POWERLINK Slave interfaces offer a similar performance to Industrial Ethernet Systems but often at a lower cost. The prices are lower because the technology uses the single telegram procedure and is patent-free. Proprietary real-time Ethernet buses use the sum frame procedure, which means that only one large data package is sent to all network devices per cycle.
POWERLINK uses single telegrams for communicating with individual nodes. The communication system does not require proprietary ASICs for hard real-time communication; it is a pure software solution that is also available as an open-source version. Developers can implement the POWERLINK stack by themselves without the need for patented interface options.
B&R Industrial Automation Corp.
www.br-automation.com
::Design World::
Filed Under: Factory automation, CONNECTIVITY • fieldbuses • networks • gateways