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Profiles
What is a profile?
There are three types of profile:
• Communication profiles
• Functional profiles
• Application profiles
Communication profiles
A communication profile describes the characteristics of the bus or network:
• Cables
• Connectors
• Electrical characteristics
• Access protocol
• Addressing system
• Periodic exchange service
• Messaging service
•etc.
A communication profile is unique to a type of network (Fipio, Profibus DP, etc.) and is used by various different types of device.
Functional profiles
A functional profile describes the behavior of a type of device. It defines:
• Functions
• The parameters (name, format, unit, type, etc.)
• The periodic I/O variables
• State chart(s)
•etc.
A functional profile is common to all members of a device family (variable speed drives, encoders, I/O modules, displays, etc.).
Ideally, functional profiles should be network-independent, but in reality they are not. They can feature common or similar parts. The
standardized (IEC 61800-7) functional profiles of variable speed drives are:
• CiA402
• PROFIDRIVE
•CIP
DRIVECOM has been available since 1991.
CiA402 "Device profile for drives and motion control" represents the next stage of this standard’s development and is maintained by Can
In Automation.
Some protocols also support the ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendor Association) profile.
Application profiles
Application profiles define in their entirety the services to be provided by the devices on a machine. E.g. profile for elevators "CiA DSP 417-
2 V 1.01 part 2: CANopen application profile for lift control systems - virtual device definitions".
Interchangeability
The aim of communication and functional profiles is to achieve interchangeability of the devices connected via the network.
Although this aim is not always achieved, the profiles facilitate free competition.