WWW.DESIGNWORLDONLINE.COM
NOVEMBER 2026
Safety:
SMARTER, MORE PRODUCTIVE AUTOMATION PG. 28
Safety+ bridges the divide between modern automation and safety engineering
ALSO INSIDE:
CABLES DESIGNED FOR DYNAMIC ROBOTS PG. 8
POE AND FDOT SURGE PROTECTORS SAFEGUARD TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS PG. 32
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THIS MOTION CONTROLLER HAS IT ALL
EtherCAT therCAT control, PLC power, and so much more.
MOTION CONTROLLER
LS Electric XMC Motion Controller
Starting at $916.00 (XMC-E08A) You need one device that runs the axes, talks EtherCAT, and still handles PLC logic. Not a motion card, a PLC, and a robot controller in three separate cabinets. The LS Electric XMC is that device, optimized for advanced motion control on up to 16 axes.
XMC FOR XACT MOTION CONTROL
XMC FOR ETHERCAT XPANSION
XMC controllers utilize the EtherCAT high-performance protocol to ensure every cut, pick, or index is accurate and on time instead of close enough.
XMC controllers can talk to and run EtherCAT I/O, encoders, AC drives, and other EtherCAT devices on the same network. No need for an additional master to handle all these.
XMC FOR XTENSIVE AUTOMATION
XMC FOR BLAZING FAST XECUTION
XMC FOR XTREME VALUE
The XMC can handle a heavy EtherCAT load and still speak G-code and M-code. Robot programming is in there too— Delta3, Delta3R, Linear Delta, and more.
Scan time is 6.25ns on basic commands, 5ns on motion commands, and 30ns on arithmetic. EtherCAT cycle times are 0.5/1/2/4 ms. The controller keeps up with the mechanics so the cycle time belongs to the machine, not the scan.
The XMC controller provides both highly advanced motion control with EtherCAT communication and built-in PLC functionality for a price well below the competition, plus Free software and support!.
Research, price, buy at: www.automationdirect.com/motion-control
Order Today, Ships Fast! * See our Web site for details and restrictions.
© Copyright 2026 AutomationDirect, Cumming, GA USA. All rights reserved.
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the #1 value in automation
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Insights
Bringing engineers and AI tools together Whether (and how quickly) AI can Having started in the publishing world in the mid-1990s, I was front and perform more substantive engineering center for how the internet changed tasks remains to be seen. But our media, including traditional B2B parent company, Arrowfly, and our magazine publishers. I clearly recall how wide array of engineering brands, see many colleagues said that websites this as an opportunity to bring the best were irrelevant to businesses like ours and brightest together and solve some — and that no one would ever want of these issues. As part of that, we’re to get news or technical information launching a new event, AI for Engineers, on such a site. Not to mention the which will take place from September battles in subsequent years, where 20–22, 2027, at M Resort Spa Casino in many said print still had to come Henderson, Nev., just outside Las Vegas. first, and the publication’s website (Details at aiforengineers.arrowfly.com.) had to be treated like an also-ran. This event will be the definitive I see many parallels between that in-person resource for engineers time and the present situation, as AI applying AI and will comprise five creeps into more and more of what tracks: Design & Automation, Robotics, we do every day, be it at home or at MedTech, Energy, and Industrial. Design work. There are folks I know who see it World’s editorial staff is working on as a panacea and others as the death the agenda, including keynotes, with of the planet and possibly humanity. our sibling publications, including History tends to show that the truth Engineering.com, Fluid Power World, likely lies between those two extremes. EEWorld, DeviceTalks, The Robot A few weeks ago, I was at an Report, R&D World, and others. insightful event here in Cleveland called I hope you’ll consider putting the DataOps Days, hosted by HighByte, an event on your calendar for 2027, as industrial software company. One of the we’re planning great content about speakers said that, even in technical how AI is accelerating product design, fields, he thought of AI as currently generative design, CAD/CAE workflows, helping to assist with “automation of simulation, and more. No one wants the mundane,” and gave an example to be left behind, especially in a time of where a shipyard used AI to more of change, and we’re excited to help quickly fill out complicated forms for you get through the coming years arriving cargo ships. The AI agent stronger and smarter than ever. DW knew where to pull the disparate data from, complete the form, and submit it. The ship crew and the dockyard staff have reduced the time involved from something like eight hours to perhaps 15 minutes. And those 15 minutes were simply double-checking that everything was correct. Paul J. Heney • VP, Editorial Director pheney@arrowfly.com
Connect with me: linkedin.com/in/paulheney
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DESIGN WORLD
NOVEMBER 2026
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NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN The Robot Report is seeking the most interesting and important robotics innovations from around the world. Submit innovations initiated, released, or executed in 2026 for a chance to be recognized among the TRR50. Submit your nomination by January 5, 2027.
Publication
NOVEMBER 2026 • DESIGNWORLDONLINE.COM EDITORIAL
DIGITAL MARKETING
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VP, Marketing Annie Wissner awissner@arrowfly.com
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PRODUCTION SERVICES
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DIGITAL PRODUCTION
Digital Production Manager Reggie Hall rhall@arrowfly.com
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Marketing Graphic Designer Hannah Bragg hbragg@arrowfly.com
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PRINT CREATIVE SERVICES
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NOVEMBER 2026
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11 • 2026 | VOL 21 NO 11 | DESIGNWORLDONLINE.COM
ON THE COVER
SAFETY: SMARTER, MORE PRODUCTIVE AUTOMATION | PAG E 2 8 |
DEPARTMENTS 4
Insights
8
Design For Industry
12
Design Notes
39
Ad Index
40
Technical Thinking
FEATURES 19
This Edwards innovation may have solved the leading cause of tissue valve failure Resilia’s co-inventor discusses the tissue, how it was developed and how it’s made. P G . 36
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ENGINEERING.COM • RETROSPECTIVE
Doing more with less: What I learned from 45 years of CAD development
Carrying one CAD program from a 613 kHz HP-85 to a Mac M4 that drafts from speech taught me about accuracy, speed, and writing code the next reader can pick up cold.
28
NOVEMBER 2026
SA F E T Y
Safety: smarter, more productive automation
B&R’s Franz Kaufleitner and Stefan Schönegger discuss how Safety+ aims to bridge the gap between modern automation and safety engineering.
MEDICAL TIPS
DESIGN WORLD
EtherCAT then and now • Part 1 of 4
Part 1 explores EtherCAT’s origins, core IEEE 802.3 frame architecture, and on-the-fly processing advantages, while comparing its performance against PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, and CC-Link IE.
24
SUPPLEMENTS
6
MOTION CONTROL
32
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Safeguarding intelligent transportation systems with Power-over-Ethernet and FDOT-certified surge protectors
Examine how certified, FDOT-compliant surge protection safeguards highpower PoE++ hardware and critical intelligent transportation systems against damaging lightning strikes.
www.designworldonline.com
11/3/26 10:15 AM
261006_SYS_DW_US.indd DigiKey - DW 11-26.indd 1 1
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Design For Industry ROBOTICS
Cables designed for dynamic robots
In continuously rotating systems, the fieldbus cables that carry control signals can fail before the mechanics do, as repeated torsion wears down shielding and conductors. Designers must balance that durability against the tight routing space inside modern robot arms. To help address this, igus added a new member to its CFROBOT8.PLUS robot cable family, the DeviceNet cable, designed for up to ±360°/m of torsion and up to 10 million torsional cycles in dynamic robotic applications. The cable uses a shield design intended to stay flexible during continuous movement,
8
DESIGN WORLD
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and its outer diameter is up to 21% smaller than previous CFROBOT8 models to fit tighter spaces. A tinnedcopper braided shield helps maintain signal integrity, while oil and UV resistance enable use in both indoor and outdoor environments. The new DeviceNet cable is suitable for six-axis robots, handling systems, machine tools, linear and lead screw systems, and other applications with continuous torsional movement. The cable family also includes cables for PROFINET, PROFIBUS, CAN bus, and Ethernet applications up to CAT7.
