Green PROFINET

March 17th, 2010

Being unable to avoid leveraging St. Patrick’s Day (or at least St. Patrick’s Day ads), I have to talk about the “Saving of the Green.”  Specifically, I want to talk about how PROFIenergy can help save energy costs (and reduce carbon footprints, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and generally save the planet).  But since it’s hard to quantify the ROI for those latter savings on the capital expenditure request forms, let’s focus on saving money.  An automotive company energy study showed that even when they were not making cars they were using 60% of the energy as when they were.  PROFIenergy will allow them to reduce that to 20%.  The money savings are in the 5-digit range… per cell.  Any industry can benefit from using PROFIenergy, an application profile on PROFINET that simplifies selective and coordinated machine power reductions during production pauses.  For further information:

In the PROFIblog: SPS Report 5: PROFIenergy

White Paper: “Get Energy Costs under Control”

In PROFInews North American Edition: “Introducing PROFIenergy” and “Announcing a PROFIenergy White Paper”

And for how even fieldbus use can save the planet read “Yellow is the New Green” from the PROFIblog.

–Carl Henning

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PROFINET Wins, Organization Expands, PROFIenergy Products

March 15th, 2010

Lots of news from PI today:

PROFIBUS and PROFINET by the numbers
I hate to get too wrapped up in node counts, but here are the installed nodes through 2009:
PROFIBUS 31,400,000 (5,400,000 in the process industries)
PROFINET 2,100,000
PROFIsafe 850,000
Press Release: Healthy growth for PROFIBUS and PROFINET

The only thing these numbers really mean is that PROFIBUS and PROFINET are safe bets – widely-adopted and still growing.

PROFINET wins the market share battle
Expected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) now through 2013:
PROFINET +8.7%
Ethernet/IP +7.1%
Modbus/TCP -0.4%

EtherCAT’s current market share is 4%, part of the “other” category I previously blogged about, saying the generalization is one-third PROFINET, one-third Ethernet/IP, and one-third “other.”

Press Release: IMS Research Estimates Top Position for PROFINET

Previous Blog Post: Industrial Ethernet Market Shares

Organization expands
The PROFIBUS and PROFINET organizations around the world are independent regional organizations that join PI (PROFIBUS and PROFINET International) as Regional PI Associations (RPAs).  PTO is the RPA for North America.  RPAs have recently started in India and Spain, bringing the number of RPAs to 27.  No other organization approaches this level of global support.  We also have PI Competence Centers (PICCs) to provide more technical support.  There are over 40 of those.  No other organization even has the concept of Competence Centers.

Press Release: Successful start of new RPAs in India and Spain

PROFIenergy products
Today’s announcements included the release of the first PROFIenergy products.  The spec itself was completed on-time in January.

Press Release: PROFIenergy – Next step

Other News
Certification Fee is waived for PROFINET products for PTO members.  The mandatory certification testing of PROFINET products will benefit users; waiving the certification fee will benefit manufacturers.
Field testing of PROFIBUS PA Profile V3.02 is in progress.  This profile allows users to substitute one manufacturer’s device for that of another manufacturer without doing any configuration.
IO-Link – Fit for the future with the elimination of the consortium’s entry fee.

–Carl Henning

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Who Should I Turn to…

March 11th, 2010

Who should I turn to…
…when the PROFIblog turns away. 

Not that it would deliberately turn away, but the PROFIblog is only one small part of the resources available to users of PROFIBUS and PROFINET.  There are many other places you can turn to for information.

In North America, PTO and the PROFI Interface Center (PIC) offer free training classes and Certified Network Engineer classes.  RC Systems also offers certification classes.  There are similar organizations outside North America that offer similar training classes; see the website for international training details.

No matter where in the world you are there are some online resources:
   Webinars
   Forums for PROFIBUS and PROFINET
The webinars cover quite a few different topics with more coming.  The forums provide access to experts who can answer just about any question you can imagine.

