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28 Modbus

Introduction

Modbus is a serial communications 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 standard.

Modbus Master

Modbus communication contains a single Master and may include more than 1, but not more than 247 devices. To gather data from peripheral devices, master device request a cluster of slave devices for data. If any device understand that this message is addressed for it, replies with data. As no timestamp is sent along with data, having recent data requires frequent polling. WCC Lite can be configured to acquire data periodically in custom-defined intervals.

Configuring datapoints

To use Modbus Master in WCC Lite, it has to be configured via an Excel configuration. This configuration contains two Excel sheets where parameters have to be filled in - Devices and Signals

Modbus Master parameters for Devices tab
Parameter

Type

Description

Required

Default Value

(when not specified)

Range

Min Max

name

string

User-friendly name for a device

Yes


description

string

Description of a device

No


device_alias

string

Alphanumeric string to identify a device

Yes


enable boolean

Enabling/disabling of a device

No 1 0 1
protocol string

Protocol to be used

Yes
Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP
ip string IP address of TCP slave device Yes (for TCP).


port integer

TCP communication port

No (for TCP)

502



bind_address string

IP address of network adapter used to connect to slave device

(Default: ”0.0.0.0”)

No (for TCP) 0.0.0.0

 id integer Modbus Slave ID Yes


mode string Choosing between RTU (”rtu”), ASCII
(”ascii”) and TCP(”tcp”) modes. ASCII
is the same as RTU, but with ASCII
symbols.
No

TCP (for TCP)

RTU (for Serial)

rtu, ascii, tcp
timeout_ms integer

Response timeout in milliseconds

No

10000



device

string

Communication port (”PORT1”/”PORT2”)

Yes (for RTU/ASCII)


PORT1

PORT2

baudrate integer

Communication speed, baud/s

No (for RTU/ASCII)

9600

300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200

databits integer

Data bit count for communication

No (for RTU/ASCII)

8

6

9

stopbits integer

Stop bit count for communication

No (for RTU/ASCII)

1

1

2

parity

string

Communication parity option

No (for RTU/ASCII)

none

none, even, odd


flowcontrol

string

Number of requests, before link is considered lost (device status signals are changed) and reconnect attempt will be issued

No (for RTU/ASCII)

none

none


scan_rate_ms integer

If provided and positive - all jobs will have similar scan rate - all reads and writes will be executed within this timeframe (parameter scan_rate_ms in Signals tab will be ignored)

No 300

retry_count integer

Number of requests, before link is considered lost (device status signals are changed) and reconnect attempt will be issued

No 3

serial_delay integer

RS485 delay between read and write operations in milliseconds

No (for RTU/ASCII)

50



keep_alive_timeout

integer

Time interval for sending a keep alive packet (in milliseconds)

No (for TCP) 60

modbus_multi_write

boolean

Use 15/16 functions to write 1 register/coil

(Default: 0)

No 0 0 1

comm_restart_delay

integer

Time delay between disconnecting from slave device and restarting connection (in milliseconds)

(Default: 500)

No (for TCP)

500



Modbus Master parameters for Signals tab
Parameter

Type

Description

Required

Default Value

(when not specified)


Range

Min Max

signal_name

string

User-friendly signal name

Yes


device_alias

string

Alphanumeric string to identify a device

Yes


signal_alias

string

Unique alphanumeric name of the signal to be Yes used

Yes


enable boolean

Enabling/disabling of an individual signal

No 1 0 1

job_todo

string

Request to send according to modbus specification without device address and checksum. This field can be identical on several tags to fetch them in single request

Yes


tag_job_todo

string

Similar format to job_todo field. Address and length must be a subset of job field. Defines the individual tag’s resgister(s) or coil(s). Can be described in HEX or DEC formats

Yes


number_type

string

Type of a number (FLOAT, DOUBLE, DIGITAL, etc.)

Yes


log

integer

Size of this signal’s log in Event log.

No 0

pulse_short_time_ms

integer

Time interval for short output pulse to stay active

No


pulse_long_time_ms

integer

Time interval for long output pulse to stay active

No


Different device vendors can have different implementations of a Modbus protocol stack. A register table can be a one of the primary differences. WCC Lite Modbus Master transmits the most significant word (byte) first, however, devices from some vendors might require transmitting the least significant word (byte) first. If that is the case, make sure to switch bytes as needed. To find out more about setting a correct number format, one should consult a section number_type.

Modbus job or tag (as a task to be completed) can be built in a two different formats - user can select a more convenient way for him:

  • hexadecimal format with every single byte separated by | symbol. Device address, bytes containing output information and CRC (LRC) bytes should be excluded from the message;
  • decimal format containing function number, first address and address count, separated by ; symbol. All other information should be excluded from the message;

job_todo can group several tag_job_todo’s. That way one Modbus message can be used to extract several tags. Grouping is accomplished dynamically meaning that if several identical jobs are found, their tags are grouped automatically.

Modbus Master and Slave both have an additional signal which can be configured to show communication status. It is used to indicate if the slave device has disconnected from master (WCC Lite). To configure such signal, two columns should be filled with particular values. To a newly created additional signal one should make job_todo equal to device_status and tag_job_todo equal to communication_status. Communication error status is set when a predefined count of messages (three by default, defined in poll_retry_count column) fail to be received or are considered invalid.