NOVEMBER 2026
Like all igus chainflex cables, these are tested in the company’s 5,500-squaremeter laboratory under simulated real-world robotic motion. Testing has demonstrated reliable electrical performance beyond the rated cycle count, through more than 15 million cycles. DW
igus igus.com
www.designworldonline.com
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Design For Industry SAFETY
POWER TRANSMISSION
RETAINING DEVICES & maintenance & assembly tools
Safety control moves into the valve manifold On many pneumatic machines, safety-related control sits outside the valve manifold, often in a separate safety I/O block or an external safety-drive box, with signals wired back to the control panel. SMC’s EX600 with Safety Communication moves that function into the manifold bank itself, combining safety I/O and standard I/O on the same platform. When a protective device such as a light curtain is triggered, the system can prevent the manifold from actuating equipment in the protected area. Manifold zone control lets engineers divide a manifold into segmented safety shutdown zones. Depending on the configuration, a manifold can be set up with three pneumatic safety zones, or with two zones plus one external safety output. Bringing safety control into the manifold can reduce the need for separate safety I/O blocks, additional cabling, and the installation work that comes with them. That can lower both hardware and labor costs and make the system more straightforward to install. The platform is offered in versions for different control systems, supporting EtherNet/IP with CIP Safety, PROFINET with PROFIsafe, and EtherCAT with FSoE. The module provides 16 safety inputs and up to three safety outputs, works with digital and analog I/O, and has an IP65/IP67 enclosure. SMC lists protection levels of up to Category 4/PL e under ISO 13849-1 and SIL 3 under IEC 61508 and IEC 62061. DW
BEARLOK
SHOELOK
BEARLOK Shrink Disc
BEARHUG
CLAMPNUT
TANGENTLOK
PRECISION NUTS & WASHERS
INCH and METRIC THREADS LEFT HANDED as well as RIGHT -HANDED
ADAPTER SLEEVE ASSEMBLIES
Materials of: CARBON, ALLOY and HARDENED ALLOY STEELS Materials of: ALUMINUM and CORROSION RESISTANT STEEL NUTS & WASHERS
HARDENED TONGUE WASHERS
SPLIT COLLAR
RETHREADING DIES
ADJUSTABLE SPANNER WRENCH
BEARING ASSEMBLY SOCKET
W
HI
TT
ET
-H
IG
GI
NS US
A
WHITTET-HIGGINS manufactures quality oriented, stocks abundantly and delivers quickly the best quality and largest array of adjustable, heavy thrust bearing, and torque load carrying retaining devices for bearing, power transmission and other industrial assemblies; and specialized tools for their careful assembly. Visit our website–whittet-higgins.com–to peruse the many possibilities to improve your assemblies. Much technical detail delineated as well as 2D and 3D CAD models for engineering assistance. Call your local or a good distributor.
SMC smcusa.com
33 Higginson Avenue, Central Falls, Rhode Island 02863 Telephone: (401) 728-0700 • FAX: (401) 728-0703 E-mail: info@whittet-higgins.com Web: www.whittet-higgins.com www.designworldonline.com
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Design For Industry OFFSHORE
Self-sufficient power system for extreme ocean conditions Ferrari’s newest machine has no wheels and no engine. The Ferrari Hypersail is a 100-foot foiling monohull yacht that runs entirely on renewable energy. ABB has signed on as its electrification partner to help build the 48 and 800 Vdc microgrid that will keep it powered for weeks at sea. The microgrid will generate, store, and manage power for critical navigation, foil controls, safety systems, and propulsion while operating in conditions of extreme cold, salt spray, pressure, and motion. The core challenge is self-sufficiency. The yacht has to operate on its own for weeks at a time in harsh ocean
conditions, with no outside power to fall back on. Its electrical system must therefore balance generation, storage, and distribution in real time while also striking the right trade-off between efficiency and performance. Hydraulics, flight control, and onboard electronics all draw from the same dual-voltage dc architecture, so the loads that keep the boat foiling and navigating safely depend on that balance holding. The team chose a direct current microgrid to meet those demands. According to ABB, the dc architecture delivers power directly to the systems that need it without intermediate
conversion steps, which the company says makes the system more resilient and more efficient under marine conditions. The company plans to apply what it learns to power systems for shipping, data centers, renewable energy infrastructure, and industrial microgrids, where the same problem of balancing generation, storage, and distribution in real time applies. DW ABB abb.com
Brushless Motors
• Solid or hollow shaft, high performance, housed and
frameless, brushless motors and matching drives for demanding applications. • Hall or sensorless motors and drives for surgical tools, aerospace, military, and scientific instrument applications. Custom drive programing and designs available. • Motors up to 95% efficient, power up to 1,500 watts. • Highest power density in the industry. • Operating temperatures from -73C to 150C • Slotless and slotted designs. Available with encoders and gearheads and separate or integral electronics. • Quantities 1 to 5,000. www.koford.com Contact us at mail@koford.com 10
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DESIGN WORLD
www.designworldonline.com
11/2/26 8:27 AM
Design For Industry A E R O S PA C E & D E F E N S E
Quick qualification through close collaboration
Interpower® American-made IEC 60320 Inlets, Outlets, & Sheet Es.
In aerospace manufacturing, bringing on a new supplier is its own engineering challenge. In one situation, a major aircraft manufacturer could not find a supplier for a family of piston and sealing rings used in pneumatic systems and bleed valves. No one it approached could meet the combined requirements for performance, volume, and delivery. Rotor Clip, which makes retaining rings, wave springs, and hose clamps, took on the work and has now qualified the parts and moved them into production. According to the company, qualification took less than half the time typical for comparable aerospace programs, which often run longer than 18 months. Six part configurations have been qualified and are in production, and more are in development. The components are outside the company’s usual product range. The team drew on processes it already uses for precision rings, including coiling, heat treatment, and inspection. Because the required raw materials were already in its inventory, development and testing www.designworldonline.com
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could begin without waiting on material procurement. The company credits frequent technical exchanges and onsite work with the customer, along with fast internal decisions across engineering, quality, production, and leadership, for keeping the schedule on track. Co-President Jonathan Slass said the company’s approach to an unfamiliar application is to assess whether its engineering, production systems, and quality controls offer a workable path, and then develop the needed processes and tooling with the customer. To support the program, the company added CNC machining equipment; custom tooling, fixturing, and gauging; vision inspection systems; in-house leak testing; and specialized inspection processes. DW
NOVEMBER 2026
While country-specific plugs vary in design, IEC 60320 Appliance and Interconnection Couplers make exporting electrical designs easy and universal. Interpower manufactures IEC 60320 Inlets, Outlets, and rewirable Sheet E Plug Connectors in straight and angled configurations. Popular C14 and C20 inlets pair with C13 and C19 connectors respectively. These appliance and interconnection couplers are used worldwide using accessory power systems to power multiple devices and equipment in areas populated with machines and devices. Why wait?
®
®
Toll-Free Phone: (800) 662-2290 E-mail: info@interpower.com
Rotor Clip rotorclip.com
Business Hours: 7 a.m.–5 p.m. CST
Order Online!
www.interpower.com DESIGN WORLD
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Design Notes EDITED BY MIKE SANTORA
Industrial controls support affordable housing infrastructure
Figure 1. This community of newly built, energy-efficient homes delivers significant savings, making it financially feasible for residents to move from mobile homes into permanent housing at nearly the same overall cost.
