Weidmüller has extended its family of SAI Active Universal modules with SAI Active Pro – a sub bus system with robust design rated to IP67. Standard bus systems used in mechanical engineering often prove to be problematical vis-à-vis two factors: The number of addresses is restricted and the costs for standard bus slaves such as for Profibus-DP or DeviceNet are clearly a major cost factor. That is why sub bus systems have become established in larger plants. Such systems offer the option of allowing I/O nodes to operate and supply other nodes via an additional line – independent of the main bus. A further advantage: With SAI Active Universal Pro, gateways are designed as slaves, which means they can process I/O information. That allows sensors and actuators to be connected directly to the gateways. Demonstrating its confidence in standard equipment solutions and not relying on special accessories, Weidmüller utilises solely M8 shielded sensor cables to connect the sub bus nodes. In order to ensure the same level of data integrity for bus system transmissions available via the backbone Weidmüller utilises CAN, which is a particularly economical, robust and noise-proof solution.