A NOT-TO-BE-MISSED EVENT
I have just returned from the SPS/IPC/Drives Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, and I can tell you that this Fair is now a must-attend event in the automation calendar. The organizers say that 56,000 trade visitors attended and I think the packed halls, especially on the middle day (Wednesday), support that. In some ways it was like the old days of Hannover Fair, only with the focus totally on automation.
Automation fairs in North America are now non-existent, and one wonders why this event works so well in Europe. Well, the German approach to technology, innovation, manufacturing and export are dominant reasons. The focus of the show is another. And, market coverage is being extended, as this quote from Michael Ziesemer, COO, Endress+Hauser Consult AG illustrates: "... process automation has established itself as a part of the complete world of automation here in Nuremberg. SPS/IPC/Drives was never a classic trade fair for process automation companies like us. But it is now!"
PI showed its full range of technologies including PROFIenergy, PROFIdrive, PROFIsafe and of course, PROFINET. An IO-Link wall of components and controllers demonstrated how that technology is gaining support.
Below you'll find some of the key announcements made by PI and others. These include news of even more chips to make the integration of PROFINET easy. I was personally delighted with one announcement at the PI press conference held on Day 2 - the awarding of the 500th PROFINET compliance Certificate to GE Intelligent Platforms (see below). This is primarily a PI North America success story in which I had a role to play, hence my picture with GE's Mr van Helten (I'm on the left)! This development is all part of the accelerating progress of PROFINET which, by the way, is expected to have passed 4 million nodes by year end.
Michael Bryant, Deputy Chairman, PI and
Executive Director, PI North America
GE AWARDED 500th PROFINET CERTIFICATE
At a major PI press Conference held during SPS/IPC/Drives and attended by over 30 trade magazine editors, it was announced that GE Intelligent Platforms has been awarded the 500th PROFINET Certificate of Compliance for its VersaMAX PROFINET IO scanner. PROFINET is also available on the company's high performance PACSystems controllers.
Marcel van Helten (left in picture), General Manager of GE Intelligent Platforms Germany and CCS Product Manager, accepted the certificate from PI Chairman Jörg Freitag (right). He said: "Due to excellent collaboration with PI we have increased our flexibility, configurability options and application availability and our commitment to open standards.” The PROFINET VersaMAX I/O node has a redundant power supply option. Among the other benefits are name-based configuration, built-in switches, and the MRP (media redundancy protocol) which permits maximum one millisecond recovery. “PACSystems is known for its outstanding high availability offering and the PROFINET extensions add significantly to that capability,” said Van Helten. GE INTELLIGENT PLATFORMS
OTHER NEWS FROM SPS/IPC/DRIVES
A new White Paper on PROFIenergy has been published, detailing the results of real-world energy measurements on automation systems. An analysis of energy consumption profiles and the types of pauses indicate that savings of 30% are achievable. DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER HERE.
The PROFINET node count is expected to pass 4 million by year end (see curve left). Jörg Freitag, Chairman of PI, believes that the 10 million mark will be exceeded by 2014. "Choosing PROFINET is a decision for the future," he said. "The large number of manufacturers and products guarantee long-term investment protection and we are seeing that reflected in sales figures." PROFIBUS continues to add nodes at an undiminished rate, with the total expected to exceed 40 million by year end.
At a PI meeting of Regional PI Association chairmen held during the Fair, several videos about PROFINET were introduced. One, called "I AM PROFINET" was produced by PI North America. We'll link to others in a future issue.
Finally, Carl Henning of PI North America has been BLOGGING ABOUT THE FAIR.
KEY CHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR PROFIBUS/PROFINET
The range of options for building PROFINET products has never been greater. Key chip announcements at SPS/IPC/Drives included:
Texas Instruments' new Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex A8 family (top image) offers single-chip PROFIBUS and PROFINET solutions for both slaves and controllers. The chip leverages TI's mobile phone and industrial communications IP to provide a software-based solution for PROFIBUS (today) and PROFINET IRT (coming soon). This is a joint development with Siemens. A development kit is available. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
Hilscher is collaborating with Renesas over a new generation of netX single chip solutions for Industrial Ethernet implementations including PROFINET. The netX 51, 52 devices support latest PROFINET specifications, including IRT and Dynamic Frame Packaging. Renesas and Hilscher are also working together on Hilscher's next generation high end chip family (netX 4XXX) which will support advanced, high performance PROFINET implementations. HILSCHER
Finally, Renesas itself announced the world-wide availability of the TPS-1 PROFINET IO single chip solution (lower image) and starter kit based on a licensing agreement with KW-Software, which is a Phoenix Contact company. Renesas will supply the TPS-1 device and provide first level support, while KW-Software will provide second level and system support. The TPS-1 device (lower left image) was jointly developed by Siemens and Phoenix Contact. RENESAS
Other PROFINET chip solutions include one from Innovasic - who were emphasizing their specialist switching technique for PROFINET traffic at the Fair - and the Siemens ERTEC chip family. Freescale Semiconductor has an FPGA solution.
