CEE_20_09_Summer

A supplement to Control Engineering Europe sponsored by the CC-Link Partner Association

CC-Link Partner Association eu.cc-link.org

Summer 2020

www.controlengeurope.com

OPEN the FUTURE of CONNECTED INDUSTRIES Learn about the comprehensive, industry standard, open development ecosystem available for CC-Link IE TSN

LEADING THE WAY IN OPEN INDUSTRIAL ETHERNET John Browett, General Manager, CLPA Europe, introduces this special CC-Link Partner Association sponsored supplement which focuses on the comprehensive industry support for CC-Link IE TSN product development.

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he CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) is one of the largest open network associations, with over 340 partner companies offering products compatible with the CC-Link family of open automation networks. With a total membership of almost 3,800 companies and 26 million devices installed globally, the CLPA has established itself as a key player in automation worldwide.

We have led the way in open industrial Ethernet for many years.

We were the first organisation to offer gigabit bandwidth for industrial Ethernet applications with CC-Link IE. In 2018, we continued our leadership by being the first to combine open gigabit industrial Ethernet with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). TSN is a set of IEEE standards that adds deterministic features to standard Ethernet by making changes to layer 2 of the 7 layer OSI model. By incorporating this technology, CC-Link IE TSN is now setting the standard for connectivity in the Industry 4.0 age.

Key benefits The key benefits of CC-Link IE TSN can be divided into three main areas: Performance, Connectivity and Intelligence: Performance: Gigabit bandwidth means the network architecture easily accommodates various types of traffic with no loss of productivity. This includes process related traffic such as control, safety and motion data. By adding TSN, it’s possible to incorporate other traffic such as TCP/IP communications from vision systems and so on. The possibility to also integrate other types

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of industrial Ethernet protocols exists.

Connectivity: As with all types of CC-Link networks, CC-Link IE TSN is a fully open technology.

Hence any company who wishes to make compatible products can do so after joining the CLPA. Moreover, full implementation flexibility is offered – master and slave devices can be developed with hardware platforms or software stacks, both with the option of 100Mbit or 1Gbit physical layers.

Intelligence: A full range of diagnostic and configuration features are available and third-party diagnostic systems such as SNMP tools are supported.

In this special feature, we will focus on the aspect of Connectivity, exploring the various options for companies wishing to incorporate CC-Link IE TSN technology into their products. This will allow them to take advantage of its benefits and offer market leading Industry 4.0 solutions.

We showcase a variety of CLPA partners who offer industry standard development platforms and solutions for the network. For each partner, we examine the value CLPA membership provides to their organisation, the eu.cc-link.org

solutions they offer for CC-Link IE TSN and their key features and benefits. In summary, you will receive a comprehensive overview of how to get on board with CC-Link IE TSN and why you should consider including it in your development roadmap.

We believe that CC-Link IE TSN represents the future of open industrial Ethernet. We and our partners would like the opportunity to discuss this with you further. Please get in touch!

John Browett General Manager, CLPA Europe partners@eu.cc-link.org eu.cc-link.org partners@eu.cc-link.org

GIGABIT CHIP WITH PROTOCOL STACK FOR CC-LINK IE TSN With several million controllers having been installed, Hilscher’s netX platform technology has achieved worldwide success. It enables all proven fieldbus and real-time Ethernet systems to be realised in the smallest of spaces – and will soon also be available for automation providers keen to provide their products with CC-Link IE TSN connectivity.

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he owner-managed Hilscher Gesellschaft für Systemautomation with headquarters in Hattersheim near Frankfurt was founded in 1986 and is regarded as one of the major international players when it comes to industrial communication solutions for modern factory automation. The company offers a full portfolio of hardware and software solutions for fieldbuses and Industrial Ethernet as well as services and customer-specific assembly production.

Hilscher is a long-standing member of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) and – with its communication chips, embedded modules, pc-cards, gateways and corresponding protocol stacks – supports all network communication technologies, from the CC-Link fieldbus to the industrial CC-Link IE Gigabit Ethernet variant which has already been realised on pc-cards as slaves. In addition, the compatible CC-Link IE Field Basic variant is ported to Hilscher’s 100-Mbit chips. Prototypes have already been created and the certification process is in progress.

