Functional safety high-speed fail-safe counter module

A method for fail-safe counting, the method comprising:

• providing a controller including a processor and a memory;
• providing circuitry for fail-safe counting;
• providing a Sin/Cos 4-wire differential electrical interface that wires the fail-safe counter module to an external quadrature encoder sensor;
• wherein the fail-safe counter module reports events and statuses based on configured parameters and external movement operations in a distributed I/O system;
• providing computer-readable safety rating support code stored in the memory which, when executed by the processor, causes the controller to:
• provide safety rating to International Standard levels such as Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3, Category (CAT) 4, Performance Level (PL) e;
• and
• providing computer-readable “Safety Monitoring” functions code stored in the memory which, when executed by the processor, causes the controller to:
• work with a user interface to select and configure the “Safety Monitoring” functions,
• wherein the fail-safe counter module is a functional safety-rated device with an expected rating for Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3, Category (CAT) 4, Performance Level (PL) e applications and is engineered to calculate position and/or speed utilizing an external quadrature encoder sensor that generates waveforms which permits counting of specific electrical pulses.