New Software Development Kits Supporting Open Industrial Network CC-LINK IE TSN to be Released Next Spring

December 19, 2022 WNIElectronics

eSOL has announced that it will release new versions of its CC-Link IE TSN SDK in next spring. The eSOL CC-Link IE TSN SDK supports the open industrial network, CC-Link IE TSN, defined by the CC-Link Partner Association.

eSOL CC-Link IE TSN SDK achieves a shortened development period for industrial equipment that supports CC-Link IE TSN standards, assisting the construction of an industrial network where factory automation and IT systems are joined up together.

Advances in IoT applications are rapidly expanding in the field of industrial automation because today’s requirements, such as automizing manufacturing processes and improving quality and productivity, are both diversified and sophisticated. As this occurs, there is demand for the implementation of smart factories, which aim to have all equipment connected to a network and manufacture efficiently.

As part of this announcement, eSOL is releasing new versions of the “eSOL CC-Link IE TSN (Master) SDK” and “eSOL CC-Link IE TSN Safety SDK,” which support the newest standard by the CC-Link Partner Association. Their releases will help realize a more seamless open network through improved communications compatibility, expanded connectable products, creation of safety systems with high response performance (conforms to IEC 61508 SIL3), and much more.

CC-Link was developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 1996 with the goal of establishing mutual correspondence between a wide variety of industrial equipment and, in 2000, the specifications were released to the market as an open industrial network. Later that year, the CC-Link Partner Association was launched to promote and facilitate the global use of CC-Link. Currently, the CC-Link Partner Association has over 4,000 international companies as partners, and eSOL is also one since September 2021.

Nowadays, devices corresponding to the CC-Link family are used across the field of industrial automation on a global scale, including PLCs, robots, inverter and servo equipment, sensors and encoders, digital/analog input modules, PCs, displays, load cells and indicators, gateway equipment, and solenoid valves. Currently, the number of CC-Link family-certified products exceeds 2,600 models, and the number of CC-Link IE TSN-compatible products is also increasing.

The CC-Link family network technology, starting from the serial communication-based CC-Link, has expanded to the ethernet-based CC-Link IE Field, CC-Link IE Field Basic, and CC-Link IE TSN. CC-Link IE TSN is an open industrial network that the CC-Link Partner Association formulated in 2018. It is the first industrial network protocol ever to realize the fusion of IT and production sites by using TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) technology expanded from the standard ethernet specification. Efficient protocols further enhance the performance and functions of the previous CC-Link IE. Also, in addition to creating the possibility for implementation across a wide variety of equipment through diversified development methods, this technology makes it possible to use mixed information communications via controlled communications and IP communications. Everything it does supports the efficient construction of smart factories, which use IoT, in shorter time span.

With the release of eSOL CC-Link IE TSN SDK, the company continues to promote IoT in the field of industrial automation while contributing to the industry’s technological developments.