| DEBUNKING
THE MYTHS |
|
HOW PROFIBUS COMPARES
TO FOUNDATION FIELDBUS!
|
| PROFINET
IS BEST ... CONFIRMED! |
| LEARN
MORE ABOUT PROFIBUS AND PROFINET IN 2008 |
|
FREE WEBINARS IN
2008
|
| ONE-DAY
TRAINING EVENTS IN 2008 |
| PROFINET
DEVELOPER WORKSHOPS IN 2008 |
| PROFITECH
CLASSES IN 2008 |
| ABB
JOINS! |
| CATALOG
PROMOTES 177 PROFINET PRODUCTS |
| FREITAG
ELECTED TO PNO |
| SPS/IPC/DRIVES
SHOW IN NUREMBERG |
| WORLD
NEWS: JAPAN, NETHERLANDS, SOUTH AFRICA, BRAZIL, CHINA, UK,
ITALY |
| CASE
STUDIES: DIESEL
ENGINES, BIOFUELS,
SUGAR |
| NEW
PRODUCTS: PORTABLE PROTOCOL
STACK, PROFINET
INTERFACES FOR TOSHIBA AND MITSUBISHI DRIVES, PCI
EXPRESS PROFIBUS INTERFACE, NETWORK
TESTER, FIBER OPTIC CONVERTERS |
| |
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DEBUNKING THE MYTHS
 In
the
PROFIblog Carl Henning hit paydirt recently by focusing
on 'FUD'. Don't know what that is? Well, it stands for 'Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt' - a standard tactic used by salesmen
to deflect a customer from competitors' products by creating
fear, uncertainty and doubt about them. FUD is really what
this Myth Buster feature is all about, so we shouldn't be
surprised by the recent upsurge. Here are some examples ...
Myth 1: "PROFINET
is not routable leading to performance issues + PROFINET does
not use TCP/IP" (amazing isn't it that this is still
being Pollied, despite our previous efforts!)
Response 1: PROFINET
does use TCP/IP – just not for everything. PROFINET uses
TCP/IP for configuration and parameterization, for example.
PROFINET uses TCP/IP (or, optionally, RT) for peer-to-peer
integration. PROFINET IO using PROFINET real-time is not routable
because it is a Layer 2 protocol. PROFINET CBA (Component
Based Automation for peer-to-peer) can use TCP/IP and is therefore
routable. Performance is not an issue as a recent independent
study confirms.
Myth
2: PROFINET
needs “Proprietary” hardware (Polly is
truly alive and well!)
Response 2: PROFINET
RT (Real Time) does not require any special hardware –
proprietary or otherwise. It achieves its superior determinism
by simply bypassing TCP/IP. It is happily transported through
standard switches and standard WiFi. PROFINET IRT (Isochronous
Real Time), used mostly for motion control, uses exactly the
same bypass method but with the additional feature of reserving
Ethernet bandwidth. This is entirely independent of the Ethernet
stack so there is no 'corruption' (another frequent claim
about PROFINET). There is nothing proprietary about PROFINET!
Anyone can buy the spec from IEC and implement PROFINET in
software or hardware. Several vendors of chips have done so
and you can buy their (non-proprietary) hardware from NEC,
Siemens, Hilscher, and shortly, from others too. For example,
PTO member ICC Designs has just announced PROFINET interfaces
for Toshiba and Mitsubishi motion control products using the
Digi Connect ME - which is based around an ARM7 processor
using ICC Design's own PROFINET software! These, and many
other solutions, support competing Industrial Ethernet protocols
too - how much more un-proprietary can you get? Grrrr!
Read the full
FUD here. Remind
yourself about Polly here.
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| GENERAL
NEWS |
|
 HOW
PROFIBUS COMPARES TO FOUNDATION FIELDBUS!: James Powell
has written a comprehensive comparison of PROFIBUS and FOUNDATION
Fieldbus as used in process control applications. Real costs
are compared, together with various engineering and performance
factors, making this a 'must read', essential publication
if you are considering using fieldbus in process automation.
James concludes that:
- PROFIBUS devices are less expensive
- You can fit far more PROFIBUS devices on one link
- PROFIBUS links are less expensive
- PROFIBUS is easier
"Use FF only when you need control in the field!"
says James, "otherwise PROFIBUS is the far more economical
solution!". Read
James' White Paper here. It's also available as an MP3
file from the same location.
