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ODVA Approves New Products, Revises Specifications

ControlDesign.com
01/08/2009

ODVA made two major announcements in November, declaring the conformity of 50 products and making available new editions of the specifications for the family of CIP networks, enhancing the EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, ControlNet and CIP Safety technologies in Germany.

Products That Conform

Fifty EtherNet/IP products and product families from European vendors passed ODVA conformance testing, conducted by the Center Verteilte Systeme (CVS@IAF), a working group within the Institute of Ergonomics, Manufacturing Systems and Automation at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. The announcement was made by ODVA in late November.

The goal of the ODVA conformance testing process is to help to ensure products implementing ODVA technologies and standards comply with specifications and interoperate in multi-vendor systems. Conformance tests are conducted by ODVA-authorized test-service providers (TSPs), which must be vendor-independent, neutral and technically competent in networks and testing practices. CVS@IAF has been an authorized ODVA TSP for EtherNet/IP since 2004.

EtherNet/IP extends commercial off-the-shelf Ethernet to the common industrial protocol (CIP), the same protocol and object model utilized in DeviceNet, CompoNet and ControlNet. CIP allows EtherNet/IP, CompoNet, ControlNet and DeviceNet product developers, system integrators and users to apply the same objects and profiles for plug-and-play interoperability among devices from multiple vendors and in multiple sub-nets.

The ODVA conformance test for EtherNet/IP products is a composite test comprised of three parts:

• An automated computer test for compliance with the EtherNet/IP specification, which includes the common industrial protocol (CIP) and the EtherNet/IP adaptation of CIP
• A visual inspection of the product for compliance with the physical layer of the EtherNet/IP specification
• An interoperability test that exercises the product using prescribed test scenarios designed to demonstrate the successful interoperability of the product in multi-vendor systems.

The product vendor may, at its option, observe the test at the TSP. Upon the product’s successful completion of the test, the TSP submits the test results to ODVA for review and final approval, when a declaration of conformity is posted at www.odva.org.

New Specifications

The new editions represent the second publication update of the specifications in 2008 and contain additions for users seeking to deploy open networks in manufacturing automation. They include 20 enhancements to the specifications, which include four especially noteworthy changes.

1. The requirements to support CIP Safety are now defined for products implementing the SERCOS III protocol, integrating SERCOS III devices into the CIP Safety media-independent architecture. The enhancements are applicable to devices that reside directly on a SERCOS network and modular SERCOS devices that contain safety modules.

2. A new optional capability for a device level ring is now included for products implementing EtherNet/IP. This capability enables very fast recovery of EtherNet/IP networks and will tolerate faults in network infrastructure and network interfaces on end devices. It supports low switch-over times of 10 msec or less, extensible to large-scale networks of 10,000 devices or more.

3. 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 especially important for time-sensitive applications, such as those implementing CIP Sync and CIP Motion, where timely packet delivery is essential for system stability and performance.

4. New options for physical media have been added to the DeviceNet specification and the EtherNet/IP specification, including an option for a 1 mm polymer fiberoptic cable for EtherNet/IP networks and an option for an M8, IP67 connector for DeviceNet devices.

The specifications are organized as a group of publications entitled The CIP Networks Library. Each specification is made up of one or more. ODVA expects that devices containing new enhancements found in the latest specifications will be available in 2009. Specifications are available on a subscription basis.