Smaller housing developments often face the same infrastructure complexities as major municipalities, but with a fraction of the budget and technical staff to handle issues. Redwood Homes, a pioneer in affordable and energy-efficient housing solutions in Alabama, recently encountered these challenges while developing a novel community. The project was designed to help residents transition from older mobile homes into newly constructed, highquality, energy-efficient permanent residences by applying utility savings toward rent. This approach is feasible due to the inclusion of modern appliances, insulation materials, highefficiency climate control systems such as heat pumps, and similar technologies — and it provides a real step up for residents (Figure 1). 12
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To support this mission, the community required a robust and reliable sewage collection system consisting of three separate sump pump stations. Maintaining these systems is critical because a single grinder pump failure can cost thousands of dollars to replace, while creating significant inconveniences for the associated residences. For a for-profit development geared toward affordability, such unplanned capital expenditure can be devastating to its operational model. The CoStream team was tasked with providing a monitoring and control system that would not only manage daily operations but also provide the proactive insights necessary to avoid problems. CoStream specializes in giving smaller operations and utilities access to experienced controls professionals and automation
NOVEMBER 2026
capabilities that might otherwise be out of reach. By integrating cost-effective industrial automation components, the team sought to democratize highlevel supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) capabilities for this residential application. www.designworldonline.com
11/3/26 10:14 AM
Managing decentralized drainage Managing decentralized wastewater infrastructure presents certain technical and logistical hurdles. Unlike a larger centralized plant where fulltime operators are physically present, these pump stations are distributed across the development site and usually unstaffed. Without a remote monitoring strategy, the only indication of a problem is often a high-level alarm or worse, a sewage backup. Traditional monitoring methods in this sector are frequently reactive, notifying personnel only after a fault has occurred. This “run-to-failure” approach is expensive, particularly when dealing with grinder pumps that can be damaged by clogs or continuous dry running. To address this and related issues, the development team needed a way to move beyond simple fault alerts and into the realm of predictive maintenance.
Furthermore, the solution had to be financially viable. Many high-end industrial networking and software packages require expensive annual licensing fees that are a nonstarter for smaller operations. Similarly, the largest industrial automation hardware and instrumentation suppliers charge a premium for their products. The challenge was to find a platform that offered professional-grade reliability and cloud connectivity without the typical big city price tag.
Use IEC 60320 Inlets, Outlets, & Sheet E Plug Connectors in Designs Worldwide.
Interpower® IEC 60320 Inlets, Outlets, and rewirable Sheet E Plug Connectors are passports for electrical designs worldwide. Interpower C14 and C20 inlets pair with C13 and C19 connectors respectively. These components are installed in the majority of electronics sold worldwide. These appliance and interconnection couplers are primarily used for industries using accessory power systems and power distribution units to power multiple devices and equipment. Order 1 component or order 10,000— no minimum orders!
Figure 2. The AutomationDirect CLICK PLC family is compact and capable, making it an ideal choice for retrofitting into typical control panels to add advanced automation and communication capabilities.
®
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Toll-Free Phone: (800) 662-2290 E-mail: info@interpower.com Business Hours: 7 a.m.–5 p.m. CST
Order Online!
www.interpower.com www.designworldonline.com
Design Notes DW 11-26 v4 final.indd 13
NOVEMBER 2026
DESIGN WORLD
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Design Notes
Designing a proactive pipeline The solution centered on establishing local intelligence at each pump site, a reliable communication backbone connecting each of the three sites to a central management office, and connectivity to the cloud. CoStream has worked with almost every automation product supplier and developed a cloud SCADA solution specifically to be product-agnostic, but their team has developed preferences regarding what products perform best, are easiest to use, and deliver top value. In this and other cases, the team’s past experiences led them to rely on AutomationDirect programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), and networking technologies.
Each dual-pump station arrived with a basic and standard control panel, effectively offering just “dumb” high/low level control based on float switches. To incorporate more advanced features, the team easily retrofitted AutomationDirect CLICK PLCs to handle the primary pump control logic in each panel. These PLCs are very compact and built to handle the rigors of operating in an outdoor enclosure, and they provide plenty of computing and communications capabilities (Figure 2). However, these PLCs are programmed to do more than perform basic level control and monitoring. They gather enough operational data — such as pump runtimes, float level switch on/off behaviors, and resulting level changes — to support profiling of
the collection system so technicians can establish a baseline for normal operation. In turn, this allows for the creation of proactive notifications based on behavioral anomalies, rather than just hard faults. If a pump begins to cycle too frequently (a sign of a sticking check valve or a small leak) or if it runs for an unusually long duration (perhaps due to an unreasonably high flow from upstream), then the system identifies the trend before the system is compromised. While effective level control was a primary goal of the design, the shift from reactive to proactive monitoring was key to overall performance. Implementation and operational insights For the HMI, a C-more is installed in the housing development management office. The CLICK PLCs at the three pump stations feed realtime data back to this central C-more unit. This C-more HMI serves as a primary communications hub, capable of sending email notifications directly to site managers the moment an operational parameter drifts out of spec (Figure 3). To bridge the gap between the local network and the site managers, the team used StrideLinx networking solutions to establish secure cloud connectivity. CoStream’s cloud-based solution monitors the entire operation and provides a remote supervisory capability. Both the PLC and the HMI support MQTT, and for this type of application the team has found the HMI implementation to work extremely well with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT ecosystem that CoStream runs on. The HMI provides a local, affordable visualization experience and supplies the cloud solution with essential data needed for data analytics, SCADA, notifications, and historian. In addition, 14
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www.designworldonline.com
11/2/26 8:33 AM
Figure 3. An AutomationDirect C-more HMI provides clear visualization of the system status. Users with the proper security credentials can remotely access these displays on their mobile devices, and the HMI emails the team when important events or problems occur.
the HMI sends out notifications to the site managers via email. This setup proved its value early in the project during a specific incident involving a tenant’s faulty toilet which stuck open and continued to discharge water into the collection system. This wasted water would typically not be apparent until the city metering system generated an unexpectedly large utility bill. However, the automation system detected it on the sewage side. The PLC noticed the pump was running for an unusually long duration due to the constant inflow from the leaking fixture. Because the system generated a proactive notification, personnel were able to address the plumbing issue before it resulted in a massive water bill and excessive wear on the pump. www.designworldonline.com
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Quantifying the success of smallscale automation Integrating this small utility system using industrial-grade control hardware has already yielded significant financial and operational returns. By identifying anomalies early, the monitoring system has effectively avoided thousands of dollars in costs. For example, they have avoided replacing grinder pumps more than once, a task which costs about $3,000. The use of the AutomationDirect ecosystem — including the CLICK PLC, C-more HMI, and StrideLinx networking — allowed the team to implement a sophisticated control and monitoring environment at a fraction of the cost of traditional municipal utility systems. The ease of ordering parts, and the free software with no recurring licensing
fees, ensure the system remains sustainable for the development in the future. Redwood Homes now serves as a model for how affordable housing can leverage modern technology to protect infrastructure and improve the lives of residents. By focusing on the “why” of equipment behavior rather than just the “how,” the project team created a resilient, proactive environment that proves high-end automation is no longer just for large metropolitan utilities. DW
CoStream costream.tech
NOVEMBER 2026
DESIGN WORLD
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Design Notes EDITED BY MIKE SANTORA
Recharging a drone… in flight Battery life remains one of the biggest constraints on commercial and industrial drones. McKinsey identifies battery and powertrain technology as a critical limiter of drone delivery range. Research on drones for energy infrastructure inspection likewise points to limited range as a barrier to monitoring long pipelines and remote assets such as offshore wind turbines. In agriculture, operators on large farms still swap drone batteries by hand throughout the day. And the stakes are growing. The drone and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) market is projected to nearly double, from $24.4 billion in 2025 to $52.1 billion in 2033, across energy, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, construction, and security applications. SunCubes, a deep-tech startup developing laser-based wireless power transmission, aims to remove that limitation. Its systems are designed to let drones and UAVs recharge in flight, or at remote stations, without physical contact. To develop the technology, SunCubes is using SimScale’s AI-native cloud simulation platform, including its agentic simulation capabilities, to design and validate both its UAV systems and its wireless energy transfer hardware. Simulation sits at the center of the company’s product development process. It lets the team evaluate the thermal, structural, and aerodynamic performance of its drone architectures without the time and cost of building physical prototypes. “Simulation is not a support function for us — it’s how we build,” said Davide Russo, co-founder and chief innovation officer of SunCubes. “SimScale gives us the capability to run complex, multiphysics analysis on our UAV 16
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designs and energy transfer systems in the cloud, with AI that helps us set up and interpret simulations faster than ever. For a team our size, this means we’re not blocked by inadequate tools and can move at startup speed, which is critical to our success.” For SimScale, the project is a demanding test of AI-assisted engineering. “SunCubes represents a genuinely new frontier for engineering simulation,” said David Heiny, cofounder and CEO of SimScale. “Laserbased wireless charging for drones is one of the most technically demanding hardware challenges in the industry today, and seeing a team this focused on using AI-assisted simulation as a core design tool is exactly the future we’re building toward.” DW
NOVEMBER 2026
SimScale simscale.com
SunCubes suncubes.space
As the industry looks to almost double from $24.4 billion in 2025 to $52.1 billion in 2033 across energy, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, construction and security, solving this challenge is mission critical.