Seeing a gigabit trend “With TSN in particular, we are seeing a strong trend towards gigabit technology and because of that, we are in the process of developing a new multiprotocol chip for gigabit bandwidth which naturally will also then support CC-Link IE TSN. We see gigabit TSN as having great market value,” said Sebastian Hilscher, son of the company’s founder and CEO at Hilscher. partners@eu.cc-link.org

The complete supplier is a prominent supporter of the CLPA, regularly exhibiting at trade shows and participating in press conferences. They realised the seamless exchange of data between the PROFINET network which is dominant in Europe and CCLink IE technology which is the leader in Asia with their coupler device – shortly after PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) and the CLPA formulated and published their joint specification. “With the CLPA, we can stay up-to-date with the latest technology trends and we have also been involved in the development of CC-Link IE TSN since very early on.

One of the huge benefits of being a member is that we get specifications very early so that we can align our product roadmap on it. The other is the marketing activities carried out together with the CLPA which increases awareness of our brand,” explained Hilscher.

The launch of the new chip which will support gigabit bandwidth is planned for 2020. “That is when starter kits will be launched and samples available for customers to try out. Then we will collect customer feedback and go into mass production,” advised Hilscher.

Hilscher, as a total solution partner, will deliver the chip as usual together with the matching software protocol stack. “Because we deliver both software and hardware we can perfectly match the components to eu.cc-link.org

With several million controllers having been installed, Hilscher’s netX platform technology has achieved worldwide success.

each other, that’s why our chips generate less power consumption and need only a small amount of space.

Nonetheless, the chips provide the same level of performance as other CPUs because everything is totally matched and nothing on the chip is redundant,” continued Hilscher.

The new generation of chips which supports gigabit TSN will be an extension of the netX chip family in the form of various derivatives, i.e. as a companion chip variant or as a single chip solution. The solution mainly focuses on factory automation and on the whole range of associated devices, from I/Os through PLCs and drives to incremental encoders and sensors. www.hilscher.com Summer 2020

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ANYBUS SUPPORTS TIME-SENSITIVE NETWORKING THROUGH CC-LINK IE TSN The Anybus concept from HMS Industrial Networks is a leading-edge portfolio of connectivity products including hardware and software. Interacting with a variety of industrial networks, it reduces development efforts for device manufacturers to a minimum – and will soon also be available for the implementation of CC-Link IE TSN.

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ounded in 1988 and with a head office in Halmstad and a global sales network, Swedish company HMS Industrial Networks is one of the leaders in technology when it comes to connectivity between automation devices and industrial communication networks. The Anybus product family is regarded as the de facto standard and enables the exchange of data from field devices, machines and systems via all current fieldbus and Industrial Ethernet networks.

HMS is a long-standing member of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) after the company experienced unexpectedly high demand from Japan at the end of the 1990s: “However, progress in industrial communication technology always came from Europe and partly from the USA, and at the time, the device manufacturers in Asia needed new networks for their products,”, explained Christian Bergdahl, Product Marketing Manager at HMS. “So conversely, we then also included the Asian de facto standard CC-Link in our network portfolio.”

Bergdahl praises the consistent marketing activities carried out by the CLPA and the active support from its partner that ensures HMS has good market visibility: “As an independent network organisation, the CLPA really opens doors for us. We also benefit from its outstanding market observations – it always has its finger on the pulse in terms of its technologies. This helps us to make an early start.”

Consequently, HMS has added CC-Link IE TSN to its latest modular

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embedded family Anybus CompactCom. As a result, the new technology from the CLPA is the 13th network supported by multinetwork connectivity but the first to be based on TSN. This will be particularly beneficial for the HMS customers – of whom there are more HMS has added CC-Link IE TSN to its latest modular embedded than 1,000 – who are family Anybus CompactCom. already using the modular users. As with the two earlier CLPA embedded product family technologies CC-Link and CC-Link IE, and have therefore implemented the HMS is also developing the interface host interface for communicating with module for CC-Link IE TSN first. “Then the Anybus modules: “They will be when we have the basic technology, it able to access the new network very will be introduced into our gateways quickly and easily because they have and edge gateways,” continued already done the preliminary work Bergdahl. needed through the interface method.

