ODVA, ControlNet to jointly improve safety, distributed motion specs

ODVA and ControlNet International (CI) have formed two joint special interest groups (jSIGs) to help the organizations enhance their safety and distributed motion specifications. The first group, CIP Safety jSIG, will complete safety enhancements to the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), which is the upper-layer networking protocol shared by DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP. The second, Distributed Motion jSIG, will develop standards for commissioning and maintenance of distributed motion applications via synchronization services over CIP.

CIP Safety will allow standard and safety devices to operate on the same open network. It will also allow safety devices from multiple vendors to seamlessly route messages across the CIP-based standard networks, DeviceNet, ControlNet and EtherNet/IP, to other safety devices without extra programming. The jSIG is designing CIP Safety for use in safety applications up to Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 according to IEC 61508 standards.

The first implementation of CIP Safety will be over DeviceNet. It will be called “DeviceNet Safety,” and will provide fail-safe communication between nodes, such as safety I/O blocks, safety interlock switches, safety light curtains, and safety PLCs. The CIP Safety jSIG plans to publish the specifications as early as December 2004. ODVA expects that production quantities of DeviceNet Safety products will be available from member companies in 2005.

Distributed motion

The goal of the Distributed Motion jSIG is to specify objects for motion applications that require time synchronization, such as electronic line shafting and camming. The objects will be based on CIP Sync, a standard for precision time synchronization, which uses the IEEE-1588 standard that ODVA adopted in 2003. Because axes can be coordinated using time as the synchronizing event instead of the arrival of data, CIP Sync enables a new paradigm for motion control.

The Distributed Motion jSIG expects to finalize the CIP Sync specifications within the next 12 months. Initially, it will develop synchronization enhancements for EtherNet/IP, followed by other CIP networks. The jSIG also will map a CIP-to-SERCOS gateway function.

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