ODVA announces new editions of CIP network specifications and testing of Ethernet/IP products

At the SPS/IPC/Drives show in Nuremberg, Germany, ODVA announced that it has published new editions of the specifications for the family of CIP Networks, enhancing the EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, ControlNet and CIP Safety technologies. The organization also announced that it will offer testing services for measuring performance attributes of EtherNet/IP products.

By Control Engineering Staff

At the SPS/IPC/Drives show in Nuremberg, Germany, ODVA announced that it has published new editions of the specifications for the family of CIP Networks, enhancing the EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, ControlNet and CIP Safety technologies. The organization also announced that it will offer testing services for measuring performance attributes of EtherNet/IP products.

The new editions to the specifications include the following:

• Support for CIP Safety is defined for products implementing the SERCOS III protocol, integrating SERCOS III devices into the CIP Safety media-independent architecture.

• A capability for a device level ring is now included for products implementing EtherNet/IP. This is said to enable fast recovery of EtherNet/IP networks, and will tolerate faults in network infrastructure and network interfaces on end devices.

• Quality of service mechanisms in IEEE 802.1D/Q, along with differentiated services as defined in the TCP/IP suite, have been added for CIP nodes implementing EtherNet/IP. This functionality is said to be especially important for time-sensitive applications.

ODVA’s announced addition of testing services for the family of CIP networks is said to represent the next step in ODVA’s activities to aid industry in the deployment of EtherNet/IP for real-time control applications on networks utilizing standard, unmodified Ethernet and Internet standards.

EtherNet/IP products which have received ODVA declarations of conformity as EtherNet/IP-compliant products are eligible for the testing service. They can also have their declaration of conformity augmented to include the performance measurements taken by ODVA. The testing service will be offered at ODVA’s Global Technology and Training Center in Ann Arbor, MI.

www.odva.org