PROFINET is now available on board the high performance S7- 400
Overview
SIMATIC S7-400 - the most powerful controllers for system solutions in manufacturing and process 
automation, are now available with PROFINET - the industrial Ethernet standard for automation.
The PROFINET CPUs also feature increased performance with double the memory and faster processing speeds than the previous equivalent.
This upgrade to the communications and processing performance allows more complex applications to be solved faster and more efficiently.
The demand for memory has increased due to:
- Use of advanced engineering tools to reduce programming cost
- Increased functionality of CPUs
- Increased machine complexity
As a result of this requirement, the on board memory has been increased across the S7-300 range, up to twice that of the current CPUs.
Features and Benefits
Performance
Processing Speed
The processing speed has been increased by a factor of up to 100. This can increase productivity by reducing machine cycle times and increasing throughput. The faster CPUs also offer the potential for new applications to be addressed not previously possible with the existing CPUs
Capacity
The memory of these CPUs is twice that of that of the previous equivalents.
Automation tasks are becoming larger or more complex. Increased on board memory allows customers to be less conservative with memory and utilize more advanced tools to greatly reduce the engineering requirement and increase the performance of the overall system.
Increased memory allows:
- Use of advanced engineering tools - S7-Graph, CFC, Process Diagnostics
- Flexible machine concepts - Simplified networking with Component Based Automation
- More complex plants and machines to be easily engineered
Communications
The S7-400 PN CPUs feature 3 communications interfaces: MPI/PROFIBUS and 2 PROFINET ports.
PROFINET is the industrial Ethernet standard for automation. PROFINET supports standard TCIP/IP communication plus real time communication for I/O and drives, distributed intelligence (CBA), safety and more. Further information on PROFINET is available at www.siemens.com/PROFINET
The S7-400 PN CPUs feature a built in web server that allows the user to diagnose the CPU via a standard web browser without the programming software.
PROFINET IO
PROFINET IO allows the connection of remote I/O devices (ET 200S, ET 200PRO) including safety via industrial Ethernet. With PROFINET real time communication accuracy and repeatability of devices on the network is assured.
PROFINET Component-based Automation (CBA )
The CBA functionality of the S7-400 PN CPUs integrated PROFINET port permits modularization of machines and systems. CBA allows plants to be better standardized and more easily expanded or re-used. This enables a quick and flexible response to customer requirements and shortens the time to market.
PROFIBUS
PROFIBUS is the leading fieldbus worldwide, supporting a wide range of devices and functions on a single highspeed bus. In addition to the standard functionality, the S7-400 CPUs onboard PROFIBUS port supports isochrone mode. Isochrone mode is a synchronous link between the PLC and the PROFIBUS network with a constant bus cycle time. This has the following advantages:
- a fast, time-based, reproducible (deterministic) response
- enables applications where sensors, actuators and drives must be absolutely synchronised to be achieved over PROFIBUS