Process device profiles are now part of the EtherNet/IP specification. ODVA gathered for a press conference on the latest developments for EtherNet/IP at Hannover Messe in Germany and webcast live to online attendees. These new tools will help automation engineers optimize plant operations with a standard format for process variables and better communication with critical diagnostics.
“This is the second year where we’re back in person,” said Al Beydoun, president and executive director of ODVA. “We are always making enhancements to our specification to maintain that leadership position that our technologies have in the marketplace and industrial automation.”
EtherNet/IP is an industrial network protocol that adapts the common industrial protocol (CIP) to standard Ethernet. ODVA is a trade and standards development organization supporting automation companies. Its mission is to advance open, interoperable information and communication technologies in industrial automation.
The addition of process device profiles is an important step toward the standardization of process variables and diagnostics, Beydoun added. “The device profiles provide a standard format for process variables and diagnostics, and that’s across devices, and that in return will enhance the interoperability between vendors.” Beydoun said it will also provide easier integration into higher programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and distributed control systems (DCSs) and cloud-based systems.
Device profiles are available for Coriolis flow, electromagnetic flow, vortex flow, standard pressure and scaled pressure devices. “Additional devices will be added as we go,” Beydoun said.
Process end users can now take advantage of EtherNet/IP devices for better communication of critical diagnostics such as NAMUR NE 107 status signals, and improved alignment with the process automation device information model (PA-DIM).
“When we were developing these process device profiles, we took that into account, and we designed additional parameters and modified data types to align with the PA-DIM specification,” Beydoun added.
Process measurement and data
The EtherNet/IP process device profiles are made up of process measurement value objects for variables such as current pressure, level, flow, process totalized value objects that track cumulative data totals such as total flow and process device diagnostic objects that enable plant operators and maintenance personnel easier access to additional device and process status information.
“The process device profiles help convert sensor signals and actuator positions into valuable information. So that basically is turning this into a data-driven process,” Beydoun said. The data can enhance product quality and operation efficiency. “This would allow users to shift from time-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance,” he added, explaining there would be no more need for replacing components based on a calculated time period. “Now, you have the ability to collect data,” Beydoun said. “It will be able to identify premature device failures.”
The process device profiles can also help evaluate the reliability of the measuring signal, as well as identify failures. “Another benefit of exposing these measurement values and critical diagnostics, such as NAMUR NE107 status signals, is the profiles will allow you the ability to simulate the measurement values. This is an important feature for critical safety function, such as partial-stroke tests of valves, so it allows you to do that without interfering with the process data,” Beydoun said.
The process device profiles allow EtherNet/IP to use the Ethernet-APL physical layer, which unlocks the advantages of commercially based industrial control hardware, an object-oriented foundation, and standard internet protocol compatibility including transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), FTP (file transfer protocol), simple network management protocol (SNMP) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) in process plants. “We have dedicated a lot of time in previous briefings to the Ethernet APL physical layer project and the availability of that,” Beydoun said. For more on Ethernet-APL read this article.
Additionally, EtherNet/IP supports process automation through NE 107 diagnostics, highway addressable remote transducter (HART) integration, and IO-Link integration.
“ODVA is also continuing to extend the EtherNet/IP ecosystem with the development of the next generation of digitized device description files, as well as support for integration into process asset management tools,” Beydoun said.
Redundancy devices and CIP Security certificate handling
ODVA has also released the availability of Concurrent Connections for EtherNet/IP. “These are CIP connections that support fault tolerance when the system topology offers the redundancy devices,” Beydoun said. “The concurrent connections enable multiple CIP connection paths, so basically the data is sent multiple times on multiple paths through multiple devices to reach the end of the connection, and this, again, is independent of how the devices are physically interconnected.”
The originators, routers and targets can all have multiple devices participating, and the concurrent connection and any of the duplicated device pairs can fulfill the role and the connection. This reduces time to detect failures and eliminates the time that was spent switching between paired devices.
“The redundant pair are participating and in the control process all the time, so both devices are sending and receiving data all the time, so when a failure is detected in one of the devices from the redundant pair, that control process will continue uninterrupted,” Beydoun said.
The last update focused on CIP Security, relative to certificate handling. “CIP Security can now support multiple instances of the certificate management object to ensure a device doesn’t end up in a non-secure state, if the deployment of a new certificate isn’t successful,” Beydoun said. “A device can revert to the factory default state or fall into a closed state, as a vendor-specific behavior, when the active device certificate isn’t available.”
More robust cipher suites, advanced encryption standard with Galois Counter Mode (AES-GCM) and ChaCha20-Poly1305, an authenticated encryption with additional data (AEAD), are now recommended and will be required in the future for the EtherNet/IP Confidentiality Profile once TLS 1.3, the latest version of the security protocol, is supported.
ODVA will hold its 2023 Industry Conference & 22nd Annual Member Meeting near Barcelona, Spain, in October.