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PROFINET IS BEST ... CONFIRMED!:
A recent university study sponsored by the German government
compared the real time performances of Industrial Ethernet
solutions, in particular PROFINET and EtherCAT. Since EtherCAT’s
main claim to fame is its speed it was surprising to find
that in all but the smallest systems PROFINET was faster!
This is because EtherCAT requires line topologies whereas
PROFINET can use line, star, or tree. Larger systems benefit
from a mixture of line and star (that is, tree), benefiting
PROFINET.
PROFINET also benefits because PROFINET Ethernet telegrams
can be sent directly from the source to the target while EtherCAT
telegrams must travel through every node. At SPS/IPC/Drives
additional advancements to PROFINET were announced that will
erase EtherCAT’s performance advantage even in small
line-based systems. The study results were reported in a paper
entitled 'Limits of Increasing the Performance of Industrial
Ethernet Protocols' at the 12th IEEE Conference on Emerging
Technologies and Factory Automation.
The project also revealed that PROFINET will profit from
the evolution of Ethernet (such as increasing bit rates to
1GBit/s) more than other systems, which makes PROFINET the
fastest and most universal real-time Ethernet system, offering
the openness for TCP/IP and IT communication at the same time,
guaranteeing a high degree of security for the future.
The project was supported by the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research and undertaken by the Institute
Industrial IT of the University of Applied Science of Lippe
and Höxter (inIT).
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LEARN MORE ABOUT PROFIBUS AND PROFINET
IN 2008: Webinars, Workshops, Free Training, and Certified
Training are all planned for 2008. There will be many times
and places to extend your knowledge of PROFIBUS and PROFINET:
- 8 new webinars
- 6 archived webinars
- 9 PROFIBUS one-day training events
- 8 PROFIBUS in Process one-day training events
- 10 PROFINET one-day training events
- 4 PROFINET Developer Workshops
- 5 PROFINET PROFItech Certified Network Engineer classes
- 6 PROFIBUS PROFItech Certified Network Engineer classes
And this is just the North American schedule! If you are
outside of North America, please see your local PROFIBUS and
PROFINET organization's schedule or start here.
In North America, you can start here.
PTO staff will also be speaking at ISA and various PTO members'
events during the year.
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| FREE
WEBINARS IN 2008: The webinar program leads off with
a four-part series on PROFIBUS in the Process Industries. Other
topics include PROFIsafe, Industrial Ethernet Security, Motion
Control, and a PROFIBUS DP Overview. Details
at us.profibus.com. Six webinars are archived for viewing
at your convenience, including a three-part introduction to
Industrial Ethernet, a PROFINET overview, Industrial Wireless
Networking and Industrial Ethernet Diagnostics. Register
and view these webinars online. New and archived webinars
are available at no charge.
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ONE-DAY TRAINING EVENTS IN 2008:
There are 27 free classes planned throughout the US and Canada.
If you are not using a fieldbus today you NEED to ATTEND.
If you are using another fieldbus that is slow and hard to
use, you need to come see how easy PROFIBUS and PROFINET are.
If you need to understand all the fuss about Industrial Ethernet,
you need to come to a PROFINET class. If you need to know
how wireless and asset management and safety fit into all
this, you NEED TO ATTEND. Past attendees said this about the
classes:
- "I would have paid for this class."
- "Presenters were very good: good delivery, good knowledge."
- "This was the best one-day class I have ever attended."
- "I came knowing very little about PROFIBUS and left
with enough understanding to start the work I need to do."
The classes are sponsored by PTO members who compete with
each other but cooperate to ensure that the classes can continue.
They don't even get to present; it really is a training class!
This year's sponsors include Comtrol, Endress+Hauser, Foxboro,
GE Fanuc, Grid Connect, Inc., Hilscher North America, Inc.,
HMS Industrial Networks, Inc., IXXAT, Inc., Molex, Phoenix
Contact, ProSoft, R Stahl, Real Time Automation, RTA, Siemens
Energy & Automation, Softing North America, Turck, and
WAGO.
At the free PROFINET classes we raffle a seat in the PROFINET
Certified Network Engineer training class (a $2,695 value).
Attendees of all classes receive a hard copy handout and a
CD of the presentations, installation guides, white papers,
brochures, and more.
Monitor the home
page of the PTO website and this
news page for schedule updates. More detailed information
and a link to registration starts here.
