Module 09 - Common Drivers

PcVue Solutions Training
Common drivers
Purpose
n Some communication concepts,
n Configure communication in PcVue,
n Optimize and maintain communication.
Contents
1. Introduction 3
1.1. PcVue version 3
1.2. Files used in this module 3
1.3. Third party software used in this module 3
2. This feature in PcVue architecture 4

3. Basics 5
3.1. Communication concepts 5
3.1.1. Network, protocol and node 5
3.1.2. Master/Slave and Frame 6
3.1.3. About variable mappings 8
3.1.4. Modbus Simulator User Interface 10
3.2. Communication Configuration 12

3.3. Variable mapping 19
3.3.1. Variable mapping using the Variables Tree 19
3.3.2. Variable mapping using Communication 21
3.3.3. Starting the communications when PcVue starts 22
3.4. Optimisation and maintenance 25

3.4.1. PcVue Communication Manager 25
3.4.2. Maintenance and debugging 28
4. Summing-up 31
Module 09 _ Common drivers 2

Arc Informatique © Copyright 2020. All rights reserved Updated 12/11/2020
1. Introduction
1.1. PcVue version
This module applies to PcVue version 15.0.
1.2. Files used in this module
The PcVue project as at the end of Module_08.
1.3. Third party software used in this module
We will use the Mod_RSsim Modbus TCP/IP simulator.
This can be found here: PcVue Training\Module_09\Third party\.

2. This feature in PcVue architecture
Figure 1

3. Basics
3.1. Communication concepts
3.1.1. Network, protocol and node
PcVue uses a set of communication protocols to communicate with the process equip-
ment across a network or networks. There are three types of industrial networks:
l Serial link: RS232 or RS485 cables. PcVue uses the computer’s COM port or a ded-
icated communication board such as Applicom.
For example Modbus RTU, Mitsubishi MELSEC-A Series etc...
l Ethernet: PcVue uses the computer’s Ethernet card.

For example Modbus TCP/IP, Siemens S7 etc...
l Dedicated: A proprietary medium, for example Modicon Modbus+, Profibus etc.
The following diagram describes the classic architecture:
Figure 2
When two systems are communicating they need to “speak” the same language. A pro-
tocol is a standard “language” used by two systems to communicate together. PcVue sup-
ports a wide and increasing range of industrial protocols. During this training course we
will use Modbus TCP/IP as an example but what you will learn also applies to many other
protocols.

In PcVue vocabulary, the PLC is called a Node.
3.1.2. Master/Slave and Frame
Usually a protocol implements two types of “speaker”: The Master and the Slave(s).
The Master is the one that makes the requests to the Slave(s) to read and/or write the data.
The Slave “listens” on the network waiting for a request sent by the Master.
In the Ethernet environment the Master is sometimes called the Client and the
Slave is called the Server.
In most cases, PcVue is the Master and the PLC is the Slave.
In PcVue vocabulary, the request is called a Frame.
A frame is a message containing all the parameters needed to read or write data.
For example a Modbus frame contains the Node address, the function code (read or write,
bit or words, input or output etc.), the data address and quantity and a CRC (Cyclic Redund-
ancy Check – used to check that the message hasn’t been corrupted).
The process used by the master to collect the data is always the same: it periodically sends
a frame to the slave, waits for the answer, sends another frame and so on.
The following diagram represents the typical Master/Slave process.

Figure 3
1/ The Master sends a frame to read some bits and waits for the reply.
2/ The Slave sends the reply. Then it waits for the next frame.
5 seconds later this process repeats and so on…
The period configured for a frame is called the polling period.
Of course a Master can read different types of data in the same Slave. The following dia-
gram represents this process.

