Industry EtherNet/IP News
below ‘the Edge’. A non-device focus area for EtherNet/IP development is to provide integration with these technologies to deliver information with context from device to cloud, generally with pre-processing at the edge. Two examples of this include EtherNet/IP and OPC UA companion specification development and FactoryTalk Edge Gateway. The outcome is software application development that takes advantage of the rich data and meta-data already in EtherNet/IP devices,” he said.
innovative and vendor-specific information within devices to the users of those apps. Second, the “resource constrained in-cabinet solution,” which makes innovative use of short-range SPE and a reduced capability variant of EtherNet/IP and makes it practical to deploy communications technologies on simple electromechanical control components. Overall, EtherNet/IP is evolving to allow more types of devices to deliver user value through innovative software apps.
Addressing engineering challenges
Industrial Ethernet solutions
The developments in APL to support process instrumentation in the context of value delivered by software applications is making an impact through the value delivered by expansion into new classes of previously unconnected devices. Brooks said that these two themes are also addressed by two major ongoing developments in the ODVA community. The first is the xDS project, which is a reworking of ODVA’s product descriptor mechanisms using contemporary technology. It is about software enablement and providing the tools to allow app developers to understand and automatically expose highly 08.202 2
Automation control networking technology
Dr. Al Beydoun, ODVA President and Executive Director, said that Industrial Ethernet has overtaken fieldbus and now makes up the majority of new connected nodes due to the increased speed and omnipresence of Ethernet that enables precise control, additional diagnostic data for the enhancement of existing operations, and increased interconnectivity across the business. EtherNet/IP TM is a leading industrial automation network solution as a result of relying on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)
i n d u str i a l e th e r n e t b o o k
technology and standard, unmodified Internet Protocol and Ethernet (IEEE 802.3 combined with the TCP/IP Suite). “This gives users unparalleled access to information from Industrial IoT devices, allowing for visibility and insights into how operations are performing, which results in better business decisions,” Beydoun said. “Reliable, real-time communication on the factory floor is made possible with EtherNet/ IP through a properly planned network design that leverages segmentation via managed switches allowing for both efficient communication and greater security. EtherNet/ IP also uses profiles that define how the information in a device should be presented, which ensures interoperability.” Beydoun said that EtherNet/IP utilizes the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™) for the session, presentation, and application layers per the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which enables media independence (e.g. wireless transport) and a consistent information format. The Ethernet based physical, data link, and network, and transport layers are what makes EtherNet/IP unique from other CIP networks such as DeviceNet®.
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