No matter where in the world you are there are some local resources.  We are the only fieldbus organization with the concept of Competence Centers.  There are over 40 of these centers around the globe.  These centers are accredited by PI (the international organization overseeing PROFIBUS and PROFINET).  Competence Centers are audited in person every two years to assure that they are able to provide the level of support PI demands.  In addition to Competence Centers, PI accredits Training Centers (PITCs) and Test Labs (PITLs).  In North America we have two Competence Centers that are also Training Centers: PROFI Interface Center and RC Systems.  The PIC is also a certified Test Lab.

Of course, your best resource is the people.  Call the PTO (480-483-2456) or call the PIC (423-262-2590) if we can help.

–Carl Henning

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Fieldbus Speeds

March 9th, 2010

Last week one response on the Atlanta Course Evaluation thought my comparison of fieldbus speeds was “sales-weasely.”  Must have been written by a muggle.  <smile>  To be fair, he also said that I did not say anything untrue.  Anyway, the writer objected to my comparing the speeds of PROFIBUS DP and DeviceNet but not PROFIBUS PA and DeviceNet.  Comparing PROFIBUS DP and DeviceNet is a reasonable comparison – they cover the same application space.  (Those speeds by the way, PROFIBUS DP moves 244 bytes at up to 12Mbaud while DeviceNet moves 8 bytes at up to 0.5Mbaud.)

But comparing PROFIBUS PA and DeviceNet is the age-old apples to oranges comparison.  PROFIBUS PA covers the process instrument application space while DeviceNet does not.  PROFIBUS PA should be compared to Foundation Fieldbus; both run at 31.25kbaud.

There will be more on PROFIBUS and a little on PROFINET at the PROFIBUS one-day training class tomorrow in Albuquerque.  Still seats available and walk-ins are welcome.

–Carl Henning

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PROFIblog Policy Statement

March 9th, 2010

The PROFIblog turns four years old today.  So, I thought it was time to state what PROFIblog is and how it is supposed to work.  About time, eh?

PROFIblog is mostly about PROFIBUS and PROFINET.  And automation and fieldbuses in general.  And sometimes goes way off topic.  I’ll try to warn you when I do that.  (Warning: ths one is.)

PROFIblog is written by me, Carl Henning, Deputy Director of PTO.  If someone else is guest posting, the author is identified.  If I quote someone, I identify them.  If I quote from a magazine article, I link to it.

Opinions expressed in the PROFIblog are just mine.  Not PTO’s.  Not my co-workers.  Not PTO members.  Not PI (the umbrella organization for the 26 regional PROFIBUS and PROFINET organizations).  Not anyone else’s.  Just mine.

Facts presented here are facts as best as I can determine.  If you disagree, tell me.  I’ve made corrections based on readers’ inputs.  But…

Comments are moderated.  Anonymous comments will be studiously ignored.  Then deleted.  I’m willing to sign my name to my statements; if you’re not, don’t bother.

Oh, there’s some new government regulation that says if I review a product or service that was given to me for free, I have to tell you that.  I can tell you: it’s never happened.  Not likely to either.  I do occasionally talk about a product that I’ve seen somewhere – a trade show maybe.  If I talk about it, it’s just because I think it’s interesting, not because somebody gave it to me.  What would I do with it if they gave it to me?  I don’t need a PLC in my basement.  (OK, most houses in Arizona don’t have basements.  Mine doesn’t.)

We now resume our regularly scheduled posting.

–Carl Henning

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Functional Safety over the Network Webinar

March 8th, 2010

We’ve shortened the PROFIsafe section of the PROFINET and PROFIBUS one-day training classes this year.  So naturally we’re getting some requests to beef that up.  Instead, we’ve decided to do a webinar on the topic.  It’s scheduled for 2:00pm Eastern Time on April 1.  You will find a little more information and a link to registration here.  I hope you can join us. 

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PROFINET can use a Best Buy Ethernet Switch, really?

March 4th, 2010

PROFINET can use a Best Buy Ethernet Switch, really?  Yes, really. 