HMS presented its concept for the CCWe supply the TSN-based embedded Link IE TSN CompactCom module as part product in the desired form factor of the development solutions display on and customers can get their devices to the CLPA stand at SPS 2019. The market market very quickly,” stressed Bergdahl. launch is scheduled for mid-2020. The HMS is indeed expecting the Asian logical next step is to integrate the market in particular to develop rapidly new CompactCom technology in HMS but the quick CC-Link IE TSN solution gateways. should also be of interest to its customer Factory automation in the base in Europe and the USA, not least manufacturing industry remains the for placing end products on the markets principal market for Anybus. Millions in Asia. “It will work both ways,” said of robots, drives and HMIs worldwide Bergdahl. “Especially during the second are connected in this way. Fields of step when our gateway solution for CCapplication such as the process industry, Link IE TSN is also available.” building automation and infrastructure Anybus gateways link various are becoming increasingly important. industrial communication standards.

They make network integration and www.hms-networks.com expansion quicker and easier for end eu.cc-link.org

partners@eu.cc-link.org

DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT FOR CC-LINK IE TSN AND CC-LINK IE SAFETY MESCO offers CC-Link IE TSN and CC-Link IE Safety development services for automation component manufacturers. Through modular concepts and the use of MESCO design packages, TSN-based, safetyrelated and non-safety-related industrial communication solutions are implemented with minimum effort and risk.

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ESCO Engineering, based in Lörrach, was founded in 1990 and is dedicated to developing hardware and software for factory and process automation.

Other fields of development that the technology provider focuses on include ‘Industrial Communication’, ‘Functional Safety’ and ‘Explosion Protection’. Engineering consultancy services throughout a product’s life cycle complete the portfolio.

MESCO carries out development for a wide range of industrial communication protocols and is a member of numerous network organisations. MESCO recently joined the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA), adding CC-Link IE TSN and CC-Link IE Safety to the Industrial Communication and Functional Safety service areas respectively. “This is a highly interesting development for our customers because through modular concepts, MESCO provides a smart way to get started with safety-related

and non-safety-related TSN-based industrial communication. It also offers a way to expand in the Asian market,” said Peter Bernhardt, Head of Sales & Marketing at MESCO Engineering.

The development concept with design packages facilitates the product development process for CC-Link IE TSN- and CC-Link IE Safety-compliant slave devices and provides a quick and easy way of getting started with these pioneering technologies. “CC-Link IE TSN enables the seamless linking of higher-level IT systems to operational systems in production (OT) and opens up potential for numerous new manufacturing applications.

Compared to conventional Industrial Ethernet, the new protocol offers improved communication functions such as time synchronisation, real-time frames for real-time communication and frame pre-emption for prioritised data packages,” explained Bernhardt.

“Support for 100 Mbit/sec is also very important.”

Safety-related developments Particularly in the case of safety-related developments, enormous savings on development and certification efforts can be made through the use of design packages. By this, MESCO is referring to circuit boards and software components which have been tried and tested as reference designs in product development and certification.

MESCO develops customised solutions based on the requirements of its customers on this basis.

“We see it as our task to make life easier for developers,” continued Bernhardt, summing up the company’s mission statement and referring to its full offering including professional hardware and software development services and the use of tried and tested design packages as well as consultancy services from concept to certification.

MESCO Engineering based in Lörrach was founded in 1990 and is dedicated to developing hardware and software for factory and process automation.

partners@eu.cc-link.org

eu.cc-link.org

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DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS FOR CC-LINK IE TSN-COMPATIBLE MASTER/SLAVE DEVICES Mitsubishi Electric sees Time-Sensitive Networking as the future and is focusing its development activities on the new industrial communication network CC-Link IE TSN. Besides a fully compatible product portfolio, the automation specialist has announced development solutions for device makers.

