Communication via sercos and EtherNet/IP is now possible in one cable

In the past, two pressing development areas have emerged for machine communication: an increase in safety during operation and a decrease in wiring complexity. Because diversification in automation technology has made machine integration and the establishment of a universal safety protocol a complex and costly task. There is now a solution for sercos that allows EtherNet/IP and sercos devices to be operated via one single Ethernet cable.

In order to imsercos and Ethernet/IP in one cableplement new machine concepts, more and more manufacturers use Industrial Ethernet solutions. But even if the technical advantages are obvious, they do not automatically render functioning systems based on traditional fieldbuses obsolete. The change is further complicated because there is a whole range of competing communications protocols, all of which want to use Ethernet technology in engineering. Users and developers have to weigh the pros and cons exactly. How many suppliers support a solution? To what degree have the standards been standardized? Does one solution cover all fields of application or is it optimized for one area? How strong is individual suppliers’ influence on future developments?

One cable is enough

For a while, Industrial Ethernet was considered a long way off, but a new trend has emerged: manufacturers and users have familiarized themselves with the new technology and work on the concrete implementation of innovative machine concepts that utilize the advantages of Industrial Ethernet. Many market leaders choose sercos III as the platform for their targeted entry into the Ethernet world. The approach to a common Ethernet infrastructure for sercos and EtherNet/IP presented to the public for the first time at SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2012 shows that communications protocols do not necessarily have to be transmitted via a different network infrastructure. This concept dramatically reduces the number of communications interfaces and thus the hardware expenditure. Universal networking increases cost effectiveness in engineering and system operation.