The use of the term 'redundancy' in the communications context was primarily introduced by the mathematician and electrical engineer, Claude E. Shannon. It is not the amount of information that is increased, but the probability that the information reaches the recipient. For the industrial network this finding is of fundamental significance.
If a message does not reach a recipient in an office environment, this error can be corrected by sending the message again later. In the industrial environment this same error can have serious consequences. If, for instance, a robot on a production line does not receive the necessary information for several minutes, or even for a few seconds, the entire production line may be affected. In certain circumstances it could mean the line stops.
Hirschmann has developed the Hiper-Ring (for Ethernet networks) based on the concept of the Spanning Tree Protocol. The Hiper-Ring significantly increases the availability of the network and facility, while with Spanning Tree, 30 seconds typically elapse before the failure of a link is compensated, with Hiper-Ring this takes less than half a second. The structure is considerably simplified, as only one additional cable is necessary for Hiper-Ring. Also of interest is the possibility of expansion. A recovery time of a maximum of 500 ms is guaranteed for topologies with up to 50 switches that support the Hiper-Ring concept. The maximum possible distance between two devices is 70 km. Optical ports are available for covering larger distances, which means that the rapid switchover time of 500 ms is made possible for networks covering considerably more than 3000 km.
EtherCAT interoperability removes industrial networking barriers
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Selecting the right communication technology is one of the most important decisions engineers make, and interoperability helps with that decision. Key development tools and standards ensure interoperability among many EtherCAT devices and manufacturers.
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Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
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Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
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Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
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Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Data conversion just got easier. Turck Banner converters are compact, simple add-ons that seamlessly fit into your factory applications. You can take various types of signals such as discrete, analogue and many others, and convert them to protocols like IO-link, PICK-IQ, PWM/PFM, and Modbus.
Read more...Case History 190: Measurement problem ruins level control. Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The widely held belief in many plants that tuning will solve all base layer control problems is completely fallacious. Bad tuning is generally not the main reason for loops to perform badly. It is important when performing optimisation that all elements in a loop are considered, in addition to the control strategy, before even thinking of tuning.
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