Unique training experience for British automation people

The PROFIBUS Group has announced that Manfred Popp, author of three influential books on industrial communications - The Rapid Way to PROFIBUS, The Rapid Way to PROFINET, and Industrial Communication with PROFINET - will be presenting a PROFINET Product Development course in Manchester (GB) on 5th May.

Ethernet basics PROFINET basics
• Device model and addressing
• From engineering to start-up
PROFINET: unsynchronised communication
• PROFINET IO, RT classes, and UDP/IP communication
• Data exchange, diagnosis and alarms
PROFINET: synchronised communication
• Isochronous real-time
Static device description
• Parameterisation via GSD
Dynamic device description
Tool Calling Interface (TCI)
PROFINET features and service
• Redundancy, topology display
• PROFIsafe, iPar-Server, device replacement without engineering stations
Development kits

The training course is for both PROFINET product developers and for a wide range of audience who want to know PROFINET and industrial Ethernet. The course content is carefully selected to fit into a one-day schedule and contains the most important aspects of PROFINET (see box on right!). The course has been delivered in Germany for a number of years and will be a unique experience for the British audience.

PROFINET uses Industrial Ethernet as communication medium and has many advantages if you want to bring Ethernet and Internet to the factory floor. However, the office world where Ethernet has been so successful is very different from the industrial world where electrical shocks, humidity, high temperature, moving parts, and EMR are constantly present. Not only the cables, connectors, and switches have to be industrialised (e.g. using rugged and metal housing) but also the multiple protocols worked so well for the Internet have to be selected and extended to meet the requirements for determinism and speed. With both TCP/IP and real-time protocols, PROFINET will be the future backbone network linking lower level fieldbus instruments and upper level enterprise functions making information technology an increasingly integral part of the automation industry.

Manfred will show developers how PROFINET works and how PROFINET solves real-time communication utilising and enhancing the existing Ethernet protocols.