Profinet

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PROFINET has been described as the “all-encompassing Industrial Ethernet” because it supports virtually all automation functions in the manufacturing industries including discrete control, process automation, motion control, peer-to-peer integration, vertical integration with enterprise IT systems, functional safety, energy management, fast IO and much more.

Because PROFINET uses standard IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, it operates successfully over cabled networks and IEEE 802.11 wireless Ethernet. Wireless is a necessity when untethered devices like AGVs (Automatic Guided Vehicles) must be controlled. Installations using wireless in concert with PI's PROFIsafe profile shows how the combination of these two technologies can provide a powerful and effective solution in difficult applications such as cranes.

In motion control applications, PROFINET can control up to 150 axes in one millisecond, with no more than one microsecond of jitter. This makes it also suitable for demanding applications like printing presses.

PROFINET is the only Industrial Ethernet whose specification defines how Plant Asset Management (PAM) and other information needed by Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) is communicated.

PROFINET protects users’ investments in plant skills, equipment and networks by seamlessly integrating PROFIBUS installations, and other fieldbuses like Modbus and DeviceNet. This makes it easy and quick to migrate to Ethernet-based installations.

For more in detail, visit http://www.allthingsprofinet.com

While embracing industry standards like Ethernet, TCP/IP, XML, and OPC, PROFINET itself is an open standard supported by PI (PROFIBUS and PROFINET International). PI support means that engineers from top automation companies and end users are continually collaborating to enhance PROFINET's features and keep it in tune with the needs of industry.

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