Communications

Do you want to bring new products quickly onto the market? And at the same time be flexible and in a position to change your product range at short notice and shorten your time-to market? Do you want to be able to manufacture efficiently at low costs? And at the same time optimize the capacity of your plant/machine and minimize possible downtimes?

Then all the machines in your plant should work together perfectly. Therefore, you rely upon open, integrated automation communication not just within the whole company but also for external communication. Avoid isolated automation and information technology solutions by assuring:

  • Continuous flow of information from the actuator/sensor level through to the corporate management level
  • Availability of information at any location
  • High-speed data exchange between the different plant sections
  • Easy, plant-wide configuration and efficient diagnostics
  • Integrated security functions that block unauthorized access
  • Fail-safe and standard communication via the same connection

Our range

Communication networks are of utmost importance for automation solutions. SIMATIC NET – Networking for Industry – stands for a diverse range of modular blocks – Designed for Industry – which contribute to efficiently solving your communications tasks:

  • In the different automation areas
  • Across the entire workflow
  • For the complete plant life cycle
  • For all industries

SIMATIC NET offers solutions which both maximize the benefits of Ethernet and simply integrate fieldbus systems. Noticeable examples are:

  • The development of the field level for the use of Industrial Ethernet
  • Complete integration from the field level to the corporate management level
  • Implementation of state-of-the-art solutions with mobile and wireless communication
  • The integration of IT technologies

Worldwide trends

Decentralization has been gaining worldwide importance for a number of years now. A distributed plant structure can reduce installation, maintenance and diagnostics costs. This involves intelligent devices working locally and being connected together across networks. Openness and flexibility are important in order to expand existing setups and to connect up different systems. For this reason, international committees define and standardize the standards for bus systems.

PROFINET/Industrial Ethernet

Industrial Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) – the industrial standard based on the international Ethernet standard

PROFINET

(IEC 61158/61784) – the leading Industrial Ethernet standard for automation

Industrial Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) – the industrial standard for wireless communication based on the international standard

PROFIBUS

PROFIBUS (IEC 61158/61784) – the international standard for the field level is the global market leader among fieldbus systems

AS-Interface

AS-Interface (IEC 62026-2/EN 50295) – the international standard, which, as an economical alternative to the cable harness, links sensors and actuators by means of a two-wire line.

IO-Link

IO-Link – the standard for intelligently connecting sensors and actuators from the field level to the MES level

Benefits

Industrial communication with Totally Integrated Automation

With Totally Integrated Automation, Siemens is the only manufacturer to offer an integrated range of products and systems for automation in all sectors – from incoming goods and the production process to outgoing goods, from the field level through the production control level to connection with the corporate management level.

The advantages of Totally Integrated Automation already pay off as regards design and engineering, but also assembly and commissioning and operation and maintenance.

Automation solutions can be implemented at little cost. New scope for development allows a quicker and more flexible response to new market requirements. Systems can be easily expanded or converted without having to interrupt ongoing operations.

Due to the increased use of Industrial Ethernet in automation, two topics within Totally Integrated Automation are becoming more and more important – PROFINET and SCALANCE.

PROFINET …

for increasing the productivity of your plant

You need a seamless information flow for your strategic decisions within your company – from the first manufacturing step through operation up to the corporate management level. In order to achieve this, you rely on efficiency and transparency already during engineering.

PROFINET, the open and innovative Industrial Ethernet standard fulfils all the demands of industrial automation and ensures integrated, company-wide communication.

PROFINET also supports the direct connection of distributed field devices to Industrial Ethernet and the implementation of isochronous motion control applications. PROFINET also allows distributed automation with the support of component technology, as well as vertical integration and the implementation of safety-oriented applications. PROFINET also supports controller-controller communication.

Securely and flexibly networked across all levels with SCALANCE network components

SCALANCE X Industrial Ethernet Switches, SCALANCE S Industrial Security Modules and Industrial Wireless LAN (IWLAN) access points, client modules (SCALANCE W) and SCALANCE M industrial routers that ideally meet the demands of industrial applications are available for networking the stations on the PROFINET/Industrial Ethernet.

The use of wireless communication to automation devices and industrial terminal devices helps to achieve greater flexibility. As a result you can simplify maintenance work and reduce service costs and downtimes. With Safety, even fail-safe communication is possible by means of wireless networking with SCALANCE products. This increases a company’s competitiveness considerably.

Challenging applications with real-time requirements can be implemented in the radio field.

The use of wireless features for moving machines saves cable and servicing costs; driverless transport systems can receive data via the wireless system without requiring cables and remain flexible in the choice of route.

An overall solution comprises:

  • Bus system with
    • Passive network components, e.g. cables
    • Active network components, e.g. switches
  • Interfaces for connecting automation devices to the bus systems
    • Integrated interfaces
    • Own communications processors
  • Network transitions, e.g. IE/PB Link PN IO
  • Software for configuring the networks
  • Tools for servicing and diagnostics, e.g. SINEMA

SIMATIC NET offers all the components necessary for an integrated overall solution and supports the following communication systems:

Industrial Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) – the international standard for area networking is the number one network in the LAN environment.

Industrial Ethernet enables powerful communication networks to be constructed over wide areas.

PROFINET (IEC 61158/61784) – the international standard is based on Industrial Ethernet and allows real-time communication all the way to the field level, but also integrates the enterprise level. With the full utilization of existing IT standards, PROFINET allows isochronous motion control applications, efficient cross-manufacturer engineering and high availability of machines and systems on the Industrial Ethernet. PROFINET supports distributed automation (and controller-controller communication) and it allows fail-safe applications.

PROFIBUS (IEC 61158/61784) – the international standard for the field level is the global market leader among fieldbus systems. It allows communication both in manufacturing applications and in process-oriented applications.

AS-Interface (EN 50295/IEC 62026) – the international standard which, as an alternative to the cable harness, links especially cost-effective sensors and actuators by means of a two-wire line.

IO-Link – the standard for intelligently connecting sensors and actuators from the field level to the MES level.

Network transitions are implemented via controllers or links. Configuration and diagnostics can be performed from any point in the plant.

 
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