This white paper reports – oriented to the timeline of the technology development – which functions and capabilities of PROFINET are currently meeting the demands of process automation and which can be implemented and then used in products in the future based on specifications that are complete or in progress.
Industrial communication is one of the key technologies for modern automation. It serves the control and monitoring of machines and manufacturing and productions processes, the connection of insular solutions and the linking of neighbor areas such as logistics, quality assurance, and maintenance and to higher-level company systems. In the Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, and Big Data environment, industrial communication is of central importance. Easy-to-handle solutions with high performance capability for real-time, availability, flexible topologies, and integration – even over great distances – are needed that also make use of the many possibilities of the digital world.