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ounded in 1921 and with its headquarters in Tokyo, today the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is one of the leading international electronics and electrical equipment manufacturers and has sales offices all over the world.

The Factory Automation Division offers a full portfolio of automation products including CNC control systems, laser and eroding machines, PLCs, frequency inverters and servos as well as industrial robots and software.

The open fieldbus network CC-Link was developed by the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 1997 and made an open technology in 2000 so that independent manufacturers could incorporate CC-Link compatibility into their products. Since then, the management and further development of the network technology have been taken care of by the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA). According to Piotr Siwek, Deputy Product Marketing Director EMEA at Mitsubishi Electric Europe, one of the major benefits of being a member of the CLPA itself is the contact with experts from other fields of automation such as sensor technology, for example, which has enabled the company to develop further partnerships for the purpose of developing joint customer and market solutions.

“CC-Link IE TSN is one of the most advanced communication networks for the industrial sector,” said Siwek.

“Having such an efficient network is very important for us as a full serviceprovider as it enables all the different components to communicate with each

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that servo drives other effectively can be directly and it also supports controlled in the efficient edge same network, computing.” along with the Mitsubishi Electric other automation will help other components: CLPA partners to “We can develop CC-Link integrate motion IE TSN-compatible controllers without products. “Remote compromising stations (slave on performance functionality) are Mitsubishi Electric sees time-sensitive and synchronise already supported – networking as the future and is focusing its axes in real time. customers can select development activities on the new industrial communication network CC-Link IE TSN. The Automating their development main benefits of CC-Link IE TSN fall into three categories: performance, connectivity and a machine or technology as intelligence. production line both the ASIC enables the development kit and customer to use a single network to protocol stack are already available. carry out a full range of tasks. That The latter reduces development effort reduces costs and naturally also saves to a minimum without compromising time,” he said. on functionality while the ASIC version Siwek sees the versatile enables the TSN technology to be used communication network having to its full potential,” continued Siwek. universal benefits: “Ultimately, The company presented its own everyone in the EMEA region will also CC-Link IE TSN-compatible products, benefit from the Ethernet-based simple including PLCs, decentralised I/Os, cabling and low engineering costs – the operator terminals and frequency automotive and consumables industry inverters, on the CLPA’s stand at SPS but also the food and beverage industry 2019, and Siwek confirmed that and the mechanical engineering sector development kits would be available in as a whole, for example. Existing 2020 for the master station too, again in Ethernet-based networks can be the form of ASICs and a software stack. integrated via TSN which protects Mitsubishi Electric also has the new investments made.” Mitsubishi Electric ground-breaking servo technology aims to add CC-Link IE TSN capabilities Melservo-J5 in the pipeline and this to its whole product portfolio, including was also demonstrated on the CLPA all robot models, by the end of 2020. stand at SPS 2019. Siwek sees the main benefit of CC-Link IE TSN in this eu3a.mitsubishielectric.com field of application as being the fact eu.cc-link.org

partners@eu.cc-link.org

SOFTWARE STACK AND SOM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CC-LINK IE TSN PRODUCTS An engineering company that specialises in industrial real-time data communication, has developed two alternatives for CC-Link IE TSN products: a software stack (master/slave) reduces in-house development time and costs for the component manufacturer while an embedded System on Module (SoM) can directly expand existing platforms.

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ounded in 1990, port industrial automation GmbH, based in Halle/Saale, is committed to industrial real-time communication in all sectors. More than 500 product and system developers worldwide use microcontroller unit (MCU) middleware, libraries, cores, protocol stacks, drivers, tools and development services from port to successfully place their products on the market.

