The future of automation starts with IO-Link
Sensors and actuators are the eyes and ears of your equipment. Your machines and processes are limited by what your sensors can tell you. What if you can get more information without increasing cost, engineering time and complexity? What if we told you your existing infrastructure could already provide more insight already?
Discover the potential of IO-Link and unlock the data that already exists today!
IO-Link is an open standard that is globally supported by sensor and controls companies. The IO-Link master replaces a traditional analog input card and allows for a digital communication path to process sensors. The final result is a 100% digital path to your PLC from the field-mounted sensor.
The number of connected IO-Link nodes globally has grown exponentially in recent years. This is due to a number of factors.
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Reduced complexity |
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Reduced cost |
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Minimal changes required |
When compared to other sensor communications platforms, IO-Link provides the best of both worlds. IO-Link gives you the functionality of analog signals with the intelligence of Ethernet communication at the cost of binary On/Off points.
Sensor communication | ||||
Binary On/Off | Analog | IO-Link | Ethernet based | |
Amount of data | 1 bit | 16 bits | 32 bytes | Many bytes |
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Remote sensor parameter adjustment | ![]() |
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Automatic sensor parameter replacement | ![]() |
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Standard sensor cordsets | ![]() |
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Digital communication | ![]() |
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Complexity to integrate | ![]() |
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Cost | ![]() |
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ifm is a founding member of the IO-Link consortium. In addition to ifm, it is supported by most PLC and Industrial sensor manufacturers. Over 250 members and increasing.
Visit the IO-Link Consortium page.
Full list of members of the IO-Link consortium.