At the Atlanta PROFINET one-day training class one of the attendees thought I was being “disingenuous” claiming that PROFINET can use an Ethernet switch from Best Buy.  (I thought he meant I was lying, but the dictionary says that disingenuous is “lacking in candor; also, giving a false appearance of simple frankness.”)  Nothing false here.  But I did go to BestBuy.com to see if they really did carry Ethernet switches that could be used in a PROFINET application.  The first one in the search results for “Ethernet switch” was “D-Link – Green Ethernet 5-Port 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Switch” for $34.99.  It meets the minimum requirement for PROFINET use: it’s 100Mbit full duplex.  Yes, that’s the only requirement.  This switch also includes an optional feature we recommend: Quality of Service (QoS).  This feature just allows Ethernet frames with higher priority to be sent first.  Ethernet frames containing PROFINET real-time data have a higher priority than TCP/IP frames.  Now this is an unmanaged switch meaning its only diagnostic feature is LEDs.

Just because you can use an unmanaged switch doesn’t mean you should use an unmanaged switch though.  But I already ranted about that in “Switch Education.”

[Now to be fair, if I were using a switch between drives to carry motion control traffic, I would need a more expensive switch, but such usage is rare for two reasons.  One, most PROFINET drives have built-in switches.  Two, motion control applications are not that common compared to standard IO applications.]

–Carl Henning

Read the rest of this entry »

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Wireless or Wireless

February 25th, 2010

One of my pet peeves is lumping all wireless types together and treating them as one.  Wireless is not one monolithic thing. I see four types of wireless in industrial automation:

1. Backhaul (as I think ISA characterizes it).  Typically this is long distance radio bringing data from an RTU perhaps at a wellhead to a central control room.  The radios tend to be proprietary but the protocol is often Modbus. 

2. Process Instrument networks.  WirelessHART and ISA 100.a specify their respective protocols and radios.  WirelessHART is working with PI (PROFIBUS and PROFINET International), and Fieldbus Foundation to coordinate their activities and ensure interoperation.  This group is called the Wireless Cooperation Team.

3. Discrete sensors and actuators.  While process instruments are characterized by slow cycle times (seconds or fractions thereof), discrete devices typically operate much faster (milliseconds).  PI is working with leading discrete vendors in developing a wireless standard for discrete sensors and actuators.  The protocol will be IO-Link which is a growing wired sensor and actuator technology.  Coexistence with the other wireless technologies will be assured.

4. Wireless Backbone.  This is how I characterize WiFi and Bluetooth as used by the Industrial Ethernets.  Any plain old Ethernet should run just as well on wireless standards like 802.11a, b, g, and n.  PROFINET, of course, does.

Hunter and I did a webinar on PROFINET and wireless; it’s still available in the archive.  The 2010 PROFINET one-day training classes have a section devoted to the topic too.  Speaking of PROFINET one-day training classes, our first of the year is in Atlanta next Tuesday.  Registration has surpassed 110, but we were able to secure larger space, so still have room for more.  Register for Atlanta here.  I hope to see you in Atlanta or one of the other nine PROFINET cities.

–Carl Henning

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PROFINET Data Wrangler Avatar

February 22nd, 2010

Many of you have seen the movie Avatar.  I was a little late, but I did finally see it (and in IMAX 3D).  The special effects were, of course, amazing.  I was not so thrilled with the theme which was something like “Corporations, bad; primitive people, good.”  But that did not stop me from staying through the end of the credits.  In the credits, of the dozen or so special effects companies involved, one guy’s title caught my attention – “Data Wrangler.”  Since I work in “The West’s Most Western Town,”* I’m well-acquainted with the term “wrangler.”  Often used as a synonym for “cowboy” it has the connotation of the guy in charge of the animals, especially the horses.  It further connotes the idea of herding the animals.  So, I guess the data wrangler keeps track of the data – he’s in charge of the data.  I can envision him trying to find all the stray data and herding it into a central “corral.” 

Finally, the Industrial Automation connection: Now even if a line or a plant is not new, it probably has newer automation devices.  These devices have data locked away in them.  Data that could be conveyed to systems that would help a company diagnose and troubleshoot problems… or even avoid them by allowing predictive maintenance instead of reactive maintenance. 