Debugging a Modbus Master application

If configuration for Modbus Master is set up, handler for protocol will start automatically. If configuration is missing or contains errors, protocol will not start. It is done intentionally to decrease unnecessary memory usage.

Modbus Master command line debugging options

modbus-master 

-h [ –help ] Display help information 
-V [ –version ] Show version
-d<debug level> Set debugging level 
-c [ –config ] Config path
-r [ –raw ] Show raw telegram data
-f [ –frame ] Show frame data
-s [ –serial ] Show serial port data 
–tcp Show tcp packets
–ascii Show ASCII messages
–rtu Show RTU messages
-e [ –redis ] Show redis debug information 
-R [ –readyfile ] Ready notification file

If Modbus Master does not work properly (e.g. no communication between devices, data is corrupted, etc.), a user can launch a debug session from command line interface and find out why link is not functioning properly. To launch a debugging session, a user should stop modbus-master process and run modbus-master command with respective flags as shown above.

Modbus Slave

WCC Lite can act as one (or several) of slave devices in a communication line. This can be used to transmit data to SCADA systems or other RTU devices. It can reply to a messages from Modbus Master with matching device and register addresses.

Configuring datapoints

To use Modbus Slave in WCC Lite, it has to be configured via an Excel configuration. This configuration contains two Excel sheets where parameters have to be filled in - Devices and Signals

If TCP/IP is used as a trasmission medium, only devices with IPs predefined in host column are allowed to connect. All other connections are rejected

Modbus Slave parameters for Devices tab
Parameter

Type

Description

Required

Default Value

(when not specified)

Range

Min Max

name

string

User-friendly name for a device

Yes


description

string

Description of a device

No


device_alias

string

Alphanumeric string to identify a device

Yes


enable boolean

Enabling/disabling of a device

No 1 0 1
protocol string

Protocol to be used

Yes
Modbus serial Slave, Modbus TCP Slave
host string Space separated host IP addresses of
master device
Yes (for TCP).


port integer

TCP port to listen for incoming connections

Yes (for TCP)




bind_address string

IP address of network adapter used to connect to slave device

(Default: ”0.0.0.0”)

No (for TCP) 0.0.0.0

keep_alive_timeout

integer

Minimum time a connection can be idle without being closed in miliseconds

No (for TCP) 60

mode string Choosing between RTU (”rtu”), ASCII
(”ascii”) and TCP(”tcp”) modes. ASCII
is the same as RTU, but with ASCII
symbols.
No

TCP (for TCP)

RTU (for Serial)

rtu, ascii, tcp
device

string

Communication port (”PORT1”/”PORT2”)

Yes (for serial)


PORT1

PORT2

baudrate integer

Communication speed, baud/s

No (for serial)

9600

300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200

databits integer

Data bit count for communication

No (for serial)

8

6

9

stopbits integer

Stop bit count for communication

No for serial)

1

1

2

parity

string

Communication parity option

No (for serial)

none

none, even, odd


flowcontrol

string

Communication device’s flow control
option.

No (for serial)

none

none


Modbus Slave parameters for Signals tab
Parameter

Type

Description

Required

Default Value

(when not specified)


Range

Min Max

signal_name

string

User-friendly signal name

Yes


device_alias

string

Alphanumeric string to identify a device

Yes


signal_alias

string

Unique alphanumeric name of the signal to be Yes used

Yes


enable boolean

Enabling/disabling of an individual signal

No 1 0 1

number_type

string

Type of a number (FLOAT, DOUBLE, DIGITAL, etc.)

Yes


log

integer

Size of this signal’s log in Event log.

No 0

common_address integer Address of a slave device Yes


function integer Function number Yes


info_address integer Register address Yes


size integer Register/Coil size Yes


Mapping values to registers

Internally stored values aren’t organised in a register-like order, therefore mapping should be done by the user. This mapping includes setting an address of the device WCC Lite is simulating as well as function number, register number and how much 16-bit registers are used to store a value. These values should be set in common_address, function, info_address and size columns respectively in the Excel configuration.

To find out how many register should be used for storing a values, how values can have their values swapped, a user should consult a section number_type (18.2.4).

If a Modbus master device requests a data from a register that is mapped but doesn’t yet have initial value, ILLEGAL DATA ADDRESS error code will be returned. The same error code is returned if a requested size of value is bigger that defined or if register is not configured at all.

Debugging a Modbus Slave application

If configuration for Modbus Slave is set up, handler for protocol will start automatically. If configuration is missing or contains errors, protocol will not start. It is done intentionally to decrease unnecessary memory usage.

Modbus Slave command line debugging options

modbus-slave

-h [ –help ] Display help information 
-V [ –version ] Show version
-d<debug level> Set debugging level 
-c [ –config ] Config path
-r [ –raw ] Show raw telegram data 
-f [ –frame ] Show frame data
-s [ –serial ] Show serial port data
–tcp Show tcp packets
–ascii Show ASCII messages
–rtu Show RTU messages
-e [ –redis ] Show redis debug information 
-R [ –readyfile ] Ready notification file

If Modbus Slave does not work properly (e.g. no communication between devices, data is corrupted, etc.), a user can launch a debug session from command line interface and find out why link is not functioning properly.

To launch a debugging session, a user should stop modbus-slave process and run modbus-slave command with respective flags as shown above.