Communication protocols are important in supporting real- time data transfers and control in Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks. Sensors, actuators, motor drives, and controllers all have specific communication needs. There’s no “one size fits all” communication protocol. While no single protocol suits every application’s requirement, diverse devices often need to be linked. Sensors must be linked to controllers, and controllers must connect with various system
elements that use different protocols like IO-Link, Modbus, and multiple forms of Ethernet. In many instances, the entire machine needs to connect with the Cloud. That results in complex communication architectures with a myriad of protocols. To address that challenge, machine designers can turn to multi-protocol input/output (I/O) masters, hubs, and converters. This article begins with a review of common Industry 4.0 communication protocols and where they fit into the networking hierarchy. It
then presents a series of I/O masters, hubs, and converters from Banner Engineering, reviews their operation, and discusses how they can facilitate complex Industry 4.0 and IIoT communication architectures. What is the OSI seven-layer model? Network communication protocols are often described in the context of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) seven- layer model. The model starts with three media layers that deal
we get technical
5
Powered by FlippingBook