The SERCOS III industrial Ethernet-based standard for motion control has added synchronization and communications technology for multiple master- control applications. Targeting distributed control systems, the new technology provides the ability to "hard synchronize" large, multi-axis systems. The system update rate is the same as SERCOS III, as low as 31.25 msec, and results in overall synchronization accuracy of less than one msec.
The release of the specification for the Controller-to-Controller (C2C) Synchronization and Communication Profile by the SERCOS Trade Organization provides unique technology and a profile for interconnecting multiple motion controllers.
According to Stephan Schultze, a developer for Bosch Rexroth who also worked on the first SERCOS specification, the uniqueness of the new technology is that it provides a "specification for Controller-to-Controller communications which also contains synchronization features."
Schultze says the specification means huge distributed control systems can be "hard-synchronized" together. Interpolated axes can also be spread over multiple controllers because the real-time performance of the system provides very tight synchronization.
According to Peter Lutz, managing director of SERCOS International, previous versions of SERCOS technology utilized a single master, multiple slave architecture. That translated into one centralized control system with up to 254 slave devices, usually servo drives, but also integrating decentralized I/O.
The new C2C application profile defines mechanisms to interconnect distributed control functions and to synchronize distributed motion controls in modular machines and systems using the SERCOS III interface. The specification takes into consideration important SERCOS III features such as hardware redundancy, hot-plugging and cross-communication.
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 The new SERCOS III Controller-to-Controller (C2C) architecture provides communications and synchronization methods for linking multiple system masters utilizing high-speed Ethernet communications. |
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