How new IO-Link masters can balance the benefits of cloud connectivity and local control in industry 4.0 factories
optimized overall factory operation. Cloud connectivity can offload administrative tasks from PLCs, and Cloud computing services can be quickly and economically scaled. Traditional IO-Link IO-Link is a point-to-point protocol, not a field bus. In a traditional Industry 4.0 network, IO-Link masters are the intermediaries between IO-Link devices on the factory floor and the field bus network. Each port on an IO-Link master connects to a single IO-Link device. The IO-Link master consolidates and translates communication from connected IO-Link devices and sends it on to the field bus network. IO-Link masters are available for installation inside the control cabinet. They can connect to the field bus network as a remote connection point with an IP20 environmental rating or be used on the factory floor with an IP65/67 rating (Figure 1). There’s no direct connection between traditional IO-Link masters and the Cloud; all communications to the Cloud are channeled through and controlled by devices on the field bus.
Figure 1: Traditional network application of IO-Link connected to a field bus. (Image source: Pepperl+Fuchs)
network architectures. It’s no longer necessary for communications to be channeled onto the field bus to get up to the Cloud. Time-sensitive data for real-time control can still be put onto the field bus. Less time-sensitive data can be aggregated and sent directly to the Cloud, removing that communication overhead burden from the field bus devices. Pepperl+Fuchs refers to this new structure as a “parallel” architecture since it can be used in parallel with standard industrial machine control
systems. The key is the company’s MultiLink™ technology that supports the parallel use of an industrial Ethernet field bus for connecting with PLCs using a protocol like EtherNet/ IP and message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT). This open-source messaging protocol uses OPC UA and can connect with devices on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), like industrial computers, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and the Cloud. To complete the package, IO-Link masters with MultiLink also include an integrated web server and IO-Link
Enhanced IO-Link and a parallel network
Adding OPC UA connectivity into an IO-Link master dramatically changes the possibilities for industrial
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