Technology

Bringing together Ethernet, CANopen, and a newly developed stack for real-time data communication, POWERLINK integrates features and abilities from three different worlds. In contrast to a number of competing products, POWERLINK keeps very close to the Ethernet standard, retaining original Ethernet features, and thus reducing the cost of industrial deployment. The protocol’s second major advantage is the integration of CANopen technology, a robust and proven protocol widely used throughout the automation world, which greatly simplifies setting up networks because of its extensive standardization. The third pillar of POWERLINK’s success rests on technologies developed by the EPSG, and primarily on the POWERLINK stack, which adds real-time capabilities to the protocol.

Leading PLC and component manufacturers team up in the EPSG organization to collectively work on technological projects, which results in considerable added value for the community at large. Landmark achievements of this kind are e.g. the safety-oriented real-time protocol POWERLINK Safety, or high-availability POWERLINK networks with managing node redundancy. This section on "Technology" will detail POWERLINK’s "greatest assets", i.e. the features and functions that represent the core of POWERLINK technology. They will be presented by order of origin, i.e. POWERLINK’s Ethernet- and CANopen-based characteristics will be discussed first, and EPSG feature developments will follow.