Manufacturing Automation rides the Networking Wave

Today, manufacturing automation means much more than just programming a machine or robot to perform a specific task on the factory floor. It has grown to include everything from acquiring and managing production floor data and remotely monitoring and managing machinery, to enabling devices and machines to communicate with each other with minimal human intervention.

Industrial automation software, networking equipment, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), motion controllers, cameras and vision systems, robots, SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems, bar code scanners, HMIs (Human-Machine Interfaces), and countless other manufacturing devices and equipment now can be connected both to each other and to a central automation network to enable real-time management and control of entire processes and facilities.

The most popular network to enable this type of communication is Ethernet. While tip to this point thought of as an office network, Ethernet continues to gain traction as the bus of choice for industrial automation, primarily due to the fact that it offers high-speed data rates. Ethernet is also an open-standard technology, which means that devices and equipment from many different vendors can be connected through the network.

Since there are so many devices and systems that support Ethernet, it provides a more adaptable network. According to automation market research firm ARC Advisory Group, the widespread availability and market familiarity of Ethernet continues to drive its use in industrial automation applications for a broad range of industries. Many of these industries are replacing old, proprietary network protocols with Ethernet, which lets the manufacturer acquire data from the plant floor and make it accessible via the Internet to anyone, anywhere, anytime via a Web browser.

"The technology from mainstream PCs is being incorporated into industrial settings, and Ethernet is a great example of that," said Todd Walter, product manager for Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs) at. National Instruments (NI) in Austin, TX. "Ethernet has common standards associated with it so you can take all the technology specs of office networking, and apply them to a manufacturing plant. It's a lot faster than other buses, and more data can be moved back and forth."

GE Cisco Industrial Networks, based in Charlottesville, VA, is a joint venture between General Electric and Cisco that offers Ethernet-based products and services to manufacturers. The company has seen the shift in industrial networks from proprietary protocols to Ethernet, which offers integration with office systems and the factory floor.

According to Mark Prowten, senior product marketing manager for device networking at Lantronix of Irvine, CA, there arc a number of reasons that manufacturers are migrating to Ethernet as their network of choice.

"When you have a device that traditionally communicated over a serial port and you change it to communicate over Ethernet, you gain a competitive advantage, and you can leverage the network infrastructure so that you have access to monitor, control, and maintain the device from anywhere over the network."

Lantronix provides both embedded (board-level) and external intelligent device networking systems, including Ethernet and wireless embedded device servers. The servers let manufacturers remotely manage industrial equipment over the Internet, since each piece of. equipment has its own unique IP address. External device servers can network-enable virtually any piece of equipment with a serial port in a matter of minutes.

But while that may sound simple, Prowten cautions that there's more involved than meets the eye. "Serial data that PLCs or robots use to communicate was never designed to be communicated over a network. Just adding network capability doesn't mean it's all going to work," he added. "We learned quickly about the intricacies of taking serial data and transporting it over networks and over the Internet."

Ethernet has overtaken serial interfaces for many reasons, but two of the biggest are efficiency and productivity. With serial interfaces, each time a change must be made to the equipment, a programmer must physically connect a laptop to it, make the change, and see if it works. If it's networked, explained Prowten, "They can do it in real time, and the programmer doesn't have to be on the factory floor. He can be in his office with connection directly to the equipment."

Leading the "PAC"

A relatively new term in the manufacturing automation arena is PAC - Programmable Automation Controller. Created by Automation Research Corporation in 2003, the term was coined to describe a new generation of industrial controllers that combine the functionality and reliability of a PLC with the flexibility and software capabilities of a PC. PACs can integrate drive, motion, and process controls into a single platform, and can also integrate safety controls, batch controls, and security.