Around 300 participants came to Frankfurt am Main on March 22 and 23 to find out about trends and innovations in Profibus and Profinet technologies in the Commerzbank Arena. In his opening speech, Karsten Schneider, Chairman of the Board of the Profibus User Organization (PNO), began by looking at the figures: "Two years ago, more components with Profibus were launched on the market - manufacturers are now selling significantly more devices with Profinet. This means that Ethernet in the industry has become widespread." This trend is also reflected in the certification activities: while the number of certificates issued for Profibus devices has remained relatively constant in recent years - around 150 per year - the number of Profinet certificates is rising continuously; specifically, the threshold of 500 was exceeded for the first time in 2016. It is particularly noteworthy that certificates are increasingly being issued to international manufacturers.

Regardless of the continuing increase in the number of nodes for both Profinet and Profibus, the PI community is also self-critically questioning its own raison d'être in view of the omnipresent buzzwords in the context of industrial communication such as OPC UA, TSN & Co. PNO CEO Dr. Frithjof Klasen comments: "At the PI conference two years ago, we also talked about Industry 4.0 - but back then the topic was still very nebulous and we didn't know what role we would play in the future. In other words, we asked ourselves whether we would no longer be needed at some point!" From today's perspective, the answer is clear: "We - or rather Profibus and Profinet technology - will continue to be needed in the future to bring data from the field level 'upwards' quickly."

The fact that Ethernet TSN is nevertheless becoming increasingly important and will also form the basis of industrial communication is something that cannot be denied. However, Xaver Schmidt, head of the newly founded Industry 4.0 Working Group (WG), is keen to emphasize in this context: "TSN only affects layer 2 of the ISO/OSI layer model and therefore, from today's perspective, cannot replace a fieldbus or the application layers located on layer 7 and the associated proven profiles". In Schmidt's opinion, the topic of configuration is currently not being discussed enough in connection with TSN - his statement on this: "The 'thing' doesn't run by itself! At PI, we will pursue the approach of integrating the TSN configuration into normal PLC engineering." In addition to TSN and OPC UA, other issues that the WG 4.0 is currently working on are semantics, security and IPv6. With regard to the latter, Schmidt adds: "IPv6 opens up new possibilities for auto-addressing, which means that devices can assign addresses to themselves. We are currently looking for experts to work with us on suitable use cases in this regard."

In a nutshell: "Industry 4.0 is not a sure-fire success, but requires a lot of detailed work, such as coordination with international standards, the development of compatibility concepts and the definition of security requirements," says Karsten Schneider. For example, the standardization of Ethernet-in-the-field communication in process automation based on the IEEE 802.3 standard is currently being driven forward together with users, research and authorities, which should ultimately also enable the use of Ethernet in hazardous areas. "However, the resulting solution is not a new fieldbus, but merely a new physical layer," emphasizes Karsten Schneider. The current work on the Profibus PA profile 4.0, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, should also be seen as preparation for this. Finally, coordination talks are currently taking place with the ODVA and the Fieldcomm Group on a joint approach to Ethernet in process automation. Schneider comments: "The PNO will drive the topic forward, but it wouldn't make sense for us to do something of our own here. Our goal is to get the whole thing done in three years' time."

Finally, numerous practical examples were presented at the PI conference in addition to the aforementioned future topics, for example how asset management functions in Profinet facilitate commissioning and maintenance in the automotive industry, how Profibus PA can be used to optimize rapeseed oil production or how IO-Link accelerates gripper technology in robots many times over. And last but not least, the accompanying exhibition of the presence partners provided sufficient material for intensive networking and an exchange on the technological development, application and future of PI technologies.