NEW PRODUCTS
Comms board for PA field instruments: Microcyber has a PROFIBUS PA communications board (top left) that can be tailored to specific requirements. The board allows a traditional field instrument to be quickly upgraded to PROFIBUS PA. Microcyber provides technical support for Certification testing too. MICROCYBER
PROFINET/PROFIBUS controller: The SPEED7 CPU 317PN from VIPA is a combined MPI/PROFIBUS DP master/slave interface with a complete PROFINET I/O controller. An integrated MPI/DP interface supports up to 32 connections to PU/OP. It's programmable using STEP7. There are also Ethernet and TCP/IP based communication links and additional external memory can be added. VIPA
FAST TRACK switches: FTS 3100s-A (lower left) combines Fast Track Switching functionality with simple operation using a free software tool which allows the speed, duplex settings and mirroring to be defined per port. A preset PROFINET profile is included. The switch recognizes this and accelerates traffic in cut-through mode, allowing it to overtake non-automation protocols. HARTING
AROUND THE WORLD
27 Regional PI Associations represent PI around the world. These promote PROFINET, PROFIBUS and associated technologies globally and offer educational, training and expert help locally. Here's a summary of news from this global Community.
Spain (top left image): The opening session of the Spanish Association of PROFIBUS & PROFINET/IO Link took place in the Auditorium of the Escuela Universitaria Salesiana de Sarrià of Barcelona (EUSS) in October, attended by more than one hundred representatives of leading technology companies. Guests of Honor included Susan Tintoré, Director of Investments Catalonia Generalitat de Catalunya and Michael Bryant, Executive Director of PI North America and Deputy Chairman of PI (third from right). Tintoré emphasised that automation is an indispensable element for her country's growth. “The creation of this association is very interesting, since it is about competing companies collaborating to be better,” she said. SPAIN
Korea (middle two images): Deutschmann, Endress+ Hauser, Hilscher, PHOENIX CONTACT, PROCENTEC, profichip, SIEMENS and Systeme Helmholz supported the KPA Booth at ‘KORMARINE 2011’ during October (middle two pictures left). Members showed a multi-vendor PROFIBUS/PROFINET demo and had individual displays. The booth targeted the southern major industrial area comprising shipbuilding, marine, steel, automobile and chemicals industries. KORMARINE has over 1,200 booths and attracts over 40,000 visitors. KOREA
South East Asia: The PROFIBUS Association Southeast Asia was invited to give a speech on Market Trends and new technologies like PROFINET in manufacturing Industries to the Regional Industry Networking Conference held at the Singapore Polytechnic University. This annual conference addresses the issue of automation technology adoption and development of integration skills. 
SOUTH EAST ASIA
Japan: Japanese PROFIBUS Organization (JPO) attended the System Control Fair 2011 (SCF) in Tokyo from during November. SCF is the largest factory automation fair in Japan and takes place every two years. Visitors from China, Korea and Taiwan also attended this fair. JPO presented PROFIBUS and PROFINET demonstrations with the support of 32 members. JPO
Germany: Basel, Switzerland, and Frankenthal, Germany, are two 'Meet the Experts' venues in December where the latest trends of PROFIBUS in Process Automation can be discovered. The events provide an overview of the technology and allow 'hands-on' opportunities at workshops. Participation is free. www.profibus.com/mtebasel and www.profibus.com/mtefrankenthal
China (lower image): The China PROFIBUS & PROFINET Association organized a series of road shows in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in August and September, attracting an average of 130 attendees. It also attended the annual Industrial Automation Show in November with a multi-vendor PROFINET/PROFIBUS demo. The Chinese PROFIsafe System Description and PROFIBUS&PROFINET Proceedings were launched and the first “PROFIBUS & PROFINET Technology” conference was co-hosted with the China Instrumentation magazine. CHINA
