by Gary Mintchell | Nov 5, 2018 | Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, Standards
OPC UA and TSN (Time Sensitive Network). A marriage I was beginning to think was never going to happen. I wrote a preliminary white paper following Hannover Messe 2017. Yes, more than a year ago. (Check it out by clicking the small ad on the sidebar.) This thing has been like a ball in a Rugby match—kicked, going different directions, downed and picked up. People wanting to move before thinking. Getting caught up in legal issues and “politics.” Postponed press conferences.
And, now…”The OPC Foundation launches an initiative to further enable OPC UA adoption throughout industrial automation by extending standardization and harmonization activities for OPC UA including TSN-enabled Ethernet networks.”
The goal of this initiative is to deliver an open, cohesive approach to implement OPC UA including TSN and associated application profiles. This will advance the OPC Foundation providing vendor independent end-to-end interoperability into field level devices for all relevant industry automation use-cases. The OPC Foundation vision of becoming the worldwide industrial interoperability standard is advanced by integrating field devices and the shop floor.
A new set of working groups will identify, manage and standardize the OPC UA relevant topics focused on industrial automation including,
• harmonization and standardization of application profiles e.g. IO, motion control, safety, system redundancy
• standardization of OPC UA information models for field level devices in offline e.g. device description and online e.g. diagnostics
• mapping of OPC UA application profiles related to real-time operations on ethernet networks including TSN
• definition of certification procedures
The working groups will closely align with the TSN Profile for Industrial Automation (TSN-IA-Profile) which will be standardized by the IEC/IEEE 60802 standardization group. This will help ensure that a single, converged TSN network approach is maintained so that OPC UA can share one common multi-vendor TSN network infrastructure together with other applications.
This initiative integrates well with existing joint working groups engaged in ongoing companion specification e.g. description of machines.
Stefan Hoppe, President of the OPC Foundation said “The benefit of membership in the OPC Foundation allows companies to actively engage and influence the direction of the OPC Foundation and includes early access to the specifications and technology. This initiative will grow OPC UA into new markets and I highly encourage all OPC Foundation members to contact the OPC Foundation to participate”.
Thomas Burke, Strategic Marketing Officer of the OPC Foundation, “We are very excited about the initiative to extend OPC UA including TSN down to the field level, and the number of companies that want to actively participate in this initiative bringing the technology into real world products. This set of working groups will pave the way for the broadest, easiest, and fastest market adoption of OPC UA over TSN.”
The OPC Foundation develops and maintains OPC UA as an open and secure communication platform comprised of an information model framework, communication models and underlying protocol bindings. As such, the OPC Foundation works non-exclusively with other organizations on various OPC UA related topics but continues to operate as a platform, technology, use case, and vendor agnostic standardization body.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 31, 2018 | Automation, Networking, Standards, Technology
Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) defines the future of networking. Most of the specifications have been agreed upon by the IEEE 802 committee, only a few remain to be completed. I have written a White Paper describing OPC UA over TSN for information communication. This corroborates the idea that information is where the new momentum lies within manufacturing and production technologies.
One topic of concern to many regards whether or not TSN will supplant current fieldbus technologies. Indeed, on the surface it appears that TSN can perform most, if not all, of those functions.
Therefore, it behooves the fieldbus groups to figure out how to work with this new technology in order to add value for users.
The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has taken the initiative and supplemented EtherCAT with Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) technologies, expanding the field of possible EtherCAT applications to include heterogeneous network environments. With the help of TSN, industrial controls can contact a number of different EtherCAT segments in real-time through Ethernet networks.
In doing so, no changes to the EtherCAT slave devices are required: the EtherCAT Device Protocol, including all high performance characteristics, is fully preserved. Also expanded by TSN is the EtherCAT Automation Protocol (EAP) for communication between controls, which will result in even more deterministic performance on this level.
The ETG has specified the technology expansion in the form of a profile, which highlights the fact that no changes to the TSN standards are needed. This approach also considerably simplifies the adaptation to the final versions of the TSN technologies, because specification in the IEEE is not yet fully complete.
The ETG has supported the development of TSN from the very beginning through active participation in the IEEE committee, and is coordinating the specifications through a liaison with the IEEE 802.1 Working Group. This ensures that the ETG will also be able to access the IEEE 802.1 specifications that have not yet been adopted. Therefore, the technology can be introduced almost at the same time as TSN.
