PLCnext Technology in PLCnext Control devices
PLCnext Technology can be operated as a firmware platform on different controllers. In this topic you see the main features of all available PLCnext Control devices. For a sneak peek into our further development and current activities, please refer to the Development roadmaps.
Latest update: May 2nd, 2022
PLCnext Control product family
The controllers shown above are just those this Info Center is about. Other PLCnext Technology devices are already available:
- BPC 9102S is the powerful PLCnext Control as a Box PC for functional safety applications
- EPC 1502 and EPC 1522 are the small form factor computers for industrial edge applications
For the Axioline F controller family, there is a range of AXC F XT Extensionsavailable, extending the features at your needs.
General features of PLCnext Technology
What's a controller worth without a sophisticated firmware? The general features come with all PLCnext Control devices but may vary in different releases of the PLCnext Runtime System. There are so many aspects to report, and so many changes made during the agile development – we're trying to give you an overview with all interesting details in the PLCnext Technology features.
Firmware releases on controllers
The following releases of the PLCnext firmware are (or have been) available as firmware for controllers (in brackets: latest public release or hotfix).
Note: For 2019 and 2020 releases, only the LTS release are reported here.
| PLCnext Control | 2019.0 LTS |
2020.0 LTS |
2021.0 LTS |
2021.6 | 2021.9 | 2022.0 LTS |
2022.3 |
| AXC F 1152 (Item no. 1151412) |
– | ✔ (2020.0.1 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2021.6) |
✔ (2021.9) |
✔ (2022.0.3 LTS) |
– [2] |
| AXC F 2152 (Item no. 2404267) |
✔ (2019.0.4 LTS) |
✔ (2020.0.1 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2021.6) |
✔ (2021.9) |
✔ (2022.0.3 LTS) |
✔ (2022.3) |
| AXC F 3152 (Item no. 1069208) |
– | – | ✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2021.6) |
✔ (2021.9) |
✔ (2022.0.5) |
– [2] |
| RFC 4072S (Item no. 1051328) |
✔ (2019.0 LTS) |
✔ (2020.0 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2021.6.2) |
– [1] | ✔ (2022.0.4) |
– [2] |
| RFC 4072R new (Item no. 1136419) |
– | – | – | – | – | ✔ (2022.0.0 LTS) |
– [2] |
- For RFC 4072S, no 2021.9 firmware was released.
- For AXC F 2152 only
Controller-specific features
The following features show the differences and similarities between the controllers, determining the performance and fields of application.
| AXC F 1152 | AXC F 2152 | AXC F 3152 | RFC 4072S | RFC 4072R | |
| Field of application | Ideal for small applications | Ideal for small to medium-sized applications | Ideal for medium-sized applications | High performance for safety applications | High performance for redundancy applications |
| CPU | ARM® Cortex®-A9 800 MHz |
ARM® Cortex®-A9 800 MHz Dual Core |
Intel® Atom™ x5-E3930 1,3 GHz Dual Core |
Intel® i5 6300U 2,4 GHz Dual Core |
Intel® i5 6300U 2,4 GHz Dual Core |
| RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB | 2048 MB | 4096 MB | 4096 MB |
| Integrated Flash memory[2] | 512 MB | 512 MB | 1 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Retain memory | 48 kB (NVRAM) | 48 kB (NVRAM) | 1 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB |
| Ethernet ports | LAN1/LAN2 (switched): 10/100 Mbps |
LAN1/LAN2 (switched): 10/100 Mbps |
3x 10/100/1000 Mbps | LAN1/LAN2: 10/100/1000 Mbps; LAN3.1/LAN3.2 (switched): 10/100 Mbps |
LAN1/LAN2: 10/100/1000 Mbps; LAN3.1/LAN3.2 (switched): 10/100 Mbps |
| Trusted platform module (TPM) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Real-time clock | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Configuration and diagnostics | via WBM | via WBM | via WBM | via touch display and WBM |
via touch display and WBM |
| Task cycle time (ESM) | 5 ms | 1 ms | 500 μs | 500 μs | 1 ms (recommended: 10 ms) |
| Real-time (ESM) cores | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Control tasks running on an ESM core | 8 | up to  :8 from  : 16 |
up to : 8 from : 16 |
up to : 8 from : 16 |
6 (max. 1 user task, 5 event tasks) |
| Maximum parallel tasks | 8 | up to : 16 from : 32 |
up to : 16 from : 32 |
up to : 16 from : 32 |
6 |
| PROFINET® update rate | 4 devices (2 ms), 16 devices (4 ms) |
4 devices (2 ms), 64 devices (16 ms) |
32 devices (1 ms), 128 devices (4 ms) |
64 devices (1ms), 256 devices (8ms) |
64 devices (1ms), 256 devices (8ms) |
| Support for left-side extensions | – | ✔ (see details) |
✔ (see details) |
– | – |
| Axioline F local bus support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | – | – |
| Inline local bus support | – | by means of AXC F IL ADAPT |
by means of AXC F IL ADAPT |
– | – |
| Safety controllers ( PLCnext Engineer Functional Safety editor necessary) |
– | – | – | ARM® Cortex®-A8 1x 600 MHz, ARM® Cortex®-A6 1x 800 MHz |
– |
| Netload Limiter | from  :✔ new |
from : ✔ new |
from : ✔ |
from  :✔ |
✔ |
| Active Fan Control | – | – | with AXC F 3 FAN MODULE (item no. 1173450) |
with RFC FAN MODULE (item no. 2404085) |
with RFC FAN MODULE (item no. 2404085) |
| Integrated uninterruptible power supply (UPS) | – | – | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| System redundancy new | – | – | – | – | ✔ |
| Applicative system redundancy | – | ✔ | ✔ | – | – |
- Depending on the firmware in use and/or PLCnext Store Apps and/or other components, not all the memory is available to the user. In case of memory shortage, we recommend using an additional Phoenix Contact SD card.
Note: These SD Cards come with an underlying file system which is necessary for proper operation in PLCnext Technology. Do not use any other SD cards available on the market, nor reformat a Phoenix Contact SD card you want to use with your PLCnext Control further on.