Figure 4
1/ The Master sends a frame to read some bits and waits for the reply.
5 seconds later this process repeats and so on...
3/ The Master sends a frame to read some words and waits for the reply..
5 seconds later this process repeats and so on...
3.1.3. About variable mappings
When the Communication Manager receives a reply it needs to dispatch the various values
to the PcVue variables. This means that it needs to know which PcVue variable corresponds
with each Slave address. This is the purpose of variable mapping.
The following diagram shows a mapping example for a frame requesting 10 Words start-
ing at address 0.

Figure 5
Exercise 1.
Install and configure Modbus slave simulator.(PLC simulator).
a. Install the Modbus slave simulator.
l Run My Documents\Pcvue Training \Module_09\Third party\SimSetup.msi

and follow the instructions.
b. Create a shortcut on the desktop.
l Use Windows Explorer to locate the folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Embed-

dedIntelligence\Mod_RSsim.
l Right click mod_RSsim.exe and select Create Shortcut. Follow the prompts to
create a shortcut on your PC’s desktop.
c. Start the Modbus TCP/IP Slave and enter the registration key.
l Run the shortcut mod_RSsim that you just created on the desktop. If a dialog
opens requesting permission for access through the PC’s firewall, allow it.

l Click the About button and then the Register button and enter the User
Name and KEY exactly as in the screenshot below:
Figure 6
d. That’s it! The Modbus slave simulator is good to go.
3.1.4. Modbus Simulator User Interface
Before we go any further let’s learn a little about the simulator. Assuming it installed cor-
rectly the simulator is pre-configured for Modbus TCPIP which is what we want to use.

Figure 7
[A] Toolbar. The tools all have tooltips indicating their function. The most useful are:
PLC emulation settings – Configuration of data table limits.
About MOD_simulator – The About screen. Used for self registration.
Simulation set-up – Configure auto-increment of values.
Zero all values – Reset all values to 0.
[B] Connection information. The number of simultaneous connections, the number of mes-
sages sent and received etc…
[C] Data table selection and configuration.
[D] Data table. Double clicking a value allows you to change it.
[E] Slaves configuration. By default the simulator emulates 255 possible Modbus slaves
at the same time! You can disable a particular slave by clicking on its number. A slave num-
ber surrounded by a yellow box means that it has recently been polled.

3.2. Communication Configuration
Configuring the communication is the first step to displaying values from equipment in
PcVue’s variables.
Communication is defined in terms of the following communication objects:
l Network,
l Node,
l Frame.
Each communication object has common parameters and sometimes specific

ones also.
You can find the specific parameters for a protocol in the Help here: The Applic-
ation Explorer/Communication/Data Acquisition/Equipment/Configuring a pro-
tocol.
The configuration is done using the Communication Objects dialog. You can open it via
Configure / Communication / Equipment.
Figure 8

Equipment configuration currently can only be accessed from the Menu (not
from the Application Explorer or Application Architect).
Figure 9
[A] : Three columns displaying the configured communication objects: Network, Node and
Frame. Of course by default it is empty.
[B] : Status of the communication objects. Used for maintenance.
[C] : On / Off buttons. Used to start and stop the entire communication manually.
[D] : Validate / Cancel buttons.
In this module we will continue the BMS theme. We will add a Modbus node to
manage both lifts. This odbus node will have two frames, one to read bits and
the other to read words.
Network

The Network object defines the protocol and the board used. You can have up to 16 dif-
ferent protocols on the same project.
To create a network:
1. Step 1 Open the Communication Objects dialog.
2. Step 2 Double-click the Network / Creation field.
3. Step 3 The dialog Network board and protocol selection appears.
4. Step 4 In the left-hand column, select the appropriate protocol provider and the
protocol in the right-hand column. Click OK button.
Figure 10
We recommend that you always to select the MULTI PROTOCOL Network

Board option.
5. Step 5 The Network Parameters dialog appears.
6. Step 6 Type the Network object name in the Network field.

