Having seen various games targeted at the industrial space come and go over the past few years, I have to admit that this is the first one I’ve come across that focuses on industrial Ethernet. The app (available only for iPad), known as Sercos Tube Racer, depicts three types of data packages—sercos III, CIP (Common Industrial Protocol) and TCP/IP—coming from different cables to move down a single cable representing the Unified Communication Channel. Playing the game involves tapping the corresponding symbol that matches the communication package at just the right moment as it moves into the Unified Communication Channel (UCC).
The point of the game, according to sercos international, is to depict how sercos telegrams, CIP messages and TCP/IP messages can coexist within a network without requiring additional cables. To keep the cyclical and clocked communication of sercos III intact, the CIP messages and TCP/IP telegrams are transmitted in the UCC — an integral part of the sercos transmission method.
sercos international says that having this common network infrastructure enables machine builders and users to reduce the cost and complexity of machine integration while retaining the ability to use their preferred product suppliers and automation devices.
If you're unfamiliar with sercos (SErial Realtime COmmunication System), it is a digital interface for communication between controls, drives and decentralized peripheral devices. sercos III is the system’s open, manufacturer-independent Ethernet-based architecture which can be used as a universal bus for automation applications.
