13.1 Introduction

Modbus is a communication protocol for use with its programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Modbus has become a de facto standard communication protocol and is now a commonly available means of connecting industrial electronic devices. It was developed for industrial applications, is relatively easy to deploy and maintain compared to other standards, and places few restrictions other than size on the format of the data to be transmitted.

Modbus enables communication among many devices connected to the same network, for example, a system that measures temperature and humidity and communicates the results to a computer. Modbus is often used to connect a supervisory computer with a remote terminal unit (RTU) in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Many of the data types are named from industry usage of Ladder logic and its use in driving relays: a single-bit physical output is called a coil, and a single-bit physical input is called a discrete input or a contact.

WCC Lite supports both Modbus Master and Slave protocols. One can select between transmission over TCP/IP or serial connection (RS-485/RS232). Bytes to transmit can either be encoded according to both RTU and ASCII parts of the standard.