Anybus.NET – Bridging the gap between Operational Technology (OT) and .NET-based IT-applications.
Original article by by Thomas Carlsson | Apr 20, 2018
HMS Industrial Networks have introduced a new range of Anybus .NET Bridges for PROFIBUS, PROFINET, EtherCAT and EtherNet/IP.
Bridging the gap between Operational Technology (OT) and IT, the .NET bridge family enables data from industrial machinery to be presented to .NET-based IT applications.
The result is that .NET programmers can build a PC program which exchanges live data with a PLC system — for statistics, analysis or maintenance.
A quick and easy way to realise IIoT
The basic prerequisite for Industrial IoT is that IT systems get access to data from industrial applications. However, the fieldbus and industrial Ethernet networks of the factory floor are designed for real-time communication. This separates them from the IT-infrastructure by default.
The Anybus .NET Bridges address this situation by acting as translators between OT and IT — sending and receiving data between the factory networks and IT platforms using .NET as a framework.
The communication is set up in a couple of minutes, meaning the .NET Bridges are a very fast way to realise your IIoT solution.
The results
Thanks to the data bridging capabilities of the Anybus .NET Bridges, IT systems get unprecedented access to real-time data from the factory floor. This enables predictive maintenance, KPI-follow-up, machine analytics, data mining, big data processing, production statistics and much more – without interfering in the industrial processes.
This solution can be applied to a wide range of use cases, from simple transfer of KPI values, advanced messages with structured data types, or ultra-fast transfer of I/O data for “big data.”
How it works
The information exchange between the OT and IT is defined in a spreadsheet template. This template controls how the data is mapped, tagged and presented to IT-applications.
The spreadsheet is then uploaded to the HMS code generator, which automatically creates a customised high- level C# API (events and Post methods) that is easy to integrate directly into a .NET application. It also generates a customized GSDML or XML file for the PLC.
Easy for both .NET and PLC programmers
“This is the second generation of our .NET bridges,” says James Kime, Product Manager for Anybus gateways. “The existing versions for PROFINET and PROFIBUS have been updated with new functionality, and we can now also offer connectivity to EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT. The .NET Bridges are truly ‘edge gateways’ in the sense that they establish a bridge between IT and OT. IT programmers get access to data from industrial machinery, while PLC programmers can rest assured that the data access does not interfere with their critical industrial applications and systems.”