www.designworldonline.com
11/2/26 8:33 AM
SunCubes’ engineering team is using SimScale’s cloud-native simulation platform, including its AIpowered agentic simulation capabilities, to support the design and validation of its UAV systems and wireless energy transfer hardware.
www.designworldonline.com
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COMPONENTS, ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT, AND MANUFACTURING
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Motion Control
EtherCAT In this four-part article series, we cover the fundamentals and new innovations related to EtherCAT. In this installment, we detail how EtherCAT emerged at Hannover Messe 2003 as a hybrid of Lightbus deterministic communication and Ethernet, the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet layers and frame structure at its core, and how it compares with PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, and CC-Link IE. We also explain the on-the-fly frame processing and dedicated EtherType that give EtherCAT its performance edge.
E
therCAT is a control automation technology that has become an open IEC standard around the globe for realtime industrial Ethernet communications. It was born of a segment of automation employing industrial PCs — complete with Ethernet connectivity — for controls. First presented at Hannover Messe 2003 as a way to overcome the performance limitations of other fieldbuses and industrial networking of the time, EtherCAT was a highperformance hybrid of optical-fiber Lightbus deterministic communication (with on-the-fly processing) and Ethernet. This brought together the cost-effective interface of Ethernet that had already become standard for processors of all types with the guaranteed cycle-accurate timing needed for next-generation industrial controls. Adoption has only accelerated in the three years since that video was taken.
So, Ethernet is at the core of EtherCAT. Ethernet in turn was invented in the 1970s at Xerox and then commercially standardized and set as an IEEE 802.3 standard — complemented by 802.1 and 802.2 defining how Ethernet networks and switches behave. Today’s wired Ethernet runs over fiber optics or (more commonly) twisted-pair copper Cat5 or Cat6 cables terminated with RJ45 or M12 connectors. Speeds evolved from 10 to 100 Mbps and then to Gigabit Ethernet and now beyond. Standard Ethernet networks in office or enterprise applications have a star topology using switches. In contrast, Ethernet used in networks for industrial automation feature all kinds of hardware and logic for physical connections in a star, tree, ring, line, point-to-point, or hybrid arrangements. In fact, the 802.3 standard defines wireless connections as well … these are increasingly employed in industrial
applications and often have mesh topologies largely for monitoring functions that don’t need to be deterministic. Ethernet at EtherCAT’s core The Open Systems Interconnection or OSI model is a reference model from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) often used to describe Ethernet-based systems as well as other connectivity technologies. Ethernet occupies the bottom two OSI layers. Layer 1 (physical) defines signaling, encoding, and cabling. For example, 100BASETX is the dominant IEEE 802 Ethernet specification in industrial applications. It runs 100 Mbps full-duplex over two twisted pairs with a 100-meter reach and RJ45 or M12 connectors. Relating Ethernet to Ethernetbased industrial protocols In industrial automation, a Adobe Stock
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Delta Motion RMC200 motion controllers have EtherCAT maindevice capabilities. They offer flexible connection and control of highperformance hydraulic and electric actuation in industrial applications. With EtherCAT, the RMC200 can now handle up to 50 axes of position and pressure control and any combination of directly connected and EtherCAT I/O. For example, on machines incorporating both hydraulic and electric motion, users may choose EtherCAT-enabled drives for electric axes paired with traditional (directconnect) servo-proportional valves and feedback sensors for the hydraulic axes. Delta Motion’s main-device stack delivers stability and performance in various applications.
fieldbus is the physical highway for communications. A protocol defines the traffic laws and rules of the road by defining the traveling data’s architecture, packet structure, command sets, error checks, addressing, and timing for communications. Industrial Ethernet-based protocols continue to overtake traditional fieldbuses … and in fact, Ethernet-based protocols are now employed in close to half of all industrial networks. Some fieldbuses are more reliable than legacy nondeterministic Ethernet offerings having low data rates. Taking market share are Ethernet-based options with rates of at least 100 Mbit … and 802.3 1-Gbit/sec or GbE for tracking and processing of data in realtime. Bus protocols are still sufficient for many simple industrial tasks, so we’ll see those used for decades to come. Some of this is an oversimplification, but protocols capitalizing on Ethernet include: • Ethernet for Control Automation Technology (or EtherCAT) with adoption worldwide … including Asia. • PROFINET common in Europe and surrounding the Siemens ecosystem.
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This is Ethernet and the data layer in context.
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•
•
• •
EtherNet Industrial Protocol or IP (managed by ODVA) common in North America and surrounding the Rockwell Automation ecosystem. EtherNet/IP provides communication between controls and I/O with adaptations for deterministic multi-axis motion control. Modbus Transmission Control Protocol or TCP/IP common in North America and surrounding the Schneider Electric ecosystem. CC-Link IE common in Japan and surrounding the Mitsubishi Electric ecosystem. The Ethernet-based Serial Realtime Communications System — SERCOS III — is by many accounts a legacy technology.
Different Ethernet protocols’ terminology These industrial protocols differ in how they use Ethernet. To discuss how exactly, we need to return to the OSI model. The OSI’s Layer 2 (data link) defines framing and addressing … • Of the commands from a controller device a.k.a. main … • To devices acting as nodes a.k.a. addressable endpoints a.k.a. subs.
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This article series uses main and sub to refer to these devices because those terms now dominate. We’re also using the term device as mechanical engineers might use that word to refer to complete industrial components — and not how electronics engineers might use the word. Old references used master/slave … and controller/ device, primary/secondary, or client/ server are used in the context of PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, and Modbus. Also used are EtherNet/IP scanner, PROFINET IO controller, and Modbus TCP main. We’ll avoid the use of the plural “mains” and conjuring its association with ac power supplies.
piece of networked hardware), the data payload, and a cyclic redundancy check or CRC for error detection.
