In August 2015, Rafael Koenig, Chairman of Profibus Australia, presented at the Future Networks Forum, part of the Westwick Farrow ACI Connect event, to an audience of automation, control, and instrumentation professionals, about Profinet’s role in Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things.
The past five years have been exciting for process automation. It was clear to everyone involved that a turning point was at hand. And, thus, with the development of FDI (Field Device Integration) technology, an important signal was sent. For one thing, because the technology will make future device integration in process automation significantly easier. For another thing, because the collaboration with users, fieldbus organizations, and manufacturers was exceptional. All participants pulled together and wanted to see the project succeed.
With the completion of its goals, the FDI organization is dissolving. But the technology is just beginning its solving of user and vendor requirements. In process automation FDI presents a harmonization of FDT/DTM and EDDL. These two disparate approaches now resolve to a single solution.
FDI was developed by major industrial automation foundations, including PI, and major automation vendors with input from user organizations. FDI is designed to cover the entire lifecycle of process devices including configuration, commissioning, diagnosis, and calibration. (more…)
Though there’s no way to tell exactly what the network of the future will look like under the effects of the Industrial Internet of Things, there are three universal network aspects worth focusing on to prepare yourself—and your network—for the future. (more…)
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. (more…)
The Who’s Who of the process industry came together at ACHEMA 2015. Numerous innovations could be seen and all participants engaged in lively exchange with scores of customers and interested parties. PROFIBUS and PROFINET International aroused the interest of many visitors with publication of its White Paper “PROFINET – The solution platform for process automation.”
A look at how the industrial application of the Internet of Things concept makes for a very different use of data than the consumer Internet of Things and how Profinet sources the industrial data needed via an open standard.
It should have been called the Industrial Internet of Data. It’s the data that gets saved and analyzed to provide the benefit of improving industrial processes. That data originates in devices like buttons and switches, in complex sensors and actuators, in vision systems, and drives. The data gets manipulated, logic is applied, and control algorithms completed in controllers like PLCs, DCSs, and PACs. From there it emerges in organized fashion to be displayed, stored, and analyzed.
Through the first half of 2015 there has been a flurry of activity in the magazine press relating specifically to PROFINET, PROFIBUS and of course IIoT. Here’s a recap of those articles to stay up to date on the latest coverage. (more…)
