Texas Instruments and EtherCAT

I was able to pick up some interesting news among my many booth visits.
In an announcement that is significant for the extension of industrial
automation technology into the embedded space, Texas Instruments, the
Dallas-based semiconductor manufacturer, announced the first
semiconductor company agreement to license Ethernet for Control
Automation Technology (EtherCAT) for embedded applications. TI will
include the networking technology in its ARM-based embedded processors
beginning with Sitara ARM microprocessors planned for the beginning of
the fourth quarter of 2011 and in further processor platforms beginning
in 2012.

"The EtherCAT Protocol technology sets new standards for real-time
performance and flexibility which is critical for TI embedded ARM
devices geared toward the industrial market. As a leading Industrial
Communication protocol the growing popularity of EtherCAT in industrial
drive and I/O applications, is based on its robustness and simplicity
allowing master and slave controllers to communicate with each other
without a host computer in high-noise industrial environments," said
Matthias Poppel, Director for Embedded Processing at TI, EMEA. "The TI
approach to EtherCAT with the programmable real-time unit (PRU) on TI’s
ARM-based processors allows for flexible implementation that can more
easily adapt as industrial standards evolve over time. Real-time control
and –communication become available on a single chip."

“We are thrilled about this milestone development which will open
entirely new markets for EtherCAT. I am convinced that this will help
EtherCAT to establish a strong position in a wide range of embedded
applications and further accelerate its adoption in the automation
market,” said Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group Executive
Director.

Siemens reorganizes

The rumored reorganization of the top level of Siemens AG into four
major sectors has occurred. Parts of the industry sector have been moved
over to a new infrastructure and cities sector. Sigfried Russwurm,
chief executive officer of the Industry Sector, told a press conference
about the new industry sector organization. The group will include
industrial software, vertical expertise and service as the “central
levers.”
 

Russwurm said the sector intends to strengthen its vertical market and
service business and further expand its leading role in industrial
software. “Software for industrial processes, in-depth vertical
expertise and technology-based service are crucial to increasing our
customer’s productivity and are also important factors driving the
growth of our own business. We will continue to put all our efforts into
developing our industrial activities in these areas so we can expand
our market share,” Russwurm continued.

Profibus, Festo and more

I had a tour of the complete Festo booth first thing in the morning. An
interesting, if quiet, company. I knew it for pneumatics, but it has a
surprising array of pneumatic and electronic equipment. The soft robot
gripper was very interesting, as well as “the elephant”—an array of nine
pneumatic cylinders wrapped inside a plastic housing with the soft
gripper that looke eerily like an elephant trunk that move due to
varying pressure in the cylinders.

At the Profibus International booth, there was an update on the status
of the various networks including a display of all the Profienergy
products that have been released. I don’t have the link, yet, but we
shot a video of Carl Henning explaining it. Profinet keeps expanding its
influence, as well. Here's Carl (dark suit) explaining Profienergy to
Automation World Publisher Jim Chrzan.

Gerd Hoppe, chief technology officer of Beckhoff Automation, took us on a
tour of 25 years of PC-based control. The Ethernet-based network it
developed—EtherCAT—is growing in popularity. He showed demonstrations of
the speed of the network coupled with Beckhoff controllers.
 

Back with more tomorrow. Lots more appointments—not to mention two receptions at 6. Wonder how I’ll do that?