Hi all

I Have a couple of questions to ask the guru's in here.

I am looking at a project where 16 machines needs to have some data collection from 16 different distributed i/o's
now my question is if i choose some siemens ET200 (PN) modules, how much configuration do i need to setup before letting proview connect to the devices?

secondly i have being going through the I/O Guide but i cant find explanation on if High speed counter modules is supported and if not how fast is the signal updated from an ordinary DI module on a profinet device?

Thanks in advance

Hi Rasmus,

Proview has an interface to the Softing Profinet stack. This is not free software and you need a license from Softing. The version of the Profinet stack we use is running in kernel space and has to be built with the kernel it will be running on. As Softing doesn't allow their custumers to do this, we have to send our kernel to Softing to have the stack built. I have heard that there is a user space version of the stack available nowadays that doesn't have to be built with the kernel. This would be much easier to handle but I don't know if the interface is exactly the same.

When the stack is running you have to set device name and IP addresses on your ET200 devices. We have a tool for this, the profinet_viewer. This is not included in the distribution as it is built with modules that are not GPL licensed, but you can build it from source. Softing probalby also has a tool for this.

To configure in Provview you follow the IO Guide and configure your profinet devices with the profinet configurator.

About the counter, don't you get the conter value as an integer via profinet ? Then you can read it as an integer channel, ChanIi.

/Claes

Hi Claes

Thank you for the reply..

Actually im not sure because i have never done frequency measurement on a distributed Input but i think you are right.

Actually i was looking at this profinet thing and im not in the mood for using softings custom built kernel..

I was looking at the Hilsher cards that is also supported and might end up using this hardware.

But im unsure if i will need to configure the devices from step7 or will Hilscher or Proview be able to do the same configuration?

For Softings Profinet stack, all the configuration is made in the Proview configurator.

For the Hilscher cifX card with the Profinet controller firmware, you have to configure on Windows with Hilschers configurator SYCON.net. You also need a linux driver, and the develoment archives and they are not cheap...

/Claes

Hmm

I think i saw something about the profinet card with license, driver and etc. i know it is not cheap but if this is the way to do the job then so be it. but i think the softing stack might not be cheap either

have been looking at canbus and profibus modules for the same job, but then again it is not a cheap solution. i have been looking at alternatives usb cards and the velleman card but it seems to me that these are not really made for a tough enviroment..

what about the ssab cards a these on the market? some googling aaround returns 0 result

HTRasmus wrote:
Hi Rasmus

Did you look at Modbus TCP ? Modbus TCP do not need any bus interface card, neither closed source software. You only need Ethernet switches and Ehternet cables.

In case of, you may be interested in, I would suggest looking at Wago 750-352 Modbus TCP coupler. I plan to use it with Proview.

Cyril