Figure 11
7. Step 7 Click the Validate button then Cancel to close the dialog.
Now a new Network has been added in the Network column.
To edit a Network object, double-click on it.
Exercise 2.
Create a new Network with the following parameters:
Parameters Valeur
Protocol Modbus TCP/IP (XBUS-IP-MASTER)

Network name XBUS_IP
Node
The node object of a Network defines a device communicating with the corresponding pro-
tocol.
To create a Node:
1. Step 1 Select the Network.
2. Step 2 Double-click the Node / Creation field.
3. Step 3 Type the Node object name in the Equipment field.
4. Step 4 Enter any other parameters that are needed. The parameters depend on
the protocol and the PLC type.

Figure 12
Now a new Node has been added in the Node column.
To edit a Node object, double-click on it.
You must keep the message time-out parameter at the default value (0) except
with some particular legacy devices.
Exercise 3.
Create a new Node with the following parameters:

Parameters Value
Node name PLC1

Equipment type MODBUS DEC
TCP/IP address 127.0.0.1 (your computer’s address)
Slave address 1
Frame
The Frame object defines the request to be sent to the node.
To create a Frame:
1. Step 1 Select the Node.
2. Step 2 Double-click the Frame / Creation field.
3. Step 3 Type the Frame object’s name in the Frame field.
4. Step 4 Select the Frame format and Access grant:
Figure 13
5. Step 5 Select the address by clicking on this button . The Enter address and
size dialog appears.
Each line displayed corresponds with an address zone in the Node, so it

depends on the protocol and the node type.
Figure 14
6. Step 6 Select the appropriate Address zone, the Starting address and Quantity
of data then click the OK button.
7. Step 7 Configure the scan rate (polling period).
Now a new Frame has been added in the Frame column.
To edit a Frame object, double-click on it.
The property Priority Mode should only be used under special circumstances.
Misuse can cause serious performance problems.
Exercise 4.
Create two new Frames with the following parameters:

Parameters Frame 1 Frame 2
Frame name R_BITS R_MOTS

Frame format BIT WORD
Access grant Read Read
Address zone Bit I Word I
Starting address 1 1
Quantity of data 10 10
Polling period 1 second 1 second
For one frame, select the starting address 0.

What happens? Why?
3.3. Variable mapping
Variable mapping is the final step in displaying values from equipment in PcVue variables.
During variable mapping we link the real-time value of a variable to a specific location in
the equipment.
Variable mapping can be done either using the Application Architect or the Application
Explorer.
3.3.1. Variable mapping using the Variables Tree
We will first look at the variable mapping using the Variables Tree of the Application
Explorer.
1. Step 1 Open the Application Explorer and expand the Variables Tree to display

BUILDING.LIFT_01.
2. Step 2 Select one of the variables and open its properties dialog. The properties
that we interested in are all in the Source tab. Here we must switch Source
value from Internal to XBUS_IP, then set values for Node and Frame fields.
Figure 15
3. Step 3 Click the Link button. The dialog box that the Link button opens shows the
entire frame and all variables that are linked to it. Double-click on the

appropriate address.
Figure 16
3.3.2. Variable mapping using Communication
We will now look at the variable mapping using Communication node in the Application
Explorer.
1. Step 1 Open the Application Explorer and browse towards Communication.Data

acquisition.Equipment.XBUS_IP.
Figure 17

2. Step 2 Select Mapping in the left pane or by right-clicking on the network. Then
browse towards a frame in order to view it.
3. Step 3 With a right-click on an address, you can open the Variable Selector in
order to map an existing variable, or automatically create a new variable
mapped with an address.
Figure 18
3.3.3. Starting the communications when PcVue starts
By default the native driver communication is off when PcVue starts up.
To start the communication automatically:
1. Step 1 In the Application Explorer configuration tree, select the node representing
the project. From the task list select Settings.
2. Step 2 In the left pane, select the Station start-up node.
3. Step 3 Tick the Equipment option.

