Svensk Industriautomation (SVIA) is a Swedish automation company that develops robotic systems. As a state-of-the-art automation system, the robot units need to communicate with a plant-wide industrial network.
SVIA's robotics units are usually equipped with robots from ABB running on a DeviceNet-based network. The robots can easily communicate with another DeviceNet network, but if they are to be connected to another network, such as a PROFIBUS network (with Siemens PLCs) or an EtherCAT network (with Beckhoff PLCs) a "converter" is required.
The Anybus X gateway handles the conversion between the two, using built-in software to reconstruct telegrams from one side of the network and make them easy to communicate with the other. Configuration is done quickly and without programming using the Anybus Configuration Manager software.
SVIA installed Anybus X Gateway in the cabinet and successfully solved the connection problem between the DeviceNet-based system and the customer's PROFIBUS system! Again, simplicity is key. “DeviceNet is the standard used by SVIA, and most of its enclosures can't handle converting networks other than DeviceNet... SVIA simply installed an Anybus X-Gateway, which is not only cheaper, but also makes it easier to connect different networks between machine devices.
