In the industrial automation industry, I/O-LINK is the last link to various actuators and sensors. With the development of interconnection and communication technology, I/O-LINK is helping the innovative applications of industrial control and communication, industrial digitalization and industrial Internet in the era of Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing to come to fruition.
Nowadays, all kinds of measurement sensors in the industrial automation field need to be flexible enough to modify the sensor parameters easily and quickly, and to be able to interconnect with other sensors for mixed operation, which requires flexible communication interface technical support, which is why I/O-LINK has such a huge potential for application in the industrial automation market.
The booming I/O-LINK market
According to a market research report published by QYR, the global IO-Link technology market reached $2,403 million in sales in 2021 and is expected to reach $4,742 million in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 10.24%. From the perspective of several regional markets, the current global market is still the largest in Asia-Pacific and Europe, especially in China, where the growth rate is extremely fast. China's I/O-LINK market size in 2021 is roughly $286 million, accounting for about 11.88% of the global market, and is expected to reach $745 million in 2028, when the global share will reach 15.70%.
In addition, according to the I/O-Link Association's calculation of I/O-LINK terminal license fee statistics, the number of I/O-LINK nodes has been growing explosively in recent years, and the global shipments from 2018 to 2019 have maintained the number of nodes at about 11.4 million, and by last year, 2021, it had grown rapidly to 21 million, and the number of terminal shipments has nearly doubled in just one year. Not only is the number of terminal nodes increasing rapidly, the number of members of the I/O-Link Association has also grown from 100 in 2016 to more than 400 now, and the number of members continues to grow.
The market demand is very clear, I/O-Link as a point-to-point serial digital communication protocol to industrial automation, I/O-Link technology is more and more widely used will open up the bottom of the field equipment communication "last kilometer".
I/O-LINK to open up the bottom layer of industrial communication
In the industrial field, PROFINET, CC-Link, EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT industrial Ethernet communication must be very familiar to everyone, I/O-Link as another communication technology, from the European market swept to the Asia-Pacific market, and effectively solved the sensor design of heat dissipation, the size of the current drive capacity and other issues. You may think that I/O-Link seems to be in competition with PROFINET, CC-Link and EtherNet/IP.
In fact, not, in the industrial sensor network architecture, I/O-Link is located in the lowest level of the entire architecture, can be said to be a communication technology born specifically for the sensor network, it can be connected with the control layer to open the door to industrial interconnection, but it is the most basic ability to be independent of the fieldbus is not subject to the influence of the field equipment to get through the bottom of the communication problems.
Traditional industrial automation control system bottlenecks are obvious, all the sensors through the physical line to the PLC to report data or receive instructions, want to adjust the sensor parameters need many steps, the ability to configure is very weak. Moreover, many of these routes are essentially proprietary protocols and exchange information in a one-way and analog fashion, lacking diagnostic capabilities. Analog data is also susceptible to noise, and it is difficult not to be distorted in various electromagnetic environments in industrial sites.
I/O-Link through the bottom of the industrial communication architecture, changing the traditional industrial automation control system mode, in short, to the industrial scene to bring a flexible sensing configuration, reliable digital signal communication, as well as expanding the stronger two-way communication capabilities. I/O-Link group transmission in the PLC and the bottom of the sensing between the allocation of a number of sub-stations, the sub-station of the sensing data to the integration of the upward transmission, the higher the communication between the communication. The I/O-Link group transmission method allocates multiple sub-stations between the PLC and the underlying sensors, where the sub-stations integrate the sensed data and then transmit it upwards.
I/O-Link is a manufacturer-independent and fieldbus-independent technology that makes it possible to provide process data and recognize diagnostic data throughout the entire plant structure using even the simplest sensors and actuators, without the need for complex connections.
Semiconductor Manufacturers Support I/O-LINK
Many semiconductor vendors have also developed matching transceiver ICs for I/O-LINK on the master and slave device side, and are optimistic about the use of I/O-LINK in industrial communications.
STMicroelectronics has introduced transceiver ICs for I/O-LINK master and slave devices, with differentiated enhancements for different sensors. For example, the L6360 is configured internally with a high-side + low-side + push-pull circuit design to facilitate the drive I/O-LINK signal lines. L6364 is equipped with dual communication channels, in addition to the DC/DC converter and dual-mode UART, but also allows for configurable output doubling for additional drive strength, allowing users to flexibly configure the diagnostics of the end device.
TI is particularly valued I / O-LINK transceiver reliability, in all the launch of the transceiver IC has inherited the surge protection function, and configure adjustable driver for overcurrent limitation, and lower driver pressure swing rate reduces the impact of overshoot.
ADI's acquisition and integration of Linear and MaxicoM complemented its products in industrial communications, like MaxicoM to provide the MAX14819 such transceiver ICs, in the current limit, on-resistance and maximum operating temperature on the core indicators such as additional enhancements, but also to provide additional components, including step-down regulators and LDOs, can be more convenient for the sensors and actuators in the electronic components in the provision of power.
Summary
As the world's first standardized I/O technology, I/O-LINK combines device-level and control-level protocols, compensates for the shortcomings of fieldbus technology, and ensures reliable and integrated communication from the bottom field level to the control level. iO-LINK technology is expected to become the "USB of the automation industry".