Many-core control for Industry 4.0

Maximum computing power and more intelligence in a smart factory? Beckhoff’s new generation of C6670 industrial servers guarantees high efficiency and precision.

The concept of a “smart factory” requires more intelligence aboard the machine and throughout the production line, and consequently, more demanding computing power requirements for the level of automation. Furthermore, greater functionality with reduced time cycles presuppose increasingly powerful central control systems.
Beckhoff’s PC-based control architecture is based on the latest and most powerful processors IT currently offers, which means that latest generation IT technology is made immediately available for automation applications.

Powerful centralized control. In the field of IT servers, many-core computers are used for especially challenging and complex computing tasks. The new C6670 generation of industrial servers bring this technology to Industry 4.0 applications.
In order to meet the increasingly stringent requirements that make a smart factory, with “high intelligence” production machinery and equipment, Beckhoff releases on the market the C6670 industrial server, one of the most powerful controllers, equipped with 12, 24 or 36 cores and an expandable internal memory ranging from 64 to 2048 GBytes.
The C6670 is the ideal hardware platform for the “many-core control” concept, in line with which Beckhoff is implementing its philosophy of centralized control.
That means that not only PLC, motion, robotics and CNC functions, but also condition monitoring and energy management are integrated in a single software and performed on one powerful CPU.
However, this immense computing power can only be used by taking maximum advantage of each individual core of the processor through the TwinCAT 3.1 automation platform.
The entire installation is controlled by a powerful many-core C6670 computer, which also directly controls the linear XTS (eXtended Transport System) and the robot. Measurement and Condition Monitoring are also integrated functions.

Industrial server C6670 supplies an optimal hardware platform for the supplementary intelligence aboard the machine or installation required by smart factories and Industry 4.0.