Ethernet hardware and communications in frames So, why frames at all? To be organized. Wire carrying an undifferentiated stream of raw bits doesn’t communicate where one device’s data starts or stops, what device sent it, to which sub that data should go, or whether it arrived intact. Frames avoid all these problems by bundling chunks of data in a fixed structure having a preamble and delimiter marking the start, source and destination media access control or MAC addresses (a 48-bit ID for each
EtherCAT’s #1 strength EtherCAT’s core strength is that it sends frames around the network without stopping at each node … and those frames offload and load data as they
This structure does three things: • It lets hardware parse transmissions at wire speed. • It allows sharing of the Ethernet wires. • It lets every network layer know where its responsibilities begin and end. That’s in addition to addressing and making errors easier to detect and resolve. There’s a relatively new reference on this topic at ethercat.org.
A packet and frame are the same data at two different layers of encapsulation. A packet is a Layer 3 (network) unit whereas a frame is the Layer 2 (datalink) unit that encapsulates it for delivery across a physical link.
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move past devices. So, every frame from the EtherCAT main has data for all devices (nodes) — and as the frame travels ‘round and back, each node reads its inputs and adds its outputs to go back to the main. There’s never any wastefully small data payload traveling alone, letting EtherCAT use network bandwidth efficiently. This functionality is possible because EtherCAT uses Ethernet frames in the most unique way. Its frames have a standard header (with length identifier, reserved bit, and type integer) but they eschew the IP frame for process data objects or PDOs that correspond to the subdevices and their messages. The performance that’s possible with this approach has driven adoption. As of April 2026, 105.2 million EtherCAT nodes were installed around the globe.
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EtherTypes in industrial protocols The EtherType field identifies the payload’s protocol. EtherCAT and PROFINET register their own EtherTypes because their frames aren’t ordinary IP traffic. EtherCAT does this to bypass IP entirely and process frames in-transit. PROFINET does this so EtherCAT (with Ethernet’s 100Mbit/sec and now switches can distinguish beyond) is delivered time-critical realtime sans communication traffic from standard bottlenecks such as those of RS485 and CAN-based acyclic messages. In networks. contrast, EtherNet/IP WAGO Corp. and Modbus TCP/IP do use standard IP, so don’t need anything special from the network layer. Look for Part 2 of this Motion Control Tips motioncontroltips.com series in Design World’s next issue. DW
11/4/26 7:50 AM
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Engineering.com • Retrospective
An HP-85 computer. Wolfgang Stief/ Wikimedia
Carrying one CAD program from a 613 kHz HP-85 to a Mac M4 that drafts from speech taught me about accuracy, speed, and writing code the next reader can pick up cold.
Doing more with less JOH N M. CH RISTY • FOUN DER OF TETRA720
WHAT I LEARNED FROM 45 YEARS OF CAD DEVELOPM ENT
m
y journey as a CAD developer began 45 years ago, and it started with a circle. In the 1970s I had a small company called JMC Engineering. I designed audio products for musicians, instrument preamps, a phase-locked-loop frequency counter that stayed accurate at low frequencies, and whatever else came along. I did circuit board artwork on a light table, on film, in ink, with drafting tape of various widths, drawn
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at four-to-one and photographically reduced, which shrank the errors along with it. I still have the light table. Then, at the Design Engineering Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, I saw a computer system that could actually draw. The only problem was that it ran on what was then called a minicomputer and was priced at roughly $500,000. I could barely afford $500, let alone $500,000. I wanted a computer that could draw a circle, and there was none I could afford. So I
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decided to teach myself programming and make my own. I’m still making it 45 years later. Software development has changed dramatically; these days I do most of my programming with AI. Changes are coming for CAD as well, but my decades of CAD development have taught me what shouldn’t change — and why less is often more. Creating CADD/85 My first computer was an HP-85. It had www.designworldonline.com
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Front and back of the CADD/86-87 datasheet.
a five-inch screen, a thermal printer and a tape cartridge in one box, HP BASIC in ROM with engineering graphics in the language, and an easy path to an HP plotter. Its clock ran at 613 kilohertz when other machines ran at 4 megahertz. HP had chosen complex and slow over simple and fast, doing its arithmetic in binary-coded decimal to 15 significant digits. The answers were right, but the machine was not fast. A variable name was either one letter or one letter plus one digit, so you had 286 simple variables and that was it. I wrote a CAD program inside that box. It drew circles, lines, and boxes, it grew a library of schematic symbols, and because the HP-85 sat on engineers’ desks all over the world as an instrument controller, CADD/85 sold quite well. Hewlett-Packard listed me in its software catalog as a supplier. I soon released CADD/86-87 for the HP86 and HP-87. Then HP brought out the 9816, and the only way to get real performance out of it was HP Pascal, so I spent a year getting good at it and started over. The result was CADD/200, later CADD/200300, published by Tensegrity Inc. in Chicago. (The name came from www.designworldonline.com
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The CADD/200 data sheet, with the HP 9816, the plotter and the 9111 graphics tablet. John M. Christy
John M. Christy
Buckminster Fuller, who personally gave me permission to use it for my company as long as I told people, in his words, that “the word tensegrity is an invention of R. Buckminster Fuller.” I printed that on my business cards. I attended his lectures in the 1970s, and we met and talked several times.) Two decisions from that rewrite have outlived every machine the program ran on. The first was in the database. I gave every item an extent, so a redraw only touched what fell within the screen and ignored everything that did not. Most CAD programs of the day redrew the whole file every time. That alone made CADD/200 many times faster than the products it competed with. The second decision was in the source. No longer limited to one-letter variables, I named everything for what it was and what it did, and I commented heavily. Four decades later I can open any procedure in that Pascal source and see what it does at once. The users taught me the rest. John Hardy of The John Hardy Company in Evanston, Illinois, who designs precision audio equipment, started on CADD in 1983 and never stopped. He used it
John M. Christy
on a succession of HP machines for sheet metal, injection-molded plastic, machined parts, schematics, and circuit boards. I gave him the source, and he added what he needed, including wide lines in the 1980s and Gerber output in 2012. A customer extending a program 30 years after it was written is the best test of readable code I know of. In the 1990s I went into a different business and put CADD aside. But last
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Engineering.com • Retrospective
The C3 interface with a circuit schematic developed by John Hardy. John M. Christy
A bolt circle flange drawn entirely by the C3 assistant, with the user’s prompt on the right in blue (the gray-backed text John M. Christy is from the assistant itself).
