Safety protocol takes in EtherNet/IP

An ODVA product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 19, 2006

ODVA has published the CIP Safety protocol for EtherNet/IP in the latest edition of the CIP Safety Specification, Edition 1.1.

ODVA has published the CIP Safety protocol for EtherNet/IP in the latest edition of the CIP Safety Specification, Edition 1.1.

The CIP Safety protocol for EtherNet/IP meets the requirements of IEC61508 up to Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL3/Cat4) and establishes the technical foundation for the implementation of CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP, the world's most developed, proven and complete industrial Ethernet protocol.

CIP Safety is unique among protocols for safety networks.

Unlike most industrial safety network approaches, which require a different profile and protocol for every network type, the CIP Safety protocol was developed from the beginning to be network and media independent.

Because of this basic design philosophy, adding support for a new network type, such as EtherNet/IP, is straightforward.

Furthermore, the CIP Safety functionality resides in the end-node, allowing safety and standard control devices to reside on the same network.

"The market acceptance of CIP Safety on DeviceNet and its rapid adoption has far exceeded our expectations", remarks Steve Freedman, Director of the Safety Systems Division for Sick.

"Because CIP Safety is media independent, industry is also starting to adopt EtherNet/IP as a backbone for standard communication between safety systems using CIP Safety on DeviceNet".

"With the addition of EtherNet/IP extensions to the CIP Safety Specification, ODVA has now completed the remaining specifications needed to deploy safety devices directly onto either EtherNet/IP or DeviceNet as best meets users' application needs".

CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP will complement CIP Safety on DeviceNet, which was released in 2005.

CIP Safety provides a single protocol solution for functional safety applications and eliminates the needs for purpose-built safety networks.

CIP Safety provides users with unparalleled flexibility in network architecture including, among others: controller-to-controller communication over a single CIP network, controller-to-controller communication over multiple CIP networks, peer-to-peer communication over a single CIP network, and peer-to-peer communication over multiple CIP networks.

By using the same safety communication protocol on DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP, CIP Safety provides a consistent user experience during system installation, verification, operation and maintenance.

The CIP Safety protocol itself ensures the integrity of safety operations over CIP Networks and allows a safety connection to originate on an EtherNet/IP network and end on a DeviceNet network or vice versa.

Thus, CIP Safety provides users with tremendous flexibility in safety network design and dramatically reduces overall network complexity.

The development and management of the CIP Safety Specification is conducted by ODVA's CIP Safety Joint Special Interest Group and consists of participants from the world's leading control, device and safety suppliers including Festo, HIMA, Numatics, Omron, Rockwell Automation, Sick, SMC and Weidmuller.

"CIP Safety has been designed to allow users to solve the full range of safety applications such as perimeter guarding and cell-to-cell interlocking", states Dave Vasko, Chairman of the Group.

Furthermore, the CIP Safety protocol and both the DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP networks have been certified by TUV Rheinland to comply with IEC61508 part 1-7:2000, EN954-1:1996 and GS-ET-26/05.02 "Principal rules for test and certification of bus systems for the transmission of safety relevant messages".

ODVA expects that CIP Safety devices on EtherNet/IP will start to be available sometime in 2007.