Beckoff TwinCAT Supports Wind Power Industry Standards

Beckhoff has announced a new PLC library for its automation suite in "TwinCAT PLC IEC 61400-25". The IEC 61400-25 standard defines communication for monitoring and controlling wind turbines. It will be available from mid-2009 as one of the TwinCAT supplementary products.

The communication is physically based on Ethernet technology. TCP/IP and the Manufacturing Message Specification (MMS) have been implemented as protocols in TwinCAT PLC. The hierarchical data objects are communicated between a master control station and a wind turbine via MMS as the application layer.