year, in a very different environment from the one in which I had started, I decided to revitalize it. The 2025 rewrite The first question was which platform to use. I considered the PC first, but found no combination of language, graphics library, and tools that made sense. The Apple ecosystem did, because it was the HP workstation world again: hardware, operating system, language, and tools as one coherent thing. So, I started my rewrite for the Mac. The rewrite began around October 2025. I had my Pascal printed out and a 1980s HP 340 running beside my MacBook, feeding drawing files across a serial link. Early on I began handing pieces of the Pascal to Claude, 26
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Anthropic’s AI model, to analyze and comment on, and that is how the Apple code began. The more we worked, the more it became an actual team. My job changed. I stopped being the programmer who writes the code and became the producer and director who decides what gets built, and the quality-control tester who decides whether it ships. The program, now called C3 (an abbreviation of CADD/300_Modern), was featurecomplete by February 2026. I’m currently working on a Windows version of C3, mostly written by Claude under my direction. Features on request In the HP days, when a user asked for
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a feature, I could usually build it, but it took a lot of coding, a lot of testing, and a lot of time. I always invited my users, mostly very good engineers and scientists, to ask for whatever they needed. With Claude as my programming partner, an idea, its implementation, and its testing sometimes take minutes instead of months. Before any new code is committed, nearly 2,000 tests run to ensure that what we are adding does not break what we already have. The whole suite finishes in less than half a minute. For example, not long ago I was drawing in C3 and was not sure how to use a function I needed, so I went to the manual and searched around, which is slow. I said, “Claude, we need context-sensitive help.” The user guide, which runs more than 200 pages, was restructured, and now, whenever you press the help key, the program opens the manual to the exact spot for whatever you were doing. Another time I wanted photographs and spreadsheets in a drawing, and the program could not do either yet. Within minutes it could, and the spreadsheet lives inside the drawing itself, with formulas for bills of materials and hole schedules saved in the same file. The C3 assistant came in three steps, and the first two had nothing to do with artificial intelligence. In January I asked for voice guidance that tells you what to click next. For a line that is trivial; for an angular dimension you click the start and end of one line, the start and end of the other, and then the place you want the arc. A new user has no way of knowing that (I forget the sequence half the time myself, and I wrote the program). So in May I asked whether we could just talk to it: such as “lines menu” and “circles menu.” It now understands more than 200 spoken commands. In September I asked whether it could draw something from a request in plain words. That became the assistant: a language model that drives the program through its own www.designworldonline.com
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command catalog, with one undo step per request. What did not change What changed in 45 years is everything you can see: the machines, the languages, the screens, the fact that I now describe a part out loud and watch it appear. What did not change is what I would tell an engineer or a manager to hold onto. Accuracy before speed. HP built a 613-kilohertz machine that got the arithmetic right while the competition ran six times faster and rounded. The program today solves every construction — tangent circles, arc fits, intersections, and offsets — in closed form, never by a grid search or an approximation, because an error nobody can see on the screen shows up at a hundred-times zoom and in the shop. Draw only what the screen can see. The item extents from the first Pascal
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version are still there, as a spatial index with bounding-box culling. Write it so the next reader can start cold. The comments and descriptive names I adopted after living with oneletter variables are the reason I could read my own 1985 Pascal in 2025, and the reason a language model could read it too and help carry the design forward. The new code and its plan documents are written the same way, for whoever reads them next, person or model. R. Buckminster Fuller had a word for doing more with less. He called it ephemeralization, and he meant it as the way a growing population could be supported without anyone having less: each generation of tools gets more result out of less material, less time, and less energy. One person carrying one program across 45 years, and building in minutes what once took months, is a small instance of exactly that. DW
About the Author John M. Christy is the founder of Tetra720 LLC in Chicago and the author of CADD/85, CADD 200/300, and C3 — a 2D CAD program for Mac and Windows with a built-in assistant that drafts from plain-language requests. Because C3’s code base was structured so that a language model can read and change it safely, he builds the functions users request in days not months, which he does not know another CAD program to offer. To learn more, visit tetra720.com.
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Safe
Safety
FRANZ KAUFLEITNER
Global Product Manager, Safety • B&R
SMARTER, MORE PRODUCTIVE AUTOMATION
B
Before we dive into Safety+, let’s get to know both of you a little better. What brought you into the world of industrial safety, and how does your experience shape what you do today?
Franz Kaufleitner: I’ve spent the past two decades working in functional safety, seeing firsthand how essential it is for both protecting people and ensuring machines run as productively as possible. Safety engineering has traditionally been seen as a constraint, but I see it as an enabler. My focus is on making safety solutions more intuitive, more efficient, and more adaptable to modern automation needs. And importantly, users are not left alone when it comes to safety: Safety+ is designed to guide them through the workflow with built-in checks and validation support, so
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fety: As machines grow faster and become more adaptive, safety engineering often continues to operate in a parallel world of isolated workflows and fixed constraints. In this interview, Franz Kaufleitner (Global Product Manager Safety) and Stefan Schönegger (CTO, ABB Machine Automation Division, B&R) share why the time for a shift is right and how Safety+ from B&R aims to close the gap between modern automation and safety engineering.
STEFAN SCHÖNEGGER
CTO • ABB Machine Automation Division (B&R)
Edited by: Mike Santora
safety remains manageable even as machines and projects get more complex. Stefan Schönegger: My background is in industrial automation, controls, and networking. Over the years, I’ve seen how innovation in standard machine control outpaced safety engineering. That’s why Safety+ is so important — it closes that gap, making safety an integral part of modern automation instead of an afterthought. Safety should empower engineers, not limit them. Safety engineering has been evolving for decades. Why is now the right time for a shift like Safety+? Franz Kaufleitner: Machines are becoming more complex, production cycles are shorter, and the pressure on engineers is increasing. Yet safety tools have lagged, often requiring separate workflows, limited programming options, and cumbersome validation steps.
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We saw an opportunity to rethink safety engineering with the same modern approach as standard automation — more open, more flexible, and better integrated. Stefan Schönegger: Another big factor is adaptability. Manufacturing is moving toward smaller batches, customized production, and higher efficiency. But rigid safety implementations don’t fit this new reality. With Safety+, we’re giving engineers more freedom to build smarter safety functions that enhance — not hinder — machine performance. By making safety a natural extension of automation software, we create more opportunities for efficiency and productivity. Engineers don’t adopt new tools just because they’re new. What makes Safety+ a real step forward? Franz Kaufleitner: The biggest difference is that we’ve opened up safety engineering. Safety+ removes artificial restrictions that made safety programming slow and rigid. Now, engineers can use an open codebase, integrate third-party tools, and take advantage of features like headless applications for CLI interaction. This makes safety programming as efficient as standard control programming, ensuring that machine builders don’t have to compromise between safety and agility. At the same time, SafeDesigner+ adds its own independent safety layer that detects unintended code changes and helps prevent accidental modifications from slipping into a validated project — and of course, SafeDesigner+ is TÜV certified. Stefan Schönegger: We also focused on improving machine productivity. Smart safety reactions allow machines to respond to events in a more targeted way, reducing unnecessary stops. For 30
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example, instead of shutting down an entire production line, Safety+ allows controlled deceleration — keeping machines running safely while avoiding waste and downtime. This is a direct benefit for manufacturers looking to optimize their output. What are the key advantages for OEMs and end users? Stefan Schönegger: For OEMs, it’s about speed and efficiency — developing safety functions as quickly as other automation tasks. Open architecture enables faster iteration, easier collaboration, and more streamlined validation. For end users, it’s about reducing downtime and maintenance costs. Automated safety updates and integrated diagnostics mean fewer interruptions and lower total cost of ownership.
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Franz Kaufleitner: There’s also a space-saving benefit. Faster safety reactions mean machines can operate with smaller clearance zones, making it possible to design more compact production lines. That’s a major advantage for manufacturers optimizing factory floor space. Additionally, with improved motion control integration, machine performance is not only safer but also smoother and more predictable, which is a key factor in high-speed production environments. Five years from now, what role do you see Safety+ playing in industrial automation? Stefan Schönegger: I think we’ll see a shift where safety engineering is no longer seen as a separate discipline but fully embedded in automation workflows. The same efficiency www.designworldonline.com
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Safety+ from B&R lets machine manufacturers accelerate the development and market launch of their machines, giving them a decisive competitive advantage.
Safety+ offers stateof-the-art engineering functions that increase efficiency and simplify collaboration.
