New possibilities for diagnosis
Transfer even large amounts of data via IO-Link
There is now a so-called BLOB profile (Binary Large Objects) for the IO-Link sensor-actuator communication standard, which can be used to transfer significantly larger amounts of data than before via IO-Link.
According to the IO-Link community, when large amounts of data need to be read out of IO-Link devices for diagnostic purposes, such as images from optical sensors or long-term histories, this was previously only possible using proprietary methods. The BLOB profile newly developed by the community now creates a standardized way of segmenting larger data volumes and transferring them in a controlled manner via the existing ISDU (Indexed Service Data Unit) communication mechanism. This is a standardized transfer of large amounts of data (BLOB, typically several kByte) from the IO-Link device to a host controller or vice versa (bidirectional). The host controller can be a PLC or a computer tool, for example.
The trick: IO-Link is "only" used as a data channel here. The actual segmentation and flow control takes place in the device or in the PLC or in the PC program. This has the advantage that the IO-Link master and the field level are not affected. This means that no modification of the existing system is necessary and devices that support BLOB transfer can be connected to any existing IO-Link application.
On the host side, the BLOB process can be implemented in a function block for the PLC, for example. This is particularly useful if the PLC program requires the data for further processing, for example when reading RFID tags with IO-Link RFID readers or when reading collected log information from a device for diagnostics. If the data is only required for service purposes, it can also be read or written via a normal USB master and special software, for example.
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