Membership growth at the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has reached another major milestone: With the addition of Airbus Operations GmbH, the ETG recently passed the 3000 member mark. An event commemorating this occasion took place at the ETG booth during the recently-completed SPS IPC Drives 2014 trade show in Nuremberg, Germany.
Membership of the EtherCAT Technology Group has grown unabated worldwide, as evidenced by the recent entry of the organization’s 3000th member. Martin Rostan, Executive Director of the EtherCAT Technology Group, was pleased to welcome the prominent new member to the ETG: “We are pleased that Airbus, a globally-known and well-respected company, has joined the ranks of our organization and, of course, publicly backs the value of EtherCAT technology. In 2003, the ETG started with 33 members. Now, group numbers have grown even higher than 3000, from 58 countries worldwide – strong evidence for the widespread and still growing acceptance of the technology all over the world.”
Representing Airbus – operating in Germany under the name, Airbus Operations GmbH – Dr.-Ing. Volker H.-W. Meyer came to the SPS IPC Drives 2014 show in Nuremberg, Germany. Meyer, who is responsible for the control and measurement technology used in high-lift system tests at Airbus, was presented with an award and an official ETG membership certificate at the EtherCAT Technology Group trade show booth.
Meyer explained why Airbus joined the ETG as follows: “Since we have used EtherCAT successfully in measuring systems for data acquisition for several years, we’re looking for a possible wider use of the technology in real-time capable test systems, in which not only the performance itself, but also guaranteed response times in narrow tolerances are crucial. We see further benefits in the decentralized architecture, expandability, and not least in the openness of the standard so that future test systems can benefit from developments in other industries. That’s why we joined in the EtherCAT Technology Group. Being a member, we profit from the comprehensive support services of the ETG, including training and access to free software. This enables us to assist our development partners in the most capable way.”
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