#Japan #Osaka #Contec #FLEXLAN #CC-Link IE

Contec Achieves a Historic Wireless Certification

Contec Co., Ltd., headquartered in Osaka, Japan, proudly announces that its business wireless LAN products, the "FLEXLAN® FX5000 / FX3000 series," have
become the first-ever wireless devices to receive the CC-Link IE TSN recommended wireless device testing certification, specifically under the wireless certification class A category for CTRL. This achievement represents a significant leap in the integration of wireless technology within industrial environments, addressing growing demands for efficient automation.

Background of Certification

In production environments, the principles of Industry 4.0, which originated in Germany, guide efforts to enhance productivity by leveraging digital technologies. The transformation into smart factories necessitates seamless network connectivity across all equipment involved in production management, execution, and control. However, laying communication cables throughout factories involves extensive capital investment and presents challenges when changing layouts post-installation.

Many facilities are increasingly turning to Wi-Fi, widely used in IT systems, as a potential alternative; however, issues such as signal congestion and interference often lead to jitter—variations in communication delay. This jitter poses significant obstacles to adopting Wi-Fi for control layers that require strict timing. Contec addresses this challenge with proprietary tuning technology, ensuring low-latency and low-jitter communication through its FLEXLAN® FX5000 / FX3000 series.

By targeting control communications for CC-Link IE TSN, Contec has become the first wireless device manufacturer to achieve class A certification, allowing for a robust industrial network connectivity in smart factory systems.

About the Wireless Access Points

The FLEXLAN® FX5000 series operates according to the new Wi-Fi 6E standard (IEEE 802.11ax) and features advanced technologies such as OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO), enabling significantly faster communication speeds. The ability to support multiple users simultaneously had previously been a pitfall for throughput and latency; however, these issues have been greatly improved.

Now capable of utilizing the newly available 6GHz band alongside the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, the FLEXLAN® FX5000 series minimizes interference to create a stable and speedy communication environment. In contrast, the FLEXLAN® FX3000 series supports high-speed communication of up to 300Mbps and is also adaptable as both an access point and a station through mode switching. It further accommodates power supply from AC adapters or direct current sources ranging from 5-30VDC, enabling seamless integration with various devices like printers, medical equipment, and POS systems.

Understanding CC-Link IE TSN

To optimize production based on data utilization, a high-speed, stable communication network is essential, especially capable of transmitting large volumes of information to and from IT systems. The demand for automation is steadily growing in the manufacturing sector, aiming for improvements in productivity, efficiency, and safety. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is emerging as a critical solution within this context.

CC-Link IE TSN integrates traditional CC-Link IE features while leveraging TSN technology to facilitate real-time communication via time division, allowing multiple networks to coexist on the same backbone. This provides seamless interaction between IT systems and factory automation (FA) systems, unlocking a wide array of manufacturing applications.

CC-Link IE TSN Wireless Certification

The testing for recommended wireless devices under CC-Link IE TSN evaluates the introduction of wireless technology within a wired network framework. While eliminating the need for cable installation fosters flexibility, it also introduces concerns regarding interference and transmission delays unique to wireless communication. Consequently, CC-Link IE TSN wireless certification aims to ensure users can confidently utilize wireless communication devices for industrial applications.

Endorsement

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) warmly welcomes Contec's announcement regarding its achievement of CC-Link IE TSN recommended device certification. Given the pressing need for integrated factory networks, Contec's innovation in wireless technologies is viewed as instrumental in helping manufacturing firms advance their digital transformation projects successfully.

This groundbreaking certification paves the way for using CC-Link IE TSN in a variety of applications, supported by the flexibility and performance improvements offered by Contec's wireless solutions. Our commitment to strengthening partnerships with Contec will continue as we present customers with the best solutions harnessing the power of CC-Link IE TSN.