Comtrol Technology Bridges Legacy Manufacturing Systems for Leading Organizations Worldwide with Industrial Ethernet Gateway; DeviceMaster UP Connects PLCs with Plant Floor Devices Over EtherNet/IP(R), PROFINET(R), or Modbus/TCP.MINNEAPOLIS -- Comtrol Corporation, a global provider of device connectivity for data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. and industrial automation technologies, today announced the successful adoption of its DeviceMaster(R) UP Multi-Protocol industrial Ethernet Industrial Ethernet is the name given to the use of the Ethernet protocol in an industrial environment, for automation and production machine control. Until recently, a PLC (Programmable logic controller) would communicate with a slave machine using one of several possible gateway by Smart Papers Corporation, a leading commercial paper manufacturer. DeviceMaster UP, the most flexible device server on the market, enables communications between serial devices residing on the factory floor and PLCs supporting the EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, or Modbus/TCP industrial protocols. Organizations employing sophisticated automation systems for manufacturing, distribution and warehousing have historically been hampered by technical and feasibility issues connecting devices Connecting devices allow hardware devices to communicate with each other. The most popular example of connecting devices nowadays is wireless connections. Wireless devices transfer and receive information through infrared or radio waves. , such as bar code scanners A device specialized for reading bar codes and converting them into either the ASCII or EBCDIC digital character code. Pen scanners, also known as wand scanners, were the first type of bar code scanner developed in the 1970s. , RFID readers A transmitter/receiver that reads the contents of RFID tags in the vicinity. Also called an "RFID interrogator." The maximum distance between the reader's antenna and the tag vary, depending on application. and other devices, to PLCs within the enterprise due to incompatibility The inability of a Husband and Wife to cohabit in a marital relationship. incompatibility n. the state of a marriage in which the spouses no longer have the mutual desire to live together and/or stay married, and is thus a ground for divorce with industrial automation control systems. DeviceMaster UP is a network-attached device server that hosts an industrial Ethernet engine and translates device-to-PLC communications. The DeviceMaster allows users to attach RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) A data collection technology that uses electronic tags for storing data. The tag, also known as an "electronic label," "transponder" or "code plate," is made up of an RFID chip attached to an antenna. equipment, bar code scanners, displays and in-line scales to their industrial Ethernet network. The DeviceMaster UP family of products includes 1- and 4-port models for added flexibility. "In our manufacturing facility, we needed a way to add multiple serial ports connecting bar code scanners and printers to help improve product quality assurance and gain more detailed manufacturing lot information," said Bill Granzin, E & I Process Engineer at SMART Papers. "The DeviceMaster UP was the perfect solution to communicate with all of these added devices on our EtherNet/IP platform. It allowed us to minimize long-term costs, and still leverage our current infrastructure investment." DeviceMaster UP is ideal for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators See systems integrator. interested in offering an embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. , universal method to connect factory floor serial devices and PLCs. "With DeviceMaster UP, organizations don't need to be slaves to industrial automation protocols," said Bradford Beale, vice president of global sales for Comtrol. "DeviceMaster UP enables plant floor devices and PLCs to speak the same network language, providing a fast and simple way to access raw data without a large capital investment." DeviceMaster UP product highlights include: --Capability to connect up to four devices to an industrial Ethernet network such as EtherNet/IP, PROFINET or Modbus/TCP --PortVision(R), Comtrol's device management software, that gives network administrators a graphical and convenient way to remotely configure See configuration. (software) configure - A program by Richard Stallman to discover properties of the current platform and to set up make to compile and install gcc. Cygnus configure was a similar system developed by K. , monitor and manage devices --An integrated web server for browser-based configuration --PLC example programs illustrating communications between DeviceMaster UP and many widely-used PLCs --Support for RS-232/422/485 communication modes For more information about the DeviceMaster UP family of device servers, visit http://www.comtrol.com/products/devicemaster.asp or call 800-926-6876. About Comtrol Corporation Comtrol Corporation, based in Minneapolis, is a leading global provider of device connectivity, data communication and industrial automation technologies. The company's flagship brands - DeviceMaster and RocketPort(R) products - include in-server serial expansion cards, application and device servers, embedded technologies and application software. For additional information, visit the Comtrol Web site at www.comtrol.com or call 800-926-6876. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion