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2 Engineering
2.1 PROFINET
DX-NET-PROFINET-2
09/13 MN04012007Z-EN
www.eaton.com
13
2 Engineering
2.1 PROFINET
PROFINET is an open Industrial Ethernet standard (IEC 61158) designed for a
wide range of applications. It can be used to connect devices of different
manufacturers and implement communication between them.
PROFINET emerged from the combination of PROFIBUS and Industrial
Ethernet. This means that existing PROFIBUS systems can generally be
integrated into the new PROFINET system. Since PROFINET is based on
100-Mbit/s full-duplex Ethernet, it enables all cards to access the
corresponding network at any time.
Generally speaking, a PROFINET system will have various devices that can
be subdivided into controllers and devices (master and slave devices).
Within this context, controller devices are responsible for controlling the
communications on the bus. A controller can send a message without first
receiving an external request. Meanwhile, devices consist of peripheral
devices that can be subdivided into sensors and actuators, e.g., light barriers,
valves, and variable frequency drives. Devices respond to requests from
controllers by sending information or executing commands.
PROFINET systems allow for a variety of topologies. Many PROFINET
devices feature an integrated switch and two integrated ports so as to make
it possible to establish a linear or tree topology, eliminating the need for
external switches. The number of cards on a PROFINET system is virtually
unlimited.