Figure 19
Exercise 5.
Check communications between PcVue and the Modbus Slave tool.
a. Map the variables of both lifts on Word and Bit frames as on the following
picture:

Figure 20
b. Start the Modbus Slave. Select Analog Inputs and modify the value of the
first register (30001) in order to change the floor number for Lift 1.
c. Start the communication and, using the Application Explorer, check the vari-
ables’ values.
Disable the Modbus Slave. What are the variables’ val-

ues?

When does the following Timestamp change?
3.4. Optimisation and maintenance
Unfortunately it is unusual to implement communication successfully the first time!
3.4.1. PcVue Communication Manager
The Communication Manager is the module that manages the processing of frames as
shown below.

Figure 21
Here we have two frames: Frame2 and Frame10 have polling periods of 2 and 10 seconds
respectively.
Each polling period, the frame is added to the communication stack. When at least one
frame is in the stack it is sent to the Slave. When the slave reply is received the frame is
removed from the stack.
When you are configuring communication you must try to optimize it as much as possible.
To do that you must tune these three parameters:
l The number of frames,
l The polling period,
l The write data.
Number of frames
It’s usual to suppose that a frame requesting 10 words is faster than a frame requesting 100
words. Actually this is wrong. The time used to read 10 or 100 words is the same. This is
because during an exchange, most of the time consumed is used to build and transmit the
frame.
Therefore most of the time spent in the communication process is to manage the frames
whatever their size. To understand that, try to solve this basic problem:

100 people want to travel from a point A to point B linked by a highway. This highway has
a toll at the beginning and a toll at the end.
The question is: Which is the faster? 100 cars transporting one person each or one bus trans-
porting 100 persons (assuming the speed of the car and the bus is the same of course)?
Figure 22
Of course it’s faster using the bus as it is only processed once at the tolls, whereas each car
must be processed individually. So using one frame “transporting” 100 data items is faster
than 100 frames “transporting” 1 data item.
To have smooth traffic you must configure the communication to have the min-
imum number of frames.
Polling period
The polling period is also an important parameter to optimise the communication. If the
Master is polling too fast it will increase the traffic on the network.
For example we know that when you are using a Modbus serial link communication with
19,200 baud, one frame requires around 100ms to be sent to the slave and for the answer
to be returned to the Master. It means you can have up to 10 frames per second. What will
happen if you configure 15 frames with a polling period of 1 second each?
Write data
Some projects need to write data to the PLC. In theory there is no problem with sending a
frame to write data in the Slave. But a performance problem occurs when you send many
controls at a fast rate. The following figure helps you to understand why:
Figure 23
You can see that PcVue manages two stacks: the read frames stack and the write frames
stack. The write frames stack always gets priority because a control can be very important.
If you send a control every second then PcVue will add the write frame every second on the
top of the write frames stack. Therefore the frames from the read frames stack will never
be sent and the HMI never be refreshed!!
A classical mistake is to send a heartbeat to the PLC too frequently.
Don’t send controls that are too many and/or too fast.
If you need to send many values in one shot to the PLC you should use the
Recipe function. This function is described in the Recipe module which is
covered by another training course.
3.4.2. Maintenance and debugging
In case of failure, PcVue provides status information to help you to find the problem. When
a communication object is selected, the system supplies a set of states and counters. Two
hexadecimal state codes and two error counters are associated with each network, equip-
ment and frame. You can select them in real time by selecting the required network, equip-
ment and frame. The figure below shows the State/Counter for the selected network:

Figure 24
It’s important to understand the difference between the Status and the Protocol Status. The
Status is set by the Communication Manager and informs you of whether this object is com-
municating well or not. Here you can see various status values:
Network Node Frame Signification
0700 0700 a000 The communication is fine!

