CC-Link Update
CC-Link update focuses on time-sensitive networking
SOURCE: CLPA
The Industrial Ethernet Book reached out to CLPA for a general update on CC-Link technology, technical priorities and areas of concentration for new applications. This special report provides insight into the direction of CC Link, application successes and its focus on time-sensitive networking solutions.
An effective TSN network infrastructure addresses solutions for both automation and control networking along with enterprise connectivity to the cloud. THE CC-LINK PARTNERS ASSOCIATION (CLPA) is committed to delivering state-of-the-art technologies that support highly effective industrial communications. To this end, the organization invests in on-going improvement of its solutions, continually adding advanced technologies and recently launching the innovative CC-Link IE TSN to leverage timesensitive networking technology. “With CC-Link IE TSN, the CLPA is currently the only open industrial Ethernet association that offers a technology that combines gigabit bandwidth with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). We were first to market with this in late 2018 and continue to maintain this leadership position,” John Browett, General Manager for CLPA Europe, told the Industrial Ethernet Book recently. “As we move further in the direction of
24
increasing digitalization of manufacturing via Industry 4.0, we believe TSN will become more and more important. This is due to the increased process transparency it can offer via converged network architectures as well as OT/IT convergence. We strongly feel this is the future of industrial Ethernet and are continuing to work with leading vendors in the industry, such as Mitsubishi Electric, to expand the range of compatible products, Browett said.” “We have seen adoption of CC-Link IE TSN across a range of industries, and we continue to facilitate its greater adoption worldwide. We also continue to expand our development ecosystem and are working with leading development platform vendors, such as Analog Devices, NXP and Intel, to continue this expansion. From a development perspective,
our aim is to ensure there are no technical barriers to adoption of our technology in vendors’ products,” he added.
Technology challenges
Browett said that emergence of Industry 4.0 means shop floor systems generate more and more data. But there is a huge difference between data and information. To be useful, data needs to be processed to generate actionable insights to feed back into the process to optimize it. “To do this, there are several requirements that need to be addressed. Firstly, the ability to extract the data from systems in a transparent way. Secondly, once extracted, it needs to be able to flow to the systems that can analyze it and produce the necessary insights. Finally, this information then continued on pg. 26
in d u s t r ial et h er ne t b o o k
09.2021