Since the beginning of CANopen, the company has primarily relied on multi-protocol solutions, working in collaboration with market drivers from the European and US automation industries. Today, port focuses on the Industrial Ethernet protocols in their many forms and that is why, in June 2018, it joined the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) in order to support its latest Industrial Ethernet technology CC-Link IE TSN which combines gigabit bandwidth and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). “port mainly serves industrial markets such as factory automation, logistics automation, sensor technology and the process industry and our real-time communication solutions cover the whole communication chain. CCLink IE TSN provides an interesting technology platform which enables data from sensor to interface ‘IT’ to be displayed safely and represents an important addition to our portfolio,” explained Dietmar R. Franke, CEO/CFO

partners@eu.cc-link.org

of port industrial automation. “We will continue to develop the company by focussing on TSN as we will fully support the whole topic of ‘Time-Sensitive Networking’ with a variety of products.”

The product range The product range for CC-Link IE TSN currently includes a software stack that contains the tools required to configure, manage and install the new open specification. A decisive advantage of the stack solution is its hardware independence. The stack is ported to the relevant hardware platform in a consistent format and already contains the TSN features that are supported according to IEEE standards. In addition, there are appropriate configuration and management tools.

Moreover, port has developed a hardware product for CC-Link IE TSN in the form of an embedded System on Module (SoM) which can be used as an add-on or expansion board for existing systems. “In other words, customers who are currently using a platform that offers a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) can also add CC-Link IE TSN to their platform via this interface,” said Franke.

While the licensing of port’s CC-Link IE TSN stack is aimed at customers who will then be able to optimise their development effort for larger quantities, the company also wants the embedded module to offer a CC-Link IE TSN option for companies which produce very small quantities. eu.cc-link.org

port has developed a hardware product for CCLink IE TSN in the form of an embedded System on Module (SoM) which can be used as an addon or expansion board for existing systems.

Franke sees opportunities for the SoM alternative for mechanical engineering in particular: “This fully integrated SoM alternative is particularly suitable for manufacturers who make more specific products such as certain gateways or I/Os with small annual production runs because all the customer has to take care of is the integration of the hardware. However we also offer that as a service for the CC-Link IE TSN system,” he said. www.port.de Summer 2020

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RENESAS UPGRADES INDUSTRIAL NETWORK TO THE NEXT STAGE Industrial networks are part of the technologies used in factory automation. As a chip manufacturer, Renesas sees CC-Link IE TSN as a key factor in the industry’s progress because the network enables temporal precision, ensuring secure transmission within a given period of time, and mixed implementation with other communication protocols.

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enesas has developed a CC-Link IE TSN-compatible System-on-Chip (SoC) as well as software and a development environment. By using this solution, customers can start evaluating CC-Link IE TSN communication after a set-up time of just one hour. The SoC supports CC-Link IE TSN networks with a minimum of external components, simplifying system design and saving engineering costs.

The SoC for Industrial Ethernet communication enables multi-protocol capabilities for Industry 4.0 through Renesas’ key technology R-IN Engine.

The SoC contains dedicated hardware for CC-Link IE TSN with integrated Gigabit physical layer (PHY) and said R-IN Engine consisting of a Cortex-M core, real-time operating system components (HW-RTOS) and an Ethernet accelerator.

Because the synchronisation accuracy between devices with the Renesas SoC in the same network can be less than 1 μs, the company also sees great potential for the internal networking of large-scale technical systems such as machine tools and production plants in the semiconductor and automotive industries, for example.

Renesas is an internationally active Japanese semiconductor group headquartered in Tokyo with numerous subsidiaries in Europe, including Renesas Electronics Europe in Düsseldorf. Renesas offers reliable, innovative semiconductor solutions in embedded systems. Billions of devices

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Through CLPA’s activities, Renesas has been able to increase its LSI’s presence among other CLPA members and connect with new customers. Photo Credit: iStock

networked via these systems help to improve productivity at work and quality of life in general.