EtherCAT uses the TSN streams with any data rates for real-time communication above EtherCAT device segments. In the segment itself nothing is changed – the unique performance of the EtherCAT protocol built upon processing on the fly, highly precise synchronization, flexible topology selection, excellent diagnostic capabilities and simplicity through fully automated addressing of devices are all fully preserved. Similarly, the thousands of different EtherCAT devices available worldwide do not need to be modified at all. The stream adaptation feature that connects the EtherCAT segment to the heterogeneous TSN network can be placed either in the last TSN switch or in the first EtherCAT slave device.
Dr. Guido Beckmann, Chairman of the ETG Technical Committee classifies the new specification as such: “The incorporation of TSN standards will significantly improve the real-time characteristics of generic Ethernet. With our technology expansion we make use of TSN in an ideal way, and exactly where TSN can offer significant advantages – in the factory networks. As one frame is sufficient for EtherCAT to communicate with a whole segment, and thus with the entire fieldbus network, EtherCAT is virtually predestined for integration with TSN networks. We achieve this without turning our technology inside out. EtherCAT together with TSN offers the ‘best of both worlds’. Therefore, this prepares EtherCAT for the future perfectly.”
by Gary Mintchell | Sep 7, 2017 | Automation, Networking, News, Process Control
Here is some news regarding control and networking. Bedrock Automation is a recent entrant into the control and automation space, while Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) holds great potential to be a disruptive force.
Control
I seldom write about automation company “wins”, but this one shows some direction for a new company. Bedrock Automation is a young automation company that has built a new control platform from the ground up for not only the latest in control but also for security.
My curiosity has focused on where it would find a market. I don’t see it displacing Rockwell Automation and Siemens any time soon, but the platform is robust and adaptable. This looks like a perfect application.
Pinnacle Midstream, a Houston-based supplier of storage and processing services for the oil and gas industry, has selected the Bedrock control system as the automation platform for its crude oil receipt and delivery points. The Bedrock system will coordinate flow of product from partners, through the Pinnacle processing facilities and onto refiners and shippers. Pinnacle chose Bedrock system for its scalability, ease of engineering, ruggedness, cost efficiencies and intrinsic cyber security.
“We are expanding to the meet the growing need for midstream services and need a secure way to centralize control of flow amongst our facilities. The Bedrock system provides an economical solution in a small, easy-to-implement system that can coordinate edge control today, while also scaling easily and economically to the full DCS functionality we expect to need in the future. We also liked the rugged Bedrock housing, which will resist the dust that gets into everything around here,” said Mike Hillerman, VP of Engineering and Operations for Pinnacle Midstream.
Networking
Avnu Alliance, the industry consortium driving open standards-based deterministic networking through certification, is co-hosting the 2017 Time Sensitive Networks and Applications (TSN/A) Conference with WEKA FACHMEDIEN on September 20-21 at the Mövenpick Hotel Stuttgart Airport in Germany.
The TSN/A Conference is a combination of the “TSNA Conference” and the “Industrial Ethernet TSN Kongress” and offers attendees insights into Time-Sensitive Networks and usage in applications for Automotive, Industrial, Professional Audio/Video and more. The conference spans two days of technical sessions, panel discussions, vendor demonstrations, and participant networking.
“We are excited to bring together experts and thought leaders from around the world to the TSN/A Conference in Germany this year” said Kevin Stanton, Avnu Alliance Chairman, who will also deliver a conference presentation on Time Synchronization on Wired and Wireless Infrastructure. “It’s been a pleasure to join forces with WEKA FACHMEDIEN as the speakers present both the technology of TSN and its implications across our industries.”
On Wednesday, September 20, the first day of the conference, programming will feature two keynotes from Avnu Alliance members. Wolfgang Schenk of Hirschmann Automation and Control will present on “Time-Sensitive Networking: Enabling Technology for the Automation Model of the Future,” analyzing the transformation of the automation pyramid towards an automation pillar and discussing why TSN is the enabling technology for this transformation. Avnu Alliance Member BMW representative Dr. Kirsten Matheus will give a keynote on the “Use of AVB and TSN in the Automotive Industry.” Specifically, the presentation will describe the results of two workshops that Avnu Alliance held to gauge the need in the automotive industry for different Audio Video Bridging (AVB)/TSN functions.
