Sercos Conformizer For Slave Device Pre-Tests

The Sercos III Slave Conformizer is a test tool for slave devices on the Sercos III Ethernet-based automation bus. The company said the tool ensures that Sercos III slave implementations from different manufacturers are compatible and interoperable. The certification test software is available to manufacturers who want to pre-test Sercos III slave devices in their facilities prior to the formal testing at the Sercos test lab.

The company claimed this provides a high assurance of passing the formal test at minimal time and costs. The Sercos III Conformizer is provided as a complete test and development environment for Sercos III slave devices. It includes an active PCI-Sercos III interface card and test software, which runs under Windows XP without the need for real-time extensions. The Conformizer is said to be an easy-to-use package with a GUI based on the Eclipse framework.

Tests activated by the GUI are specified using the Ruby script language. Pre-defined scripts are available for testing the communication, the generic device profile and the function-specific profiles for drives and I/Os. Product- and vendor-specific scripts can be easily integrated, according to Sercos.

Open-Source Sercos III Master Library Launched

Sercos has announced that an open-source software driver library for the Sercos III real-time Ethernet communication system master implementation is now available via the sourceforge.net web portal. The software can be utilised according to the LGPL licence, without any licence fees and without any usage limitations. Two versions of the open-source driver for Sercos III boards are now available: a driver for plug-in cards with a dedicated central-processing unit (active boards such as the Sercans III board); and a driver for plug-in cards without a central-processing unit (passive boards).

Peter Lutz, managing director of Sercos International, said: 'It is now much easier for manufacturers to develop a Sercos III master and to benefit from future improvements and extensions of the software. 'The library is a fully tested software without any functional limitations. 'All features of Sercos III are supported, such as the real-time channel, the redundancy concept and hot plugging,' he added.

By April 2010, the driver will be integrated into the mainline version of the Linux open-source operating system. For this, the company is cooperating with the Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL), an international cooperative that promotes and coordinates the usage of open-source software for machine and plant control systems. Sercos (or the Serial Real-Time Communication System) is a digital interface for communication between controls, drives and decentralised peripherals.