Cognex Corporation, the world's leading supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, today announced In-Sight® Explorer software release 3.4 for its award-winning In-Sight vision sensors. The new software includes PROFINET communications support that makes it easier than ever to connect In-Sight vision sensors to Industrial Ethernet via PROFINET, and communicate with Siemens S7 controllers. “Adding PROFINET to the In-Sight suite of communication protocols is yet another example of how Cognex strives to support the latest industry standards for our customers,” said Kris Nelson, Cognex Senior Vice President, Factory Automation. “With PROFINET, manufacturers can easily share and use data for process control and improvement, and more efficiently manage multiple vision sensors linked across the factory.” In addition to communication with PCs, controllers, robots and other industrial devices for process control, networking In-Sight vision sensors allows trend analysis of archived data and images for continuous improvement and increased manufacturing productivity with automated changeovers for mixed-model processing. In-Sight Explorer 3.4 also offers enhanced optical character reading and verification tools and onboard image storage for reviewing inspection results without a PC. PatMax®, the industry’s performance standard for feature and object location, is available as an option.