The topic of AS-Interface is not entirely new to Indu-Sol: the network specialist from Schmölln has been selling the ASi Expert from Industrial Communication Solutions (ICS) for around ten years. However, after the previous owner of ICS recently announced the discontinuation of its market activities for reasons of age, the Thuringians were presented with the opportunity to acquire both the sales and development rights to AS-i Expert.

According to Karl-Heinz Richter, this acquisition, which incidentally represents an absolute novelty in Indu-Sol's company history, is intended to give the topic of AS-Interface far greater weight in future than in the past - in addition to the previous main business relating to Profibus and Profinet diagnostics. The mobile device from ICS, which is offered by Indu-Sol under the name 'ASi View', is ideal for diagnostics in the ASi3 technology currently in use. It can be 'snapped on' to the ASi line under running production conditions and provides the system operator with the current bus status with just one click - whether as a preventative measure or in the course of troubleshooting. Physical parameters and logical telegram traffic are included in the evaluation. All values determined are displayed as a bar chart for each subscriber. The analysis results can be evaluated at a glance using color coding, similar to a traffic light function. There is also the option of a depth analysis with oscilloscope function.

When asked why AS-Interface is gaining importance for Indu-Sol right now, Karl-Heinz Richter replies: "ASi is in itself a robust and 'simple' system in which not much happens - at least that was the case in the past. However, many ASi 3 installations are now getting on in years. In addition, with the upcoming generation change to ASi-5, the transfer rates and data traffic will increase enormously and processes will run on the bus that are far more complex in terms of communication technology. In short, we assume that the need for diagnostics with AS-Interface will increase significantly in the future."

However, it will no longer be possible to meet the associated requirements with the existing 'ASi View'. Accordingly, the Thuringian company is already planning to develop a completely new diagnostic device for ASi-5. This should be launched on the market by the end of 2019 at the latest - i.e. when the first ASi-5 installations are expected to go into operation.

Indu-Sol's upcoming work on ASi-5 is not just about developing a tool to diagnose faults in the running system. Rather, in future, the question of whether everything has been done correctly will increasingly have to be asked during the installation of the network. In other words, the diagnostic tool ultimately also serves to check or confirm one's own (installation) work. One final point that Richter is keen to emphasize in this context: "The externally visible function says nothing about the status of the system communication - this applies to all bus systems, by the way!"