THIN ENOUGH? BXR Brakes • Up to 480 in-lbs static • Up to a 1.125'' bore • 19 watts or less • Very thin profile reduces weight & saves space • Modified–Standard brakes available for special needs • 1000’s in use world-wide gains we’ve seen in standard control engineering will apply to safety. More advanced diagnostics, predictive safety algorithms, and real-time analytics will further reduce risk while improving machine uptime. Franz Kaufleitner: Safety+ is setting a new standard — one where safety isn’t just about compliance but about smarter, more productive automation. Five years from now, I believe adaptive www.designworldonline.com
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safety functions will be as common as adaptive machine control, allowing for more flexible and reconfigurable production environments without compromising worker safety. DW
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Miki Pulley Design World BXR Brake ad 2026 11/2/26 9:00 AM
Electronic Engineering
Safeguarding
Dan Rebeck, Product Line Manager at Transtector, an Infinite Electronics company
intelligent
transportat systems with Power-over-Ethernet and FDOT-certified surge protectors
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L
ation
ightning and other highvoltage events are driving rapid innovation in surge protection for transportation infrastructure. When lightning strikes, the energy it releases can travel through cabling and disable critical connected equipment. This is a serious risk for intelligent transportation systems (ITS), the networks of connected devices that keep roadways safe and traffic moving. Key ITS devices, such as HD traffic cameras at intersections, radar-based vehicle detection systems, LiDAR, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, signal and cabinet monitoring equipment, edge devices, and smart sensor platforms, operate in some of the most exposed environments in transportation infrastructure. Many of these devices are installed on overhead structures and poles, where they are especially susceptible to lightning strikes. These devices are typically powered and networked through Ethernet, power, and other communication cables, which can become conduits for high-voltage energy when a strike occurs nearby. As reliance on ITS systems continues to grow to implement safer and more efficient roadways, the importance of keeping them running without failure becomes more crucial, particularly as they help EMS vehicles navigate traffic, ease intersection congestion, detect wrong-way drivers, and improve overall efficiency. As a result, outdated equipment is being replaced with more intelligent, higher-capacity systems built to support this growing demand. This expansion also raises the stakes: without surge protection, a single lightning event can take an entire ITS node or even network offline.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has developed rigorous surge protection standards, which have become an unofficial national benchmark. iStock
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PoE++ and the growing exposure Surge-protected Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) is emerging as a key safeguard for advanced ITS networks. Legacy PoE (IEEE 802.3af) delivers up to 15.4 W, and PoE+ (IEEE 802.3at) up to 30 W. The latest standard, PoE++ (IEEE 802.3bt), pushes that to 60 to 90 W. That is enough to power the PTZ motors, heating elements, high-definition video feed, and LiDAR sensors built into modern ITS equipment. ITS equipment has become an increasingly expensive asset due to the technologies required to implement safe and intelligent traffic corridors, and is increasingly considered mission-critical, which creates even further reasons for robust surge protection. As more power and functionality move through the same Ethernet cabling, effective surge protection becomes increasingly important. Without it, even the newest, most capable ITS equipment remains vulnerable to the same failure modes as older, lower-capability systems. How a surge disables the network When lightning strikes near ITS equipment, the resulting electromagnetic field can induce damaging currents in nearby cabling, even when the cable itself is not directly struck, a phenomenon known as inductive coupling. If that cable isn’t protected, the induced surge travels into the connected devices at each end of the link and degrades or disables them. The practical result is a dark video feed or an unresponsive sensor, which often means dispatching a crew to repair or replace hardware in dangerous storm conditions. The scale of energy involved can be extreme, in which a surge event can expose a system designed to run at 48 V to kilovolts of potential, all within milliseconds. Lightning isn’t the only source: either fast transients from utility or equipment load switching can create similar spikes and, without protection, cause system-wide failure.
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The role of certified surge protection Surge protection works by giving that excess energy an alternative path to flow before it can reach the sensitive electronics within the equipment at each end of the data links. In a certified surge protector, internal components divert the surge to ground before it reaches power sourcing equipment (PSE) that generates the data packets and PoE++ dc power injected onto the line or the connected device, keeping both the power and data paths intact. That protection needs to be rated for outdoor or indoor use depending on where the equipment sits and sized for PoE++’s higher power levels. A protector designed only for legacy PoE may not adequately handle 60 to 90 W of power that is now being utilized by modern ITS equipment. FDOT: A rigorous standard for ITS equipment deployment Florida sees an average of 3,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per day, making it the lightning capital of the United States. That frequency has pushed the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to develop some of the industry’s most rigorous surge protection standards, which have become an unofficial national benchmark well beyond Florida’s borders. To earn a spot on FDOT’s Approved Product List (APL), products undergo independent lab and field testing, with particular emphasis on how equipment holds up and performs under repetitive surges, extreme temperatures and humidity, vibration, and other environmental stress. Products used on FDOT-controlled projects must pass this certification and appear on the APL. Because of the rigor involved, the same certification is increasingly referenced on transportation projects outside Florida as a marker of reliability. Transtector currently has four PoE ITS surge protection products 34
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Transtector’s PoE ITS surge protection products undergo independent lab and field testing, giving project teams a documented starting point when specifying compliant equipment.
on FDOT's APL: the ALPU-F140, the DPR-F140, and the corresponding Build America Buy America (BABA) compliant versions of ALPU-F140-BA and DPRF140-BA. These devices all support Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth as well as the highest power class for PoE under IEEE 802.3bt. The other benefits include hybrid coordinated, non-degrading, lowclamping, silicon avalanche suppressor diode (SASD) and high-capacity gas discharge tube (GDT) technology, isolated shield and ground conductors with a dedicated GDT, and ergonomic wiring and mounting features. The isolated shield to ground topology allows for the installer to determine if these conductors should be bonded at the powered device (PD) or kept isolated. This allows the installation to be tailored in support of best practices for both continuous EMI shielding and transient overvoltages. Other quality options to consider include high-performance twisted pair cables supporting indoor and outdoor environments, F/UTP and SF/UTP shielding types, jacket materials, and burn ratings, and high-flex options. In short, FDOT-approved surge protection and connectivity equipment has demonstrated, through independent testing, that it meets the safety, reliability
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and environmental standards required for public infrastructure. For engineers and project managers designing or upgrading ITS infrastructure, verifying FDOT approval status is a useful first step before purchasing. DW Transtector transtector.com www.designworldonline.com
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MEDICAL DESIGN TIPS
RESILIA’S COINVENTOR DISCUSSES THE TISSUE, HOW IT WAS DEVELOPED AND HOW IT’S MADE.
BY SKYLER RIVERA ASSOCIATE EDITOR MEDICAL DESIGN & OUTSOURCING
This
may have solved the leading cause of tissue valve failure
C
alcification is the leading cause of implant failure in tissue-based heart valves, and new durability data from Edwards Lifesciences shows its Resilia tissue development is paying off. The anti-calcification tech’s 10-year results are “mind-boggling,” says one of the novel tissue technology’s coinventors, Edwards Lifesciences R&D SVP Greg Wright. “If I was asked at 10 years in a clinical trial what would I be happy with, I’d have been happy with better than 90% freedom from structural valve deterioration,” he said in a Medical Design & Outsourcing interview. “We were almost at 98%.” Made from bovine pericardial tissue, Resilia was first implanted in a human in 2011 and commercially launched in 2016. It’s just one R&D project from the industry’s pioneer of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), but it’s an example of how R&D drives growth at the world’s largest medical device companies. Over the last decade, Edwards has nearly tripled its revenue to $6.1 billion while growing R&D spending 182% to $1.1 billion. At the same time, the company has increased R&D spending as a share of total sales from 15% to 18%. And when it comes to its rank among the world’s largest medical device 36
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companies, Edwards has climbed 14 spots on the MDO Medtech Big 100 in that time, along with other medtech innovators like Intuitive Surgical (up 21 spots) and Abbott (up 18 spots). To date, more than 500,000 patients have received Edwards surgical and transcatheter valve implants with Resilia tissue technology. Nearly all patients in the company’s Commence aortic valve trial have avoided reoperation due to structural valve deterioration (SVD) at 10 years. “As patients live longer and expect to remain active, structural heart therapies must be designed with lifetime care in mind,” Edwards Lifesciences CEO Bernard Zovighian said while announcing the 10year results, calling the study “the latest addition to our breadth of long-term data reflecting our commitment to advancing durable valve technologies through continuous evidence development.” The quest for the holy grail of valve tissue Anti-calcification technology was the “holy grail” of next-generation tissue technology when Edwards started on the journey, says Dr. Joseph Bavaria, a paid Edwards consultant who has performed more than 11,500 open-heart surgeries and led IDE trials studying TAVR and other cardiac innovations. Durability issues have plagued artificial tissue heart valves for decades.
