solve the network compatibility problem by providing standard […]
What is isochronous real-time (IRT) data exchange?
Real-time industrial communication protocols are those in which data exchange takes place within a specified amount of time — typically less than 10 ms. But “real-time” systems can be “soft” real-time or “hard” real-time, depending on how rigidly deadlines are enforced. In a soft real-time system, occasional violations of the cycle time, or deadline, for a […]
AS-Interface: What is it and when is it used?
Sensors and actuators have traditionally been connected to PLCs or other controllers via discrete wires and cable harnesses. But the introduction of actuator-sensor interface, also known as AS-Interface, or AS-I, in the 1990’s offered users and integrators a reliable, cost-effective replacement for the bulky, time-consuming method of parallel wiring. A new version of actuator-sensor interface, […]
What are EtherCAT G and G10 and when are they used in motion control applications?
Since its launch in 2003, the EtherCAT protocol, with “processing on the fly” and data transmission speeds up to 100 Mbit/s, has been widely adopted for automation and process control applications. In 2018, Beckhoff (the developer of EtherCAT), introduced a major performance boost to EtherCAT, in the form of EtherCAT G and EtherCAT G10 — […]