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PROFINET DEVELOPER WORKSHOPS IN 2008:
After four of the PROFINET one-day training events we have
added a half-day PROFINET Developer Workshop. Workshops are
intended for manufacturers of control devices who are considering
adding PROFINET to their products. Development tools that
speed time to market are presented. There is plenty of time
for one-on-one interaction for attendees to discuss their
needs with the development tool providers who include Altera
Corporation, Grid Connect, Hilscher North America, HMS Industrial
Networks, IXXAT, Molex, Siemens Energy & Automation, Real
Time Automation and Softing North America. More detailed information
and a link to registration starts here.
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PROFITECH CLASSES IN 2008: For
those who need a deeper understanding of the technologies
there are the full-week PROFItech classes leading to certification.
Two curricula are offered: PROFIBUS and PROFINET. Attendees
who pass the theoretical and practical exams will be named
Certified Network Engineers and be listed on the international
PROFIBUS and PROFINET website.
One recent attendee commented: "It certainly was a deserved
certificate and all others in the class felt the same. We
were tested on comprehension and not so much for what we remembered."
For others' comments download
the brochure or see additional details on
the web. This online
news item provides an overview of the 2008 schedule.
We also offer one-day Installers Classes. These are not listed
on the schedule because they are usually held at a user's
site on demand. If you are interested in those please contact
us.
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ABB JOINS!: ABB, which has been
actively working with the PNO in Germany since 1989 and is
a member of the PNO Advisory Board there, has joined the PTO
in North America. “We are pleased to welcome ABB as a
new member,” said Michael Bryant, Executive Director
of PTO. “ABB has strongly demonstrated its commitment
to helping customers take advantage of the benefits offered
by intelligent devices and integrated networks in its global
activities; we are looking forward to working with them here.”
ABB supports PROFIBUS and other fieldbus protocols in its
numerous product and technology offerings for industrial and
utility customers all over the world. Its vast portfolio of
products and solutions for process and manufacturing automation
includes control systems, instrumentation, analytics, robotics,
drives, motors, motor control centers, positioners, actuators,
low voltage controls, switchgear, interface products and numerous
other intelligent devices.
|
| CATALOG
PROMOTES 177 PROFINET PRODUCTS: The latest version of
the PROFINET products flyer lists 177 products and services
from over 30 vendors. Many of the products were shown on the
special PROFINET wall at SPS/IPC/Drives (see
below). The flyer can be downloaded
here.
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 |
| FREITAG
ELECTED TO PNO: PNO Germany, PTO's sister body, has elected
Jörg Freitag to the German Board of Directors. Freitag
studied electrical engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Erlangen, Nuremberg, and has since worked more than 10 years
for Siemens, acquiring extensive knowledge of automation technology
and industrial communication. His close working relationship
with Edgar
Küster enabled him to gain a deep insight into PROFIBUS
and PROFINET. Jörg already has a close working relationship
with PTO: attendees of the last two General Assembly meetings
will remember Jörg's informative presentations about PROFINET
adoption and applications.
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 |
|
 SPS/IPC/DRIVES
SHOW IN NUREMBERG: The SPS/IPC/Drives show is much
larger than comparable North American events (45,000 visitors
compared to ISA’s 8,500 attendees!). In fact, the whole
ISA Expo would fit in one of this fair’s 9 halls. The
biggest news of the fair was from the PI press conference
during which the results of the recent university study sponsored
by the German government were discussed, comparing the performance
of PROFINET and EtherCAT (see above).
On the booth, more visitors than ever got an insight into
the power and breadth of PROFIBUS and PROFINET solutions,
the highlight of which was a PROFINET wall with over 100 products
from more than 20 companies. Further demonstrations of PROFIdrive
and TCI, as well as presentations on PROFIsafe, IO-Link and
the ease of use of PROFIBUS, completed the range of technologies
at the show.
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This PROFINET 'wall' was a principle feature of the booth.
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| WORLD
NEWS |
|
 JAPAN:
JPO attended the Measurement & Control Show 2007 and the
System Control Fair 2007 in November in Tokyo with a multi
vendor demo system (45 products from 25 vendors), including
PROFINET products from 5 vendors. The number of PROFIBUS applications
has increased, says JPO, as users prefer the bus speed, simple
engineering and the cost reductions. JPO has completed the
translation of the PROFIBUS PA book into Japanese. A PROFIBUS
PA Competence Center has been established and JPO plans to
have a PI Test Lab for PA devices soon. NETHERLANDS:
PROFIBUS Nederland held its recent General Meeting of Members
in the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament building in The
Hague. Members attended a compelling lecture by the CDA Member
of Parliament Roland Kortenhorst who contended that if the
industry wishes to find a willing ear for its interests, then
it must communicate more effectively with politicians. More
often than not, he said, the industry's messages focus too
much on technical details when society is more interested
in the social benefits and the consequences for health, environment
and welfare. SOUTH
AFRICA: The PROFIBUS User Group
in South Africa (PUGSA) is helping to tackle skills shortages
in the country. PUGSA ran its first automation training sessions
recently as part of the Automation Training Council's (ATC)
initiative. Recently, the first successful students were awarded
their Certificates at a special banquet hosted by the Southern
African  German
Chamber of Commerce and Industry and organized in honor of
the visit of Mrs Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.
