How much infrastructure does a user in the automation industry need?
sercos international (SI): Peter, what exactly is a blended infrastructure?
PL: Blended infrastructure means that various sercos® III and EtherNet/IP devices use a common Ethernet infrastructure on a single cable. These can coexist within one network environment, so that sercos telegrams, CIP messages and TCP/IP telegrams run on one cable. The joint use of the network has no impact on the real-time behavior of the different protocols, thus the respective protocols remain fully functional. Only the bandwidth is shared between them. However, for most applications this does not result in any restrictions because sufficient bandwidth is available with 100 Mbit/s full-duplex Ethernet.
SI: What were the drivers for the development of a blended infrastructure?
PL: An increasing number of requests from industry led to this development. All the real time Ethernet standards available today have areas of strength where they are supported, and many products are available for users. A single bus may not be the perfect solution for all of a project’s needs, driving users to include multiple network busses in a design. For those systems, users want to reduce the variety of physical and structural cabling in machinery, thus reducing overall costs, increasing safety standards and streamlining processes. Together with the ODVA, we have been working on this since April last year, and this infrastructure is one of the first results of the machinery initiative, in which sercos international, ODVA and OPC Foundation collaborate.
SI: Why is a blended infrastructure of such importance to sercos?
PL: sercos is an automation bus, designed for applications that require high speed in combination with high precision. The blended infrastructure approach complements our portfolio effectively by including general-purpose devices available for EtherNet/IP from other manufacturers. There are a wide variety of actuators and sensors used in general automation and process industries, which have only occasional uses in application areas where sercos dominates. With the blended infrastructure those devices can be used in all application areas.
SI: What are the benefits for machine builders and users?
PL: The great variety of automation technology in today’s world requires a new conceptual approach to simplify integration of machinery in manufacturing. A common network infrastructure like ours enables machine builders and users to reduce the cost and complexity of machine integration. This results in easier and faster machine implementation and makes this process even safer. At the same time, machine builders and users retain the ability to utilize their preferred product suppliers and automation devices so that there is no need for any additional effort to research new suppliers and/ or consider different automation devices.
SI: Is there already a timeline for availability?
PL: The great advantage of a blended infrastructure is that sercos III and EtherNet/IP devices can coexist in one environment without any changes required to the devices. Only a few easy and well-defined installation rules need to be followed. A very interesting use case is to have a single controller that supports sercos III and EtherNet/IP concurrently (dual-stack master). Prototypes of such controllers from Bosch Rexroth and Schneider Electric – each connected to various sercos III and EtherNet/IP devices were shown as part of the first blended infrastructure demonstration systems during the SPS/IPC/Drives exhibition in November in Nuremberg. If you want to see more, visit our sercos YouTube channel and watch the video.
Because the prototypes are already there, we expect to see the first products in the coming months.
SI: Thank you for this interview!