Productivity ProNET Communications from AutomationDirect
To learn more: https://www.AutomationDirect.com/productivity?utm_source=m3o9wypYR7k&utm_medium=VideoTeamDescription
(VID-PRO-0003)
ProNET, Productivity's built in broadcast communication protocol, simplifies the process of inter-PLC communication, making it ideal for industrial systems with multiple Productivity PLCs. With no ladder logic required and communication happening automatically, ProNET streamlines data exchange, reducing both setup time and complexity.
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You probably know AutomationDirect’s Productivity PLCs as powerhouse communications machines. After all, each Productivity CPU features multiple communication ports and supports a gamut of protocols from EtherNet/IP to Modbus RTU, from ASCII to MQTT. If you’re networking several of these versatile PLCs together, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with another of Productivity’s communications protocols. ProNET, built into the Productivity Suite software, allows Productivity line PLCs easily to share data via Ethernet UDP. As you recall, UDP is a lightweight and fast connectionless broadcast protocol. Data is broadcast to all network nodes without point-to-point connection checks or receipt acknowledgments. Each configured Productivity broadcasts its selected data to all others in a ProNET network and, conversely, receives the data broadcast by each of the others. But which data does each broadcast, and what does each do with the data it receives? Let’s look at an example configuration in the Productivity Suite. Before configuring ProNET, ensure that each device in your network is configured with an appropriate IP address and subnet mask. Note also that a maximum of 32 devices can share data on any ProNET network. Open the Hardware Configuration window here under Setup, and select the ProNET tab. On the right side of the tab, you’ll see a ProNET heading with the Publisher and Subscriber selections beneath. Publishing is analogous to sending data and only happens if ProNET is configured to 'publish' one or more of its assigned tags. If so configured, the Productivity controller will broadcast a packet containing the selected tags' data. To configure a Publisher, drag Publisher to the workspace on the left side of the tab. In the properties window: Assign a Global ID. Each Productivity in a ProNET network needs to have a unique ID number. Select the Ethernet port. By default, this will be the CPU's external Ethernet port. In the Enable window, assign a Boolean tag. The PLC will only publish when the Enable bit is true. The Data Array is the data that will be broadcast. Regardless of the data type, this 1D array has a maximum size of 128 bytes. A Boolean Duplicate Publisher error tag may be configured, which will indicate if the network contains more than one device with the same ID. If desired, a second data block to be published can be configured here. Once configured to Publish, a Productivity will broadcast the selected data 10 times per second. As mentioned, every Productivity receives all the data its networked compatriots publish to the ProNET network. A Subscriber configuration will determine which of these received data arrays the Productivity will process. Drag Subscriber into the work area. In the listen for Global ID window, select the ID of the device publishing the data to be processed. In the Enable window, assign a Boolean tag. Assign Boolean tags to the status bits Activity (true if any data activity is being received) and Datatype Mismatch – an error bit indicating that the data types don’t match between the publisher and subscriber. Select or enter the data array being received. The data type of the array here must match that of the array configured in the publishing device. If desired, configure a second data block here. Let's see this in action. Here, you see data views from two Productivity PLCs, each configured with a single publisher and a single subscriber. Essentially, they each publish one data array, and each subscribes to the other’s. PLC 1, a Productivity 1000 is publishing the P1 Block and subscribed to the P2 Block, while PLC 2, a Productivity 2000, is publishing the P2 Block and subscribed to the P1 Block. As you can see here, the Enable bits for both Publish and Subscribe are true in both PLCs. Here in PLC 1, we’ll change the value of Element 1 in the P1 Block array, and we can watch the value update in PLC 2. Vice versa. That’s it. Simple to configure and simple to use, ProNET makes data sharing among Productivity PLCs a breeze and can come in very handy for many applications. To learn more about Productivity PLCs and all their capabilities, visit AutomationDirect.com. Click here for more networking and communication videos from AutomationDirect. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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