The first six students and four lecturers who were trained
were presented with their certificates in the presence of
government officials. The skills shortage in South Africa
has lead to the Southern African German Chamber of Commerce
and Industry joining forces with PUGSA to run a Broad-Based
Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) initiative in industrial
automation. BRAZIL: In
October 2007 the first PROFIBUS Product Developer Training
took place in SAO CARLOS at the new PROFIBUS Competence Center
(PCC) in EESC - University of São Paulo. CHINA:
A one-day PROFIBUS Product Development Seminar was held jointly
by CPO Technology Working Group (WG2) and Profichip in November,
in Beijing. CAMETA, the organization representing PI in China,
also participated in the first training sessions with the
ProfiTrace2 analyzer. CAMETA will standardize on this tool
for troubleshooting and maintenance. UK:
The UK PROFIBUS Group has put out another call
for papers for its User Conference in June 2008. The program
will contain a mixture of presentations, demonstrations and
hands-on practical sessions suitable for first-time users
and those with extensive working experience. In addition,
it will cover latest developments. ITALY:
PNI successfully employed a new presentation concept at the
SAVE automation and instrumentation exhibition in Verona in
October by splitting its booth into two parts: one for exhibitors
and one for seminars. In total, there were 39 seminars, with
more then 900 registered participants!
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| CASE
STUDIES |
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UK / DIESEL ENGINES:
In order to reduce machine downtime at their Darlington, UK,
engine plant, Cummins contracted Cleveland Systems Engineering
to install PROFIBUS diagnostics software and hardware in two
of their Siemens S7-300 systems. The upgrade allowed immediate
indication of the location and type of fault present within
the PROFIBUS network, greatly reducing production downtime.
The upgrade was carried out concurrently with a full PROFIBUS
rewire using highly oil resistant cable, selected because
of the harsh environmental conditions on the line. The hardware
on these networks comprises Siemens ET200X remote I/O, Moby
RFID devices, direct on-line motor starters and frequency
converters. A Siemens PROFIBUS diagnostic repeater was added
to each PLC. The engine test facility is used to run every
engine manufactured under load conditions in one of three
automated test cells. The section as a whole incorporates
seven Siemens 300 series PLC’s, each with a HMI and PROFIBUS
networks. The diagnostics upgrades were installed in the two
PLC’s controlling the conveyor system which feeds the
three test cells with engines. The diagnostic repeater in
this application is used for its bus determining and line
diagnostic capabilities. The repeater can detect, locate and
diagnose the location of bus faults to within 1 meter as well
as being able to detect the network topology. All of this
information is available for extraction into the user program.
The status of each node and the repeaters line diagnostics
are accessed from the user program by means of the Siemens
function block, FB125. This, along with an interface on the
HMI, brings real time fault diagnosis to the user. The screens
on the HMI were custom designed to include cable and node
layout mimics, as well as node slot information to help pinpoint
faulty modules or cables in event of a breakdown. The four
screens when used together offer all the information required
to diagnose the disturbance within minutes. Cleveland
Systems Engineering
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BRAZIL / BIOFUELS:
Brazil has made great progress in consolidating the technical
production of biofuel from sugar cane. By 2012, the ethanol
market is expected to be worth US$15 billion. Digital networks
are used extensively and today over 50% of new sugar and ethanol
plants use PROFIBUS. New projects include Tropical Bioenergia
S.A., which has approximately 1000 PROFIBUS nodes connected
to Smar DFI302 DF73 controllers with System302-7, a hybrid
control system with decentralized architecture, which enabled
this facility to quickly double production. In September 2007,
Santa Elisa Distillery and Smar signed a contract for the
complete automation of 4 new plants This distillery is owned
by the Santelisa-Vale Group, one of the major sugar-ethanol
producers. The deal involves the supply of System302-7 plus
all instrumentation using PROFIBUS. It also includes the infrastructure
of a Center of Integrated Operations (COI) similar to the
successful Santa Elisa COI. Included are more than 3200 Smar
PROFIBUS PA field instruments and 4 supervision  and
control systems that include 21 DF73 DPV1 CPUs per unit. AS-i
technology is used for on-off valves and sensors. Two of the
units – Ituiutaba and Itumbiara - are scheduled to start
grinding in July 2008 and the other two - Campina Verde and
Platina - in May 2009. Another facility – Usina Tropical,
in Edéia, Goiás state – is part of the
deal. It was contracted in June 2007, with project and conditions
similar to the other four plants. All projects are integrated
by Studio, a System302-7 component that makes it possible
to easily manage the software. One fourth of the primary energy
used in Brazil comes from biomasses, a unique situation in
the world. The position today, and the projected situation
for 2012/13 are shown in the table. SMAR
FINALLY - check out our new White
Paper on PROFIBUS in a Brazilian Sugar Plant.
