I've been told that Profibus is essentially an RS485 network.  Up to
12MBaud too.  There are a couple of different "types" of Profibus. One
geared towards sensors and actuators - FD I think.  Profibus DP is for
moderate communications bandwidths. i.e. controller communications.
The third is designed more for process administration where lots of data
is passed around.
We've been using it for PLC to PC communications. Now being replaced by
ethernet with a PLC "Web Server" module soon on the way. We'll then be
able to give support staff a window into "what's happening" via a
browser.

Try www.profibus.com
They've a pretty comprehensive site.

Erik

Darren Logan wrote:
>
> Hi
>
>     Can someone describe the hardware and software behind profibus for me.
>     If anyone has any experience in it then please share it.
>
>     I may need to implement the profibus protocol directly with a PIC - would
> this be
>     possible ?
>
> Regrds,
> Darren