I am happy to see momentum building for the technology. Can’t wait to see applications.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 2, 2017 | Automation, Networking
The Time Sensitive Network (TSN) standard is in development by the 802 committee of the IEEE. This is the Ethernet committee as TSN is a set of standards (some have been adopted) extending Ethernet into the realm of determinism. One driving force behind development and implementation of the standard is the Avnu Alliance.
First, a quick look at the standard. Three relevant standards exist. IEEE 802.1AS (IEEE 1588)—Timing & Synchronization; IEEE 802.1Qbv—Forwarding and Queuing; IEEE 802.1Qcc—System Configuration. These deal with a synchronized clock, deterministic packet delivery, and system setup.
Now the news. Members of the Avnu Alliance, the industry consortium driving open, standards-based deterministic networking, actively endorsed Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) and advanced the TSN device roadmap at Hannover Messe from April 23 – 27, 2017 and Deterministic Ethernet Forum (DEF) from April 27 – 28, 2017. Members across the industrial and automotive markets participated in presentations and trainings, as well as product and testbed demonstrations at the events.
“The business value of TSN for industrial and automotive applications was a theme in the presentations and panel discussions at DEF this year. It is more clear than ever that Avnu Alliance is the place where leading manufacturers are working together to ensure we have a common, interoperable infrastructure for TSN and a future-proof network,” said Kevin Stanton, Avnu Board of Directors Chairman.
A key demonstration at both events was the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) sponsored TSN Testbed that Avnu Alliance and many of its members participate in. As the world’s first testbed for TSN, it was developed with two major goals – to show TSN’s readiness to accelerate the marketplace; and to show the business value of TSN in converged, deterministic IIoT networks. At Hannover Messe, the TSN Testbed was on display in both the IIC booth and the OPC Foundation booth for attendees to see demonstrations of a real-world TSN network with numerous Avnu member products and prototypes from companies including Analog Devices, Belden, Bosch, Cisco, Hilscher, National Instruments, Renesas, Schneider Electric, and TTTech.
The testbed highlighted the ability for the IIoT to incorporate high-performance and latency-sensitive applications. The work coming out of the TSN Testbed is already having a direct impact on suppliers and manufacturers who see the technology as a value add for their system structure.
Avnu members Cisco and Belden both made TSN announcements at Hannover Messe. Cisco announced that it has added TSN support to the IE4000 Switch family of products. Belden in turn presented the company’s TSN upgrade path for select products from its industrial switch portfolio, starting with the RSPE35 and RSPE37 switch family. Analog Devices also showed TSN at the PROFINET International and ODVA stands at Hannover Messe. These demonstrations showed TSN compatibility with existing Industrial Ethernet protocols as well as convergence of TSN with standard Ethernet traffic. Later the same week at the DEF hosted by TTTech, Avnu Alliance leadership delivered the welcome address and members led discussions around topics such as, “How the IIC Testbed Drives Vendor Interoperability” and “Deterministic Ethernet Will Help to Meet the Need for Speed for Future Automotive Applications.”
Standards are just nice ideas unless there is a conformance test and a test and certification agency. For example, such a system assures WiFi device compliance to that standard.
In 2017, Avnu Alliance will continue work towards Avnu certification of TSN devices and offer collective multi-industry experience and networking expertise to manufacturers looking to expedite advanced networking implementations, ultimately leading to a faster path to market for industrial manufacturers. “With IIoT, there is a strong reliance on open standards to enable secure, predictable, reliable, and uninterrupted flow of information from sensor to cloud. Avnu members influence and shape the evolving standards; thus enabling them to deliver the value of TSN for customers and instil confidence in the stability of the technology. With the rapid adoption of TSN as a foundational technology for automation, the community is increasingly counting on an interoperable set of network services and infrastructure. The conformance testing and certification provided through Avnu will be critical to provide the needed interoperable network for the IIoT,” said Todd Walter, Avnu Alliance Industrial Segment Chair.