The communication is working but the “unstacking” is slower than the
0700 0700 e000 stacking.
Solution: Increase the scan period..
Network error: PcVue cannot communicate with the selected COM chan-
0413 nel.
Solution: COM port problem, Ethernet card disabled etc…
Communication out of order for this frame.
0701 0701 xxxx
Solution: Check the Protocol status and check the frame parameters.
The protocol status is a code sent by the equipment or by the protocol driver. For example
if you try to read data which is outside of the PLC’s range it will send back a code. PcVue
will display this code in the Protocol status.

This code depends on the driver’s implementation. Check the driver doc-
umentation (in PcVue’s online Help) or the PLC’s documentation.
When a communication failure occurs, PcVue sends an event to the Event Viewer. Then you
can debug in Runtime mode as well. The following message is an example:
Status a021 - 2 - 1658 - 562, (1.XBUS_IP.PLC1.L_WORDS)
with
Status a021: Frame status
2: protocol status
1658: State counter 1
562: State counter 2
(1.XBUS_IP.PLC1.L_WORDS): Frame name
Exercise 6.
l Disconnect the Modbus Slave and check the different Communication status.
l Also check the Event viewer.

4. Summing-up
l PcVue is able to communicate with many protocols on a serial network, an Ethernet

network or proprietary networks.
l The communication configuration uses three objects: network, node and frame.
l You can debug failed communication using the communication object’s status.
l The communication MUST be optimised.


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PcVue Solutions Training

2. This feature in PcVue architecture 4

3.2. Communication Configuration 12

3.4. Optimisation and maintenance 25

Module 09 _ Common drivers 2

1.1. PcVue version

This module applies to PcVue version 15.0.

1.2. Files used in this module

The PcVue project as at the end of Module_08.

1.3. Third party software used in this module

We will use the Mod_RSsim Modbus TCP/IP simulator.

This can be found here: PcVue Training\Module_09\Third party\.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 3

Module 09 _ Common drivers 4

3.1. Communication concepts

3.1.1. Network, protocol and node

l Ethernet: PcVue uses the computer’s Ethernet card.

l Dedicated: A proprietary medium, for example Modicon Modbus+, Profibus etc.

The following diagram describes the classic architecture:

Module 09 _ Common drivers 5

3.1.2. Master/Slave and Frame

In PcVue vocabulary, the request is called a Frame.

The following diagram represents the typical Master/Slave process.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 6

5 seconds later this process repeats and so on…

The period configured for a frame is called the polling period.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 7

5 seconds later this process repeats and so on...

5 seconds later this process repeats and so on...

3.1.3. About variable mappings

Module 09 _ Common drivers 8

a. Install the Modbus slave simulator.

l Run My Documents\Pcvue Training \Module_09\Third party\SimSetup.msi

b. Create a shortcut on the desktop.

l Use Windows Explorer to locate the folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Embed-

Module 09 _ Common drivers 9

d. That’s it! The Modbus slave simulator is good to go.

3.1.4. Modbus Simulator User Interface

Module 09 _ Common drivers 10

[C] Data table selection and configuration.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 11

Communication is defined in terms of the following communication objects:

Each communication object has common parameters and sometimes specific

Module 09 _ Common drivers 12

[B] : Status of the communication objects. Used for maintenance.

[D] : Validate / Cancel buttons.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 13

1. Step 1 Open the Communication Objects dialog.

2. Step 2 Double-click the Network / Creation field.

3. Step 3 The dialog Network board and protocol selection appears.

We recommend that you always to select the MULTI PROTOCOL Network

5. Step 5 The Network Parameters dialog appears.

6. Step 6 Type the Network object name in the Network field.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 14

Now a new Network has been added in the Network column.

To edit a Network object, double-click on it.

Protocol Modbus TCP/IP (XBUS-IP-MASTER)

1. Step 1 Select the Network.

2. Step 2 Double-click the Node / Creation field.

3. Step 3 Type the Node object name in the Equipment field.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 15

Now a new Node has been added in the Node column.

To edit a Node object, double-click on it.

Module 09 _ Common drivers 16