Renesas already offers SoCs with CC-Link communication protocols and as a member of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA), the company can provide optimal technical support for its customers. The effective support of the CLPA network organisation in its PR work also increases visibility for Renesas and its customers. eu.cc-link.org

“Through CLPA’s activities, we have been able to increase our LSI’s presence among other CLPA members and connect with new customers,” said Toshihide Tsuboi, VP of the Industrial Automation Division at Renesas. “We have been supporting CC-Link and CC-Link IE Field for seven years through our SoC R-IN32 series.” www.renesas.eu partners@eu.cc-link.org

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT FOR CC-LINK IE TSN REDUCES DEVELOPMENT EFFORT The fieldbus stack from engineering services provider SILA for Modbus is currently actively used by a broad user base. However in view of growing industrial communication requirements, this older protocol which does not yet have realtime capability is becoming unsustainable. By developing a new solution for the development of CC-Link TSN-enabled components, SILA wants to pave the way forward for its customers.

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ounded in 2014 and based in St. Pölten in Lower Austria, SILA Embedded Solutions sees itself as a development services provider for the European market and specialises in customer-specific software and electronic development. Its services mainly focus on the fields of industry, lighting and railway technology as well as measurement and control technology.

A subsidiary in Innsbruck focuses predominantly on software development and industrial networks in particular.

SILA has been a full member of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) since September 2019 because the company considers these open standards to be of growing importance in industry. “A lot of customers are afraid of committing to a supplier as they think it will take away their freedom to purchase from whoever they like. On the contrary, an open standard means healthy competition, numerous manufacturers and a wide variety of products.

Customers can be sure that their investments will be looked after and that products are mutually compatible,” said Christian Walter, Director Electronic and Software Development, and one of the two founders of SILA, explaining the decision to join.

in trade events and comprehensive marketing measures that the mediumsized company would not be able to realise on its own. “For us, the CLPA is a very good platform for reaching a larger customer segment and also for increasing awareness of CC-Link IE TSN technology in Europe,” continued Walter. “In the field of measurement and control technology in particular, there is a need for things to run synchronously with each other, thus providing real-time capability. In this regard, we see TSN-enabled devices providing major benefits – and particularly CC-Link IE TSN, an open standard, for which a wide range of applications will be available.”

SILA is currently developing a software development kit. This software stack enables manufacturers of automation devices, in fields such as sensor technology or drive technology, for example, to make their products CCLink IE TSN-compatible and also to focus on their own core task. The integration of the stack reduces development effort and thus the time-to-market for a device

manufacturer. SILA offers not only the software solution but also help with the integration of the stack.

Walter sums up the main benefits of the CC-Link IE TSN solution from SILA: “The SILA stack was designed to be easily portable so that it can be easily adapted to the customer’s hardware and architecture. It is already available as a demo stack for Linux and the STM32 platform and is therefore available to a large part of the market for evaluation. In addition, the software was written with a C-based programming interface and is supplied as source code in order to guarantee independence and investment security for the device manufacturer.”

The market launch is scheduled for Q2/2020, however visitors to SPS 2019 were given the opportunity to find out more about the solution. At the trade fair, visitors were able to get a close look at the CC-Link IE TSN development stack in its current state of development via an executable demo application. www.embedded-solutions.at

Benefits of cooperation Besides support for the future-oriented CC-Link IE TSN industry network, SILA sees its cooperation with the CLPA bringing benefits such as participation partners@eu.cc-link.org

SILA Embedded Solutions specialises in the design and development of complex and sophisticated electronics and software products.

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KEY PLAYERS IN INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION SUPPORT CC-LINK IE TECHNOLOGIES Analog Devices (ADI), a leading global high-performance analog technology company, has a rich history of solving its customers’ toughest challenges and designing breakthrough industrial communication solutions – from the early days of 4 to 20mA and serial fieldbuses to today’s Ethernet-enabled protocols for the factory of the future.

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hrough this evolution, CC-Link has played a vital role solving customers’ most complex automation challenges. The next generation CC-Link will advance automation even further by providing a strong foundation for Industry 4.0 applications and enabling the open flow of information from the sensor to the cloud.

ADI supports CC-Link with its robust roadmap of products and is actively investing in new developments for

CC-Link supported Ethernet solutions.

