device description (IODD) interpreter that supports the configuration of the field bus connection and attached IO-Link devices using a web browser (Figure 2).
Enhanced IO-Link and a parallel network
Adding OPC UA connectivity into an IO-Link master dramatically changes the possibilities for industrial 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”
Figure 2: New IO-Link network architecture using OPC UA for direct Cloud connectivity and a flatter network structure. (Image source: Pepperl+Fuchs)
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 device description (IODD) interpreter that supports the configuration
of the field bus connection and attached IO-Link devices using a web browser (Figure 2).
More networking choices In addition to enabling the new parallel network architecture described above, IO-Link masters
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