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Scientists and engineers tried various chemical methods to reduce calcification of the valve leaflets without sustained success, resulting in implanted valves that lasted only five to 20 years. Then came Resilia. “We want to provide solutions for our patients that don’t exist today, and that’s all we care about,” Wright said. “When we were focused on Resilia, we were looking at two different paths: improving the durability by reducing the calcification … and creating a situation where we could store the valve dry.” Resilia tissue introduced a novel preservation technology that resists calcification and allows for valve dry storage by incorporating a stable-capping anti-calcification process that blocks residual aldehyde groups known to bind with calcium. “This was brand new chemistry, brand new concepts, brand new scientific thought,” said Bavaria, who led the fiveyear Resilia study as lead author. Developing a dry storage solution Wright joined Edwards in 2005, working with a team focused on next-generation tissue technology. “We wanted to learn what the competition did, what is the industry doing to address this, what have they done well, and what can we learn from it and even make it better,” he said. www.designworldonline.com
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Before Resilia, artificial heart valves were treated with and packaged in glutaraldehyde to stabilize the porcine leaflets and restrict endothelialization. When the valves were implanted, residual aldehydes remained. “When you leave behind these residual aldehydes, they eventually go down a path where their chemistry changes, they eventually begin to attract calcium, and calcification begins to start at some of those spots,” Wright said. “ … The technology we developed to reduce calcification was really focused on residual aldehydes in the tissue that are left behind after we cross-link the tissue in glutaraldehyde [and decided] if we’re going to use a chemistry that effectively blocks these aldehyde groups, we don’t want to go back to glutaraldehyde.” Edwards needed the technology for the Konect aortic valved conduit it was developing at the time. Konect’s aortic root graft, attached to the system’s artificial aortic valve, can’t be submerged in solution. So Wright and his team developed a glycerolization process to treat valves with a glycerol and ethanol mix. The mix displaces most of the water present in the pericardial tissue and replaces the liquid with glycerol, mitigating calciumattracting glutaraldehyde residuals and allowing for dry storage. Reducing calcification with a proprietary capping technology During their research, Wright’s team learned competitors were implementing capping technology, which blocks a chemical reaction to avoid generating by-products, but it wasn’t stable. “Stable capping is a chemical process that puts a chemical cap on those aldehyde groups, and it permanently blocks that cap from becoming a spot where calcification can generate,” Wright said. “The capping took us a long time to develop a consistent process where we felt it was robust enough to consistently reduce calcification as we were running our studies and assessing the technology.” Wright and his team eventually developed a proprietary stable-capping process that blocked calcium and also enabled better blood flow. www.designworldonline.com
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MEDICAL DESIGN TIPS
“We noticed that the motion of the leaflets was better,” he said. “We were getting better opening, better leaflet kinematics. Not only are you now getting a reduction in calcification and increased durability, you’re getting better hemodynamics for the patients.” Wright said Edwards is seeing durability and increased hemodynamic function across surgical valves and transcatheter valves like the Edwards Sapien 3 Ultra Resilia valve. But there’s room for improvement and more innovation. “As successful as Resilia has been, you’re going to have a patient that doesn’t last as long as another patient, and that has a lot to do with the patient factors,” he said. “That’s what we’re thinking about in terms of what the next steps for our next generation of Resilia are. Maybe there are patient factors that we can focus on.”
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Looking forward with Resilia Resilia’s 10-year data is “better than we’ve ever had before,” said Bavaria,
who’s already looking forward to longerterm results. “Durability for tissue valves is going to be continuing to understand the deep science about what actually happens to these leaflets,” he said. “We’ll get better and better — which we have been — at designing leaflets Radiographic imaging from an engineering shows an Edwards standpoint: making Lifesciences valve with the valves more Resilia tissue (top) with hemodynamic, significantly less leaflet making them calcification compared to a cleaner, making control valve (bottom). them have less Images courtesy of Edwards gradients, making Lifesciences them close faster, open faster. All that kind of stuff is in the engineering realm, and that’s being done. At this stage it’s pretty innovative.” He continued, “But just like Resilia, we need another … really big step in our understanding of the actual chemistry and biology of heart valve failure.”
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Technical Thinking By Mark Jones
For the kids Joseph McKibben pushed the metaphorical button that detonated the bomb at Trinity Site. McKibben also produced a working artificial muscle using an elastomeric inner bladder encased in a braided outer sleeve. Pressurizing the bladder causes it to expand radially, and the braid, made from fibers that don’t stretch, creates longitudinal contraction. He invented it for his polio-stricken daughter, a device to move her immobile fingers using a shoulder-shrug-activated control valve. The name stuck. McKibben actuators use pressurized bladders surrounded by braids to create motion. I’ve been lucky. My kids had healthy childhoods. I certainly devised — I hesitate to use invented — things for them, but they stayed in our yard. None served a greater societal good. I still have the large pulley and the remote release shackle I made for my children. During summers, positioning the pulley 30 feet up in a tree let us lift loads above the driveway, where a small tug sent them hurtling to the cement. Many evenings were spent and many thousand water balloons sacrificed during “dropping things from high places.” Not the best name, but these are the same kids who to this day refer to hibachi restaurants as “cook in front.” Perhaps my family is a bit too literal.
McKibben’s more noble calling sent me looking for inventors inspired by their children. The internet is full of lists, but I can’t find that anyone has compiled this one. I happened upon Roald Dahl, the children’s author. He fit what I was looking for — a widget inspired by his child. Dahl invented a cerebral shunt valve for hydrocephalus in response to his son developing the condition after an accident, the Wade-Dahl-Till valve. It benefited thousands before being replaced by improved designs. There are medical treatments, such as Lorenzo’s Oil of movie fame. Those aren’t devices, so they didn’t fit. Mandy Haberman developed the Haberman Feeder when her newborn daughter couldn’t suckle. The valve she developed also led to the no-spill Anywayup cup. Both, developed to make life better for her own child, are widely used. A perfect fit for my growing list. Phil Baechler, Owen Maclaren, and Ann Moore all invented transportation devices: the jogging stroller, the umbrella stroller, and the Snugli, respectively. They, too, fit my growing list. I’m in awe of Ryan McFarland. He invented something so beautifully simple, so elegant, and, in retrospect, so obvious. He invented the balance bike for children. No more dreaded training wheels. A bike
with no pedals lets kids learn balance before trying to master pedaling. I envy my young neighbors, who avoid running behind their children as they learn to bike. Another perfect fit. John Costik ends my list due to his huge impact. With a campfire, there is the hard work of cutting the wood and then there is striking the match. There is no fire without both. Costik lit the match that ultimately resulted in the artificial pancreas. He reverse-engineered his son’s continuous glucose monitor to enable pushing its readings to the cloud. He gave the code away. A community caught fire through opensource projects including Nightscout and OpenAPS. People including Dana Lewis, Scott Leibrand, and Ben West did the firewood-cutting, the hard work of wiring monitors to insulin pumps and writing algorithms to “close the loop.” The collective’s DIY artificial pancreas automated insulin delivery, lighting a fire that led directly to today’s commercial systems used by millions. Water balloons crashing into the driveway was something my kids enjoyed. Only memories remain. I’m happy that the inventors on my list were able to take inspiration from their children to create more lasting impacts. DW
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