PROFINET Manual

The ever shorter innovation cycles for new products require continuous change in automation technology. The use of fieldbus technology has been a major innovation in recent years. It has made it possible to migrate from centralized to decentralized automation systems. As the global market leader, PROFIBUS has been setting standards in this area for 25 years.

In today's automation technology, Ethernet and information technology (IT) with established Internet standards such as TCP/IP and XML are also increasingly determining events. The integration of information technology into automation opens up significantly improved communication options between automation systems, far-reaching configuration and diagnostic options and network-wide service functions.

Figure 1: PROFINET Environment

In this chapter, the environment of PROFINET is explained according to Figure 1. The requirements, the market and the standardization form the basis for PROFINET, these are held together by an organization.