“We look forward to many years of success partnering with the CC-Link community to enable seamless and secure Ethernet connectivity,” said Brendan O’Dowd, General Manager Industrial Automation, when asked about membership and collaboration within the CLPA. The multi-protocol communication processors from the Sitara series of another leading US semi-conductor manufacturer Texas Instruments (TI) support the CC-Link IE Field Basic

The FIDO 5200 chip from Analog Devices is a real-time Ethernet multi-protocol switch (REM) which supports various industrial Ethernet protocols with the help of embedded firmware.

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protocol of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) and provide industry-compatible solutions. CC-Link IE Field networks bring the benefits of Gigabit data bandwidth and 100-Mbit compatibility to Industrial Ethernet at the field level – ie, high speed and performance combined with a wide variety of instrument control and management data.

TI offers a CC-Link IE Field Basic master and slave system design package (reference design) for Sitara processors. The network is supported by

The ADIN300 Ethernet switch from Analog Devices is a single-port Gigabit Ethernet transceiver with low power consumption designed for industrial Ethernet applications.

eu.cc-link.org

partners@eu.cc-link.org

a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Linux and RTOS processors AMIC110, AM335x, AM437x and AM57x. This enables CC-Link IE Field Basic-compliant implementation on various platforms which are also individually certifiable.

TI’s Industrial Development Kits (IDKs) and Industrial Communications Engines (ICEs) for CC-Link IE Field Basic are independent test, development and evaluation modules used by hardware and software developers for industrial control and communication applications.

TI offers a CC-Link IE Field Basic master and slave system design package (reference design) for Sitara processors.

www.analog.com www.ti.com

CLPA establishes global strategic advisor role CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has recently created a global strategic advisor role and has recruited Thomas J. Burke to fill this position of critical importance to its future development.

Thomas J. Burke is the past president and executive director of the OPC Foundation. Thomas was the founding leader of the OPC Foundation, which is focused on delivering the best specifications, technology, process and certification necessary to achieve multi-vendor multi-platform secure reliable information integration across disparate devices and applications from the factory floor to the enterprise.

In his new role Burke is primarily responsible for: 1. Increasing awareness and adoption of CC-Link IE TSN in the global marketplace; 2. Advising CLPA leadership on industry trends, standards and market strategy; 3. Sustaining and increasing the number of CLPA partners from North America; 4. Facilitating collaboration with suppliers and end-users to maintain CLPA’s industry leading position; 5. Collaboration with other industry

partners@eu.cc-link.org

standards organisations, focusing on harmonisation across industrystandard organisations.

CC-Link IE TSN combines the gigabit bandwidth of CC-Link IE with TimeSensitive Networking (TSN) to meet future automation market demands, such as Industry 4.0. This provides flexible integration of Operational Technology (OT) and IT while further strengthening performance and functionality. A comprehensive portfolio of device development options is also ensuring that any vendor can easily add this technology to their product line-up. The aim is to improve efficiency and reduce time to market for Smart Factories utilising the IIoT and the products they manufacture.

As of April 2020 – a year and a half after the announcement of the CC-Link IE TSN specifications – more than 100 partner products have been released or are under development.

By leveraging his unique assets and experiences from the OPC Foundation, Burke will be the perfect fit to achieve the aim of CLPA global strategic advisor. He will work synergistically with the other CLPA branches to help companies across a wide range of

eu.cc-link.org

different industries such as automotive, semiconductor, machine tools and food & beverage understand how the CLPA’s industry leading technologies clearly provide a way to increase their competitive advantage.

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OPEN the FUTURE of CONNECTED INDUSTRIES

CC-Link IE TSN: Time-Sensitive Networking joins open gigabit Ethernet to deliver the world’s most advanced automation network technology for Industry 4.0.

• Performance: Combines gigabit bandwidth with TSN to deliver the highest productivity network solution for Industry 4.0.

• Connectivity: Open technology provides freedom of choice for end users, OEMs and device vendors.

• Intelligence: A wealth of intelligent features reduce time to market and downtime while increasing productivity.

Contact us now to see how CC-Link IE TSN can meet your needs. partners@eu.cc-link.org | eu.cc-link.org