User:Thomas Foxcroft/sandbox

Thomas Foxcroft (talk) 17:45, 12 June 2018 (UTC) IO-Link is a short distance, bi-directional, digital, point-to-point, wired, industrial communications networking standard (IEC 61131-9) used for connecting intelligent sensors and actuators to either a type of industrial fieldbus or a type of industrial Ethernet. Its objective is to provide a technological platform that enables the development and use of sensors and actuators that can produce and consume enriched sets of data that in turn can be used for economically optimizing industrial automated processes and operations.

The physical components of IO-Link consist of a master, one or more network terminal devices, cabling, and an engineering tool. The master acts as a communications bridge between the terminal devices and the fieldbus or Ethernet. The terminal devices are intelligent sensors and actuators, where the term intelligent means the device can provide types of digital data that can be used for economically optimizing the device's operation and performance. Cabling is in the form of an unshielded, three or five conductor cables, not longer than twenty meters, and a standardized three or five pin connector. The five conductor cable can provide a supply voltage to terminal devices. The engineering tool is used for configuring the master to operate as the network bridge.

The IO-Link communications protocol consists of communication ports, communication modes, data types, and transmission speeds. The ports are physically located on the master, and provide it a means for connecting with terminal devices and for bridging to a fieldbus or Ethernet. There are four communication modes that can be applied to a port connected to a terminal device: IO-Link, DI, DQ, and Deactivated. IO-Link mode configures the port for bi-directional communications, DI mode configures it as an input, DQ configures it as an output, and Deactivated just simply deactivates the port. There are four data types: process data, value status data, device data, and event data. The protocol can be configured to operate at transmission speeds of either 4.8 kilobaud, 38.4 kilobaud, or 230.4 kilobaud. The transmission time at 230.4 kilobaud is 400 microseconds. Thomas Foxcroft (talk) 17:45, 12 June 2018 (UTC)