PROFINET Forum

Question from the PROFIsafe Designer Workshop in October 2023:

The PROFIsafe specification mentions the possibility to use an LED on a device to indicate different states. Must this LED be "implemented" in a safety-related way (i.e., to guarantee that it is actually switched on or blinking)? Could the LED be substituted by some other means, e.g., some display on an HMI?

PS-cE wrote: ↑13 Nov 2023, 17:54 Question from the PROFIsafe Designer Workshop in October 2023:

The PROFIsafe specification mentions the possibility to use an LED on a device to indicate different states. Must this LED be "implemented" in a safety-related way (i.e., to guarantee that it is actually switched on or blinking)? Could the LED be substituted by some other means, e.g., some display on an HMI?

The LED indications mentioned in the specification are never safety-related. This means that no unsafe state results from an LED that is not working/not working correctly (e.g., a wrongly parameterized device would refuse to establish a connection, or additional diagnostic information might simply be missing). Therefore, no safety-related means have to be considered in the implementation of the LED.

Alternative ways of indication are allowed, and HMI display is mentioned explicitly in the specification in several locations.