So mount up, data wrangler, and herd the data in those stray devices to a corral that can sort them and brand them.  Now in this entire scheme, PROFINET just provides a trail for the data to follow.  I guess that makes PROFINET the data wrangler’s Old Chisholm Trail.

–Carl Henning

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*Watching countless TV Westerns in my youth helped, too.

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Multitasking on Industrial Ethernet

February 9th, 2010

Automation World has an interesting article in the February issue and online: “Ethernet Protocols’ Flexibility A Boost For Manufacturing.”  It manages to mention five different Industrial Ethernet protocols but then goes on to focus on PROFINET and Ethernet/IP.  This is a sensible focus since PROFINET and Ethernet/IP are the market leaders.  A recent study showed the market roughly equally divided between PROFINET, Ethernet/IP and “other” (see “Industrial Ethernet Market Shares“).

Some of the points made in the article warrant expansion:

Multitasking

The concept of multitasking is an important one for Industrial Ethernet.  The main point here is that Ethernet inherently allows multiple protocols to run at the same time over the same wire… and through the same switches and other infrastructure equipment.  An Industrial Ethernet infrastructure in your plant will happily support PROFINET, Modbus TCP, web servers/browsers, email, and Ethernet diagnostic protocols (more on those later) AT THE SAME TIME.  It will also support Ethernet/IP at the same time provided managed switches with IGMP Snooping are used to limit Ethernet/IP’s multicasts to only the appropriate devices.  (IGMP stands for Internet Group Management Protocol.)  In contrast to Ethernet/IP, PROFINET unicasts its data only between the communicating devices.  EtherCAT can not use the same infrastructure since it requires a closed network with EtherCAT as the only protocol.

Just because you can do a thing does not mean you should do a thing.  This applies when sharing the infrastructure!  You don’t necessarily want to allow everything to share; partitioning the network architecture is sensible to keep traffic limited to where it’s needed.  There is no substitute for doing actual engineering, as I always say.

Connection to legacy buses

Alluded to once in the article, this is an important benefit at which PROFINET excels.  To protect the investment of users of PROFIBUS, PROFINET uses an ingenious method to integrate the world’s most popular fieldbus: a proxy.  Similar to a gateway in that it connects disparate protocols, it differs because the proxy is specified in the PROFINET spec.  This technique worked so well for the largest installed fieldbus base, PROFIBUS, that the number two fieldbus, Interbus, decided to use PROFINET instead of developing their own Industrial Ethernet.  Actually, the technique worked so well, that the organization supporting PROFINET also specified proxies for DeviceNet and many other legacy buses, too.

Bandwidth

Why would you choose an Industrial Ethernet over a legacy fieldbus?  Bandwidth is certainly one benefit.  But multiple protocols on the same network, leveraging IT tools, accessing a web server in the device, and increased address space are also important.  (One little nit to pick in the article: PROFIBUS runs at speeds up to 12Mbaud, not 5 as the article says.)

Leveraging standard Ethernet tools

The article explains how LLDP and SNMP can be used with Industrial Ethernet in general and PROFINET in particular.

LLDP is Link Layer Discovery Protocol.  From Wikipedia: “The Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is a vendor-neutral Data Link Layer protocol used by network devices for advertising of their identity, capabilities, and interconnections on a IEEE 802 LAN network.”  With PROFINET it allows topology to be discovered and devices to be replaced without using configuration tools.  No laptop needed!

SNMP is Simple Network Management Protocol.  There’s more about SNMP and PROFINET in a previous blog post, “Needed – a Diagnostic Tool for Idiots.”

Remote maintenance

A major benefit to OEMs is the ability to access their machines in the field remotely – service calls are expensive.  One way that can be done is to VPN (Virtual Private Network) in to the web servers in Ethernet devices like switches and PLCs.

Wireless

When slip rings are too error prone, when festooned communication cables wear out too soon, when automated guided vehicles roam free, wireless is a better choice.  More on wireless in our “Industrial Wireless Networking” webinar.

For even more about PROFINET, come to one of our 10 free PROFINET training classes.

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