Seeren 5 Advanced PLE Local Area | Cuseren Topics and Networks Nanwores | 18 + with a transmitter that can be set to a high independence state + with a passive current-loop transmitter, wired in series with the other transmitters, that shorts when inactive Although many access methods exist, the most commonly used ones are polling, collision detection, and token passing. The access method most often used in master/slave protocols is polling. In polling, the master interrogates, or polls, each station (slave) in sequence to see if it has data to transmit. The master sends a message to a specific slave and waits a fixed amount of time for the slave to respond. The slave should respond by sending either data or a short message saying that it has no data to send. If the slave does not respond within the allotted time, the master assumes that the slave is dead and continues polling the other slaves. Interslave communication in a master/slave configuration is inefficient, since polling requires that data first be sent to the master and then to the receiving slave. Since master/slave configurations use this technique, polling, is often referred to as the master/slave access method. Collision detection is generally referred to as CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple access with collision detection). In this access method, each node with a message to send waits until there is no traffic on the network and then transmits. While the node is transmitting, its collision detection circuitry checks for the presence of another transmitter. Ifthe circuit detects acollision (two nodes transmittingat the same time), the node disables its transmitter and, waits a random amount of time before trying again. This method works well as long as the network does not have an excessive amount of traffic. Each collision and retry uses time that cannot be used for transmission of data; therefore, the network’s throughput decreases and access time increases as traffic increases. For this reason, collision detection is not popular in control networks, but it is popular in business applications. In industrial applications, collision detection can be used for data gathering and program maintenance in large systems and real-time distributed control applications with a relatively small number of nodes. ‘Token passing is an access technique that eliminates contention among the PLC stations trying to gain access to the network. In this technique, the PLCs pass a token, which is a message granting a polled station the exclusive, but Industrial Text & Video Company 1-800-752-8308 258 www.industrialtext.comSeren Adve Loca! Area | Cousren jopics and Netwenks Nowworks | 18 temporary, right to control the network (ie., transmit information). The station with the token has the exclusive right to transmit on the network; however, it must relinquish this right to the next designated node upon termination of transmission. Thus, token passing is actually a distributed form. of polling. The token-passing access method is preferred in distributed control applications that have many nodes or stringent response time requirements. In a. common bus network configuration using the token-passing technique, cach station is identified by an address. During operation, the token passes from one station to the next sequentially. The node that is transmitting the token also knows the address of the next station that will receive the token. The network circulates transmitted data in one or more information packets containing source, destination, and control data. Each node receives this, information and uses it, ifneeded. Ifthe node has information to send, it sends it in a new packet. In the token-passing scenario shown in Figure 18-11, station 10 passes the token to station 15 (the next address), which in turn passes the token to station 18 (the next address after 15). If the next station does not transmit the token to its successor within a fixed amount of time (token pass timeout), then the token-passing station assumes that the receiving station has failed. In this, case, the originating station starts polling addresses until it finds a station that will accept the token. For instance, if station 15 fails, station 10 will poll stations 16 and 17 without response, since they are not present in the network, and then poll station 18, which will respond to the token. This receiving station will become the new successor and the failed station will be removed from, or patched out of, the network (i.e, station 18 will become station 10°s next address). The time required to pass the token around the entire network depends on the number of nodes in the network. This time can be approximated by multiplying the token holding time by the number of nodes in the network. Node Token passed Terminator © Ps @ Token passed @ Token passed Node Node Node Node Node Address 10 Address 15 Address 16 Address 17 Address 18 Figure 18-11. Example of token passing, Industrial Text & Video Company 1-800-752-8398 350 www. industrialtext.com