System marries fieldbus robustness with Ethernet
A
Hayes Control Systems product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jun 2, 2003
Twincat RT Ethernet allows users of fieldbus-based control systems to take full advantage of the low cost and high performance offered by Ethernet.
With the introduction of Twincat RT Ethernet by Hayes Control Systems, users of fieldbus-based control systems can now take full advantage of the low cost and high performance offered by Ethernet, without having concerns over Ethernet's suitability for use in demanding real-time control applications.
At the heart of the new system, which is manufactured in Germany by Beckhoff, for which Hayes Control Systems is the sole UK distributor, is a special Ethernet network driver that appears to the PC just like any other network driver.
This driver provides for an internal prioritisation system and buffer, and is configured so that it always finds a free transmission slot for Ethernet frames containing real-time fieldbus data.
Frames which are not time-critical, such as those containing diagnostic information, are transmitted in the gaps between the real-time information.
Used in conjunction with inexpensive off-the-shelf Ethernet switches, this arrangement ensures that the transmission delays for the fieldbus data are short and unvarying.
Typical response times for a system using Twincat RT Ethernet, with a few tens of nodes, is less than 2ms, with a variation in delay, from cycle to cycle, of around 15us.
In practice, these times are so short, in comparison with the response time of the control system, that they can be neglected completely.
To complement its new Twincat RT Ethernet software and driver, which are fully compatible with standard Ethernet installations and products, Beckhoff has introduced the BK9000 bus coupler, which allows the direct connection of Ethernet networks to the huge Beckhoff bus terminal range of input and output devices.
Also available is the Ethernet-compatible AX2000-B900 drive controller.
With these two devices and Twincat RT Ethernet, almost all industrial control requirements can now be addressed effectively, economically and reliably with fieldbus systems based on standard, proven Ethernet technology.
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