Industry Support for TSN and Avnu Alliance:
“Open standards are key to enabling the data-centric applications of Industrie 4.0 and the IIoT.” said Dr. René Hummen, senior architect technology and innovation at Belden. “IEEE TSN is an important piece in this puzzle by providing for deterministic and reliable data transmissions, converged data networks, and continuous data access without gateways. Avnu certification of TSN will ensure interoperability of the various end-systems and network infrastructure devices that IIoT applications rely on.”
“Great interest in TSN became apparent at Hannover Fair in the IIC Consortium, OPC Foundation and TTTech booths. There was encouraging feedback we received around the broad possibilities TSN offers for the different industries. These possibilities were also on the agenda at the successful Deterministic Ethernet Forum in Vienna, with 250 participants from 23 countries, representing industrial and automotive companies, consortia as well as semiconductor companies,” said Markus Plankensteiner, VP sales industrial North America and global alliance manager at TTTech Computertechnik AG. “The tremendous progress of TSN in the last months was conveyed with presentations from industry experts. Also, concrete products utilizing the technology were announced, among them a variant of the Intel Cyclone V SoC, featuring TSN switching functionality by TTTech. It is crucial to use the momentum of the technology to start building great products that will increase the acceptance of TSN even further.”
“Hannover Messe is an enormous trade show and this year TSN seemed to be everywhere – much more than in previous years, “said Tom Weingartner, Marketing Director, Deterministic Ethernet and IIoT Communication Technology for Analog Devices. “We received positive feedback from the demonstrations of TSN we gave at the show. Interoperable networking protocols like TSN make convergence on the network seamless and help ensure that as the IIoT expands, there is a strong infrastructure supporting it.”
The Avnu Alliance is a community creating an interoperable ecosystem of low-latency, time-synchronized, highly reliable networked devices using open standards. Avnu creates comprehensive certification programs to ensure interoperability of networked devices. The foundational technology enables deterministic synchronized networking based on IEEE Audio Video Bridging (AVB) / Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) base standards. The Alliance, in conjunction with other complimentary standards bodies and alliances, develops complete solutions in professional AV, automotive, industrial control and consumer segments.
by Gary Mintchell | Apr 13, 2017 | Networking
Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) will be the most important addition to Ethernet and networking since WiFi. The standard has not yet been adopted, but it is close. So Belden is jumping into the fray early with a “TSN ready” product.
While I’m in Hannover in a couple of weeks, this is one of the things that I’ll be researching.
Belden is to release a software update for the modularly-managed Hirschmann switch types RSPE35 and RSPE37. The update, which will be available in the second half of this year, will enable Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) features. As a visible sign, the devices will have a “TSN ready” logo on the front panel. In addition, older switches of both RSPE types can also be upgraded for the new real-time technology. The “TSN ready” logo is not exclusive to the RSPE35 and RSPE37: other Hirschmann industrial Ethernet Switches with fitting capabilities will display the logo as well in the near future.
“For the first time, TSN allows a simultaneous transfer of time-critical and non-time-critical data with a guaranteed end-to-end latency via Ethernet in accordance with IEEE 802.1 and 802.3,” says Dr. Oliver Kleineberg, advanced development manager at Belden. He adds: “Because of the comprehensive functions and high bandwidths, the technology is suitable for nearly all automation applications. Moreover, since TSN is not a proprietary system like many other established real-time solutions, it can be used with devices from different manufacturers, which paves the way for the Industry 4.0 in modern heterogeneous industrial networks.”
The managed switches of the RSPE product family consist of a basic unit with eight twisted pair and four combo ports, which can be expanded through the various media modules. The RSPE35 and RSPE37 versions support the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) in accordance with IEEE 1588-2008 and feature a FPGA module (Field Programmable Gate Array), which means it’s possible to implement selective hardware-based redundancy mechanisms such as HSR (High-availability Seamless Redundancy), PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) and DLR (Device Level Ring) directly in the field. The new software update, which also enables TSN, can now be loaded into the FPGA as an alternative to previous redundancy mechanisms. “This provides users with an additional possibility for responding flexibly to the wide range of requirements and building high-performance industrial IT infrastructures,” according to Dr. Kleineberg.
For additional information about TSN, please refer this white paper “TSN – Time Sensitive Networking”.
