Sustained growth for POWERLINK community

>The new EPSG members are companies from different industries who integrated POWERLINK and openSAFETY in various products. The TI Sitara ARM 335x Microprocessor from Texas Instruments, for instance, can operate in POWERLINK networks without external circuitry. A compact Slave node connection for the technologically leading real-time Ethernet protocol is a new addition by Softing.

>In the area of industrial control, a POWERLINK Master by Indel and openSAFETY components combine into an OEM system solution for electric discharge machines, while Comau and Sepro upgrade robot control systems to this innovative communication technology. Due to POWERLINKs synchronisation properties, more drive system manufacturers have joined the EPSG community as well. Among them are Danfoss, Getriebebau Nord and Infranor. Another entry on this summer's list of new EPSG members is Sick, one of the leading sensor producers, which equipped its print mark sensors with the fast industrial field network interface.

>Stefan Schönegger, the managing director of the Ethernet POWERLINK Standardisation Group, reports that he is pleased with the sustained growth of the user organisation, commenting: "POWERLINK users profit from the availability of a rapidly growing number of devices and components compatible with the manufacturer-independent real-time Ethernet."

>The EPSG is an independent organisation founded in 2003 by leading companies from the fields of motion control and automation technology. Its aims are the standardization and further development of the POWERLINK protocol first introduced by B&R Automation in 2001. This high-performance real-time communication system is an advanced protocol based on the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard designed to ensure real-time data transfer in the microsecond range.