Technological innovations are successful when they manage to overcome previous limitations and open up new possibilities without a lack of economic viability hindering market entry. All of this applies to ASi-5. The innovative fieldbus standard for the first level of automation offers short cycle times and a high data bandwidth. ASi-5 therefore allows "big data" to be transferred at high speed - making communication or control-related "minutes of thought" a thing of the past. On the one hand, this allows applications with very high dynamics to be solved and, on the other, ASi-5 proves its worth as a wiring technology for smart field devices, such as intelligent sensors and actuators with an IO-Link connection. Safety is also an integral part of ASi-5 - safety-related, smart field devices use the same infrastructure as non-safe sensors and actuators. And finally, ASi-5 is compatible with ASi-3 - an important aspect for many machine and plant manufacturers. Solutions with ASi-3 have therefore not suddenly become worthless, but can be cost-effectively expanded and upgraded with ASi-5 if required.

Whether ASi-5 throughout or as an add-on - the Bihl+Wiedemann portfolio guarantees a high degree of calculable cost-effectiveness in every case. One reason for this is the comparatively inexpensive components. ASi-5 devices such as the modules with integrated IO-Link master for connecting IO-Link devices or the self-configuring I/O modules are generally cheaper than Ethernet fieldbus modules or IO-Link hubs, which are used in other solutions. The company also offers a finely graduated range of products, starting with a 1-port IO-Link master for IO-Link, for example. ASi-5 is therefore not only transparent in terms of communication, but also in terms of costs for each input and output.

IO-Link as a partner for ASi-5 in digitalization

IO-Link is a fieldbus-independent interface for the efficient point-to-point integration of intelligent and communication-capable sensors and actuators. While the integration of such smart field devices still causes discomfort in many places - for example due to cable lengths of a maximum of 20 m or the expensive connection of a single device via Ethernet-based fieldbus modules with four or eight IO-Link master ports - the combination of IO-Link and ASI-5 is the dream pair for collecting IO-Link signals in the field thanks to Bihl+Wiedemann's finely graduated product portfolio. This is no coincidence, as the ability to collect data from intelligent devices with IO-Link even more efficiently in the field and to transmit it at high speed, even with large data widths, already played a decisive role in the design of ASi-5. ASi-5 and IO-Link therefore complement each other perfectly. There is no need to run Ethernet right into the machine. The only interface of the ASi application to TCP/IP is the ASi-5/ASi-3 fieldbus gateway - an advantage that should not be underestimated from a security point of view. In addition to a web server, OPC UA is also on board as a diagnostic channel as standard - for direct communication of sensor data, measured values or control variables to the cloud.

Apart from that, what makes the IO-Link integration at Bihl+Wiedemann so special? Firstly, the user experience. IO-Link devices can be integrated wherever they are needed. IO-Link devices from all manufacturers can be connected to the ASi-5 modules with integrated IO-Link master, provided they meet the specifications of the IEC 61131-9 standard. The software suites from Bihl+Wiedemann make integration particularly easy, for example by quickly calling up the IO Device Description (IODD) of the IO-Link devices, through graphical support for sensor parameterization or through the live view of the existing devices. It allows ASi modules and IO-Link devices to be easily addressed and inputs and outputs to be parameterized and monitored live.