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. See the Phoenix Contact website for all current PLCnext Technology devices.
Latest update: February 26th, 2024
PLCnext Control product family
For the Axioline F controller family, there is a range of AXC F XT Extensions available, extending the features to suit 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.
Controller-specific features
The following features show the differences and similarities between the controllers, determining the performance and fields of application. For more details, see the related Hardware documentation.
For applications related to a certain approval, check the Approval facet in the product page; they are linked in the table below.
| AXC F 1152 | AXC F 2152 | AXC F 3152 | RFC 4072S | RFC 4072R | |
| Field of application | Perfect for small applications | Perfect for small to medium-sized applications | Perfect for medium-sized applications | High performance for safety applications | High performance for redundancy applications |
| Approvals (LTS firmware release only!) |
check on product page |
check on product page |
check on product page |
check on product page |
– |
| CPU | Arm® Cortex®‑A9 800 MHz Single Core |
Arm® Cortex®‑A9 800 MHz Dual Core |
Intel Atom® x5‑E3930 1.3 GHz Dual Core |
Intel® Core™ i5‑6300U 2.4 GHz Dual Core |
Intel® Core™ i5‑6300U 2.4 GHz Dual Core |
| RAM | 512 Mbyte | 512 Mbyte | 2048 Mbyte | 4096 Mbyte | 4096 Mbyte |
| Integrated flash memory [1] | 512 Mbyte | 512 Mbyte | 1 Gbyte | 8 Gbyte | 8 Gbyte |
| IEC 61131‑3 Program memory | 8 Mbyte | 8 Mbyte | 12 Mbyte | 16 Mbyte | 16 Mbyte |
| IEC 61131‑3 Data storage | 12 Mbyte | 12 Mbyte | 32 Mbyte | 32 Mbyte | 32 Mbyte |
| Retain memory | 48 kbyte (NVRAM) | 48 kbyte (NVRAM) | 1 Mbyte | 2 Mbyte | 2 Mbyte |
| 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 or WBM |
via touch display or 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 2020.3: 8 from 2020.6: 16 |
up to 2020.3: 8 from 2020.6: 16 |
up to 2020.3: 8 from 2020.6: 16 |
6 (max. 1 user task, 5 event tasks) |
| Maximum parallel tasks | 8 | up to 2020.3: 16 from 2020.6: 32 |
up to 2020.3: 16 from 2020.6: 32 |
up to 2020.3: 16 from 2020.6: 32 |
6 |
| PROFINET update rate | 4 devices (2 ms), 16 devices (4 ms) |
4 devices (1 ms), 64 devices (16 ms) |
32 devices (1 ms), 128 devices (4 ms) |
64 devices (1 ms), 256 devices (8ms) |
64 devices (1 ms), 256 devices (8 ms) |
| Support for AXC F XT left-side extension modules | – | ✔ (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 controller (for use with PLCnext Engineer Functional Safety editor) |
– | by means of AXC F XT SPLC 1000 or SPLC 3000 |
– | integrated Arm® Cortex®‑A8 600 MHz and Arm® Cortex®‑A6 800 MHz |
– |
| Netload Limiter | from 2022.0 LTS: ✔ |
from 2022.0 LTS: ✔ |
from 2020.6: ✔ |
from 2019.9: ✔ |
✔ |
| 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 | – | – | – | – | ✔ |
| 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.
Firmware releases on controllers
The following updates of the PLCnext firmware are available (in brackets: latest public release or hotfix). To get to the product page for your device, use the link at the item no. in the table below.
Note: Here, for 2019 and 2020 releases only the LTS release is reported even though there might have been feature releases in between. That is, because the following LTS release contains all the modifications and additions of the former feature releases. Nevertheless, all releases are still publicly available in the Downloads section of the product pages on phoenixcontact.com.
For applications related to a certain approval, check the documents in the Approval facet of the regarding product page (see links in the table above).
Note: Only LTS firmware releases are approved.
| PLCnext Control | 2019.0 LTS |
2020.0 LTS |
2021.0 LTS |
2022.0 LTS |
2022.3 | 2022.6 | 2022.9 | 2023.0 LTS |
2023.3 | 2023.6 | 2023.9 | 2024.0 LTS |
| AXC F 1152 (item no. 1151412) |
no product | ✔ (2020.0.1 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.8 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2022.6.0) |
– | ✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2023.6.0) |
– | ✔ (2024.0.0 LTS) |
| AXC F 2152 (item no. 2404267) |
✔ (2019.0.4 LTS) |
✔ (2020.0.1 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.8 LTS) |
✔ (2022.3.0) |
✔ (2022.6.0) |
✔ (2022.9.0) |
✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2023.6.1) |
– | ✔ (2024.0.0 LTS) |
| AXC F 3152 (item no. 1069208) |
no product | no product | ✔ (2021.0.5 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.8 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2022.6.1) |
– | ✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
✔ (2023.3.0) |
– | ✔ (2023.9.0) |
coming soon |
| RFC 4072S (item no. 1051328) |
✔ (2019.0.0 LTS) |
✔ (2020.0.0 LTS) |
✔ (2021.0.6 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.8 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2022.6.3) |
– | ✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2023.6.0) |
– | coming soon |
| RFC 4072R (item no. 1136419) |
no product | no product | no product | ✔ (2022.0.6 LTS) |
– | – | – | ✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
– | – | – | coming soon |
| BPC 9102S (item no. 1246285) |
no product | no product | no product | ✔ (2022.0.8 LTS) |
– | – | – | ✔ (2023.0.7 LTS) |
– | ✔ (2023.6.0) |
– | coming soon |
| EPC 1502 (item no. 1185416) |
no product | no product | ✔ (2021.0.7 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.7 LTS) |
– | – | – | ✔ (2023.0.6 LTS) |
– | – | – | coming soon |
| EPC 1522 (item no. 1185423) |
no product | no product | ✔ (2021.0.7 LTS) |
✔ (2022.0.7 LTS) |
– | – | – | ✔ (2023.0.6 LTS) |
– | – | – | coming soon |
| PLCnext Engineer Simulation (see at PLCnext Engineer, item no. 1046008) |
no product |
no product | no product | ✔ (2022.0.2 LTS) |
– | – | – | ✔ (2023.0 LTS) |
– | – | – | coming soon |