What is PROFIsafe(PROFIBUS safety or PROFINET safety)?
It is the first open, functional safety communication technology for distributed automation systems worldwide. Its specification for PROFIBUS DP and PROFIBUS PA was published first back in spring 1999. It incorporates the knowledge of more than 25 renowned safety companies. Extensions for the Ethernet-based PROFINET IO followed in fall 2005. More than 30,000 automation systems with more than 300,000 PROFIsafe nodes are currently in use worldwide (spring 2007). In the past, safety automation had to be “hard-wired” and based on “relay” technolgy due to existing international standards. This changed with the advent of a new standard IEC 61508 specifiying how microcontrollers and software can be used in safety automation. This triggered the development of PROFIsafe, which was to integrate safety into the existing standard PROFIBUS fieldbus technologies. PROFIBUS, the world market leader in fieldbus systems, and standardized in IEC 61158 and IEC 61784-1, became an enabling technology throug