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| NEW
PRODUCTS |
|
 PORTABLE
PROTOCOL STACK: Softing's new
portable protocol stack is based on the latest PROFINET IO
specification and is available in Controller and Supervisor
formats. The protocol software supports Conformance Class
A and B and includes the following components:
- Access Kit: a
powerful, flexible abstraction layer between the controller
application and the PROFINET IO stack.
- Porting Layer: handles memory allocation,
task and thread management, and access to the Ethernet peripheral.
This is the only component that must be ported to the target
hardware.
- Protocol Software: an independent component
representing the actual implementation of protocol services
which is embedded between the Access Kit and the Porting
Layer.
As of today the software has been successfully
ported to the Intel x86, ARM 7/9, Motorola Power PC and others.
OSs include Win32, VxWorks, Linux, eCos and netOS. Softing
recommends the ERTEC chip and its own RT Controller board
for deploying the stack. Softing
Top
 PROFINET
INTERFACES FOR TOSHIBA AND MITSUBISHI DRIVES:
Industrial Control Communications has released PROFINET IO
Interfaces for Toshiba VF-AS1 and G9 adjustable speed drives
and Mitsubishi 700 series Inverters. Both are fully
IEEE 802.3 10/100BaseT Ethernet compliant and support multiple
simultaneous IE protocols. They use shielded RJ45 connector
and standard CAT5-type 8-conductor unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) patch cables. Configuration and parameter monitoring/control
are supported via embedded web servers and standard web browsers.
Configuration files  are
stored in XML format and can be transferred to/from a PC via
FTP for easy backup and configuration copying. Configuration
files can be viewed and edited via standard text editors,
XML editors or web browsers. As new firmware becomes available,
the units can be upgraded in the field by the end-user. Industrial
Control Communications.
Top
 PCI
EXPRESS PROFIBUS INTERFACE: Use of PCI Express bus
computers is now available through BradCommunications' SST
interface card. It comes with two network channels, allowing
one computer to communicate with up to two PROFIBUS networks
simultaneously. PROFIBUS DP Masters and DP Slaves are supported
as well as Master Class 1 and Class 2 DP-V1 through the use
of a Windows API. All standard PROFIBUS baud rates are supported
as well as device configuration and diagnostics through FDT
using CommDTM. Also included are Microsoft Windows Vista,
NT4, 2000 and XP operating system drivers, OPC Server v3.0
and DP configuration software with enhanced diagnostics. Woodhead.
NOTE: Woodhead Industries has been
acquired by Molex Incorporated. The Woodhead and Brad product
lines will continue to be promoted under the Molex name.
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 NETWORK
TESTER: Softing has a new version of its PB-T3 PROFIBUS
Electrical Tester. It includes support for German, English,
French, Italian and Chinese (simplified) languages and is
a powerful, yet simple tool used to determine the signal quality
of connected devices. The Tester analyzes the physical layer
and visually displays the signal quality for each device and
the location of faults, helping users to quickly find and
correct errors. The included PROFIBUS master simulator enables
PB-T3 to verify the integrity of PROFIBUS networks without
having the actual controller on-line. Softing.
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 FIBER
OPTIC CONVERTERS: Phoenix Contact has extended its
PSI-MOS fiber optic product line with converters in 1300 nm
technology. The proven features of PSI-MOS can now be used
for network distances of up to 24 km with multimode glass
fiber and up to 33 km with singlemode glass fibers. The integrated
monitoring of received power evaluates the quality of the
connection at start-up and a pre-warning function alerts the
user before network loss. Phoenix
Contact.
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the home of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in North America |
