With 'FieldEcho' from Sick, users have access to all IO-Link device data at any time via browser or human machine interface. Communication is system-independent - i.e. it is possible via different PLCs, fieldbuses and IO-Link masters. To set up data transmission in the controller, only a single line of PLC code needs to be written, which calls the generic function block supplied with 'FieldEcho' to send read or write requests to the IO-Link devices. The PLC cycle time remains unaffected. Customers of control system manufacturers Beckhoff, Mitsubishi, Rockwell Automation and Siemens are currently benefiting from the minimized development and programming effort.

Another feature of 'FieldEcho' is the standard IT way of providing and transferring IO-Link data for control tasks and Industry 4.0 applications: The software communicates with the machine PLC via OPC UA or TCP/IP for read and write data access. The use of these two protocol standards ensures a high level of connectivity and future-proofing. The same applies to the REST API, which is also provided by the software tool. It makes it possible to transfer IO-Link device data in JSON format to ERP and MES systems as well as cloud-based services.

The graphical, web-based user interface visualizes all configured IO-Link masters and the IO-Link sensors and actuators connected to the ports in the system and IO-Link master overview. The status of the IO-Link devices is also displayed. All IO-Link devices can also be fully parameterized via the interface. And last but not least, the software makes it possible to zoom into the data of the IO-Link device by opening the device-specific screen page. In addition to its product data, the incoming and outgoing process data is also visible at a glance.

The IO-Link data, which is transferred from the software tool to higher IT levels via REST API, can be displayed there on the 'FieldEcho' dashboard. This automatically connects to the software and builds the interface based on the selected and received process data and device parameters. This is done dynamically and independently - without any configuration effort for the user. The software tool also provides a complete overview of the status of all IO-Link devices directly in ERP systems, MES environments, proprietary applications and cloud-based services. At the same time, the dashboard also loads the IO-Link data into an integrated database. Applications and services therefore do not have to query the data again via REST API for their purposes, but can access the database directly. This reduces the communication load on the fieldbus and via IO-Link.