Key players in industrial communication support CC-Link IE technologies

Analog Devices (ADI), a leading global high-performance analog technology company, has a rich history of solving its customers’ toughest challenges and designing breakthrough industrial communication solutions – from the early days of 4 to 20mA and serial fieldbuses to today’s Ethernet-enabled protocols for the factory of the future.Through this evolution, CC-Link has played a vital role solving customers’ most complex automation challenges. The next generation CC-Link will advance automation even further by providing a strong foundation for Industry 4.0 applications and enabling the open flow of information from the sensor to the cloud.

ADI supports CC-Link with its robust roadmap of products and is actively investing in new developments for CC-Link supported Ethernet solutions. “We look forward to many years of success partnering with the CC-Link community to enable seamless and secure Ethernet connectivity” said Brendan O’Dowd, General Manager Industrial Automation, when asked about membership and collaboration within the CLPA.

The multi-protocol communication processors from the Sitara series of another leading US semi-conductor manufacturer Texas Instruments (TI) support the CC-Link IE Field Basic protocol of the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) and provide industry-compatible solutions. CC-Link IE Field networks bring the benefits of Gigabit data bandwidth and 100-Mbit compatibility to Industrial Ethernet at the field level, i.e. high speed and performance combined with a wide variety of instrument control and management data.

TI offers a CC-Link IE Field Basic master and slave system design package (reference design) for Sitara processors. The network is supported by a software development kit (SDK) for the Linux and RTOS processors AMIC110, AM335x, AM437x and AM57x. This enables CC-Link IE Field Basic-compliant implementation on various platforms which are also individually certifiable.

TI’s Industrial Development Kits (IDKs) and Industrial Communications Engines (ICEs) for CC-Link IE Field Basic are independent test, development and evaluation modules used by hardware and software developers for industrial control and communication applications.