Glossary · Industrial communication
Sercos
Also known as: Sercos III, Serial Real-time Communication System
German: Sercos
In industrial communication, Sercos is a real-time communication system for motion control, maintained by Sercos International. Its current version, Sercos III, runs on Ethernet hardware in a line or ring topology and provides cyclic, synchronized data exchange between motion controllers and drives.
- Industrial communication
- Standards
In one sentence
Sercos is a real-time communication system for motion control; Sercos III runs on Ethernet hardware in line or ring topologies.
Example
A machine tool controller commands five servo axes and the spindle drive over a Sercos III ring with a cycle time of 250 microseconds.
How it applies
- Engineering: Sercos was developed for drives and defines drive profiles, so drives of different vendors can be commanded alike. Sercos III uses a master and slaves in a line or ring; the ring provides redundancy.
- Commissioning: Communication phases bring the network step by step into cyclic operation; drive parameters are set via the service channel.
- Safety: CIP Safety on Sercos allows safety-related data on the same network; safety functions still need their own design and validation.
- Documentation: The documentation team documents supported Sercos versions and profiles, cycle times, the device description file and the drive parameters (IDNs) relevant to integrators.
Sercos vs. EtherCAT
Both are designed for high-performance motion. Sercos originated in drive technology with a strong drive profile; EtherCAT is a general-purpose real-time Ethernet with on-the-fly processing. Tooling and vendor ecosystems differ.