The Profibus protocol

1. Introduction
2. ProfiBus Family
3. PROFIBUS Wiring
4. Configuration
5. Malfunctions and Diagnoses
 Introduction
ProfiBus (PROcess FIeld BUS): is a widely accepted
international networking standard, commonly found in
process control and in large assembly and material
handling machines.
▪ It is a bi-directional digital communication
network
▪ It supports single-cable wiring of multi-input
sensor blocks, pneumatic valves, complex
intelligent devices, smaller sub-networks (such as
AS-i), and operator interfaces.( It is Multi-drop
network)
▪ It is an open, vendor independent standard.
 Introduction cont…
▪ It adheres to the OSI model and ensures that devices
from a variety of different vendors can communicate
together easily and effectively.
▪ ProfiBus supports two main types of devices, namely,
masters and slaves.
▪ Master devices control the bus and when they have
the right to access the bus, they may transfer
messages without any remote request. These are
referred to as active stations.
▪ Slave devices are typically peripheral devices i.e.
transmitters/sensors and actuators.
▪ They may only acknowledge received messages or, at
the request of a master, transmit messages to that
master. These are referred to as passive stations.
 Introduction cont…
2. ProfiBus Family: There are three basic profiBus
family. Namely
A. ProfiBus DP (Decentralized Peripherals)
B. ProfiBus PA (Process Automation).
C. ProfiBus FMS (multi-master/peer-to-peer)
A.PROFIBUS DP: is a network that is made up of two
types of devices connected to the bus: master devices
and slave devices.
✓ It is a bi-directional network, meaning that one
device, a master, sends a request to a slave, and the
slave responds to that request.
✓ Thus, bus contention is not a problem because only
one master can control the bus at any time, and a
slave device must respond immediately to a request
from a master.
 ProfiBus Family cont…
✓ a Request from a master to a slave device is heard by
all devices attached to the bus.
✓ and there is address assigned for a slave device to
recognize that a message is designated for it and then
respond to the sender.
✓ For specifying the address, most devices have either
rotary switches or DIP switches.
 ProfiBus Family cont…
✓ Thus, the addresses that may be used in practice for
operational devices for example, PLCs, I/O nodes,
drives, encoders, and the like are 1 to 125.
B. PROFIBUS PA (Process Automation): ProfiBus Family cont…
✓ It is used to monitor measuring equipment via a
process control system in process automation
applications.
✓ This variant is designed for use in
explosion/hazardous areas.
✓ Unlike the automated applications in manufacturing
engineering which require short cycle times of few
milliseconds, other factors are of importance in
process automation, such as:
▪ Intrinsically safe transmission techniques;
▪ Field devices are powered over the bus cable;
▪ Reliable data transmission;
✓ PA has a data transmission rate of 31.25 kbit/s.
✓ However, PA uses the same protocol as DP, and can be
linked to a DP network using a coupler device.
 ProfiBus Family cont…
✓ Therefore it is a need for a signal translator
between the PA and the DP part of the network.
✓ There are two kinds of such a translator: Coupler
and Link.
✓ The coupler is totally transparent. If a coupler is used,
the baud rate on the DP side will be fixed.
✓ A Link is equipped with intelligence so that the
DP network can run with any of the baud rates
(9.6kBit/s to 12 Mbit/s).
✓ The link has its own DP address and the PA stations
are addresses under this.
✓ A maximum of 31 PA field devices can be attached to
a DP/PA Link.
 ProfiBus Family cont…
C. ProfiBus FMS (multi-master/peer-to-peer):Several
masters can write to the same slave.
 3. PROFIBUS Wiring
PROFIBUS DP/FMS wiring can be done with:
▪ twisted shielded pair copper cable;
▪ fiber optic components;
▪ infrared components.
PROFIBUS-cable
✓ The PROFIBUS-cable must have special
characteristics concerning surge impedance, cable
capacitance, core cross section, loop resistance and
signal attenuation.
 3. PROFIBUS Wiring cont..
✓ A standard PROFIBUS cable has one green and
one red wire. Red shall be connected to + or A
and green to or B at the PROFIBUS stations .
✓ The incoming cable must always be connected on the
left (A1, B1). The outgoing cable must always be
connected on the right (A2, B2).
✓ One preferred connector type 9 pin Sub-D:
▪ connectors with integrated termination
available;
▪ easy plug and unplug without interrupting the;
communication to other devices;
✓ Other connector types are possible; mandatory
signals (A,B, GND, 5V) must be provided as well
as a possibility for termination.
Termination (RS485 feature): PROFIBUS Wiring Cont..
✓ This electrical energy cannot simply disappear at one
end of the cable, but comes back.
✓ This is known as reflection. The reflected signal is
superimposed with the emitted signal and can cause
the original signal to be destroyed.
✓ To be able to guarantee a secure signal transfer, the
PROFIBUS cable must be terminated at the two ends
of a PROFIBUS section via a bus termination.
✓ The higher the baud rate and the longer the cable, the
more important termination becomes.
✓ Termination should be activated/placed at both ends
of every bus segment.
✓ Switch setting for all other nodes on PROFIBUS:
"OFF" (terminating resistor deactivated).
 PROFIBUS Wiring Cont..
✓ If the switch is set to "ON", the PROFIBUS to the
remaining nodes is disconnected at this point.
✓ If the terminating resistor is accidentally activated in
the middle of the bus cable, the error can be
recognized and localized immediately due to the
nodes that are no longer accessible.
 3. PROFIBUS Wiring cont..
✓ Termination “on” (usually whenever only one
cable is connected to a device the termination
needs to be “on”).
✓ If the switch is set to "ON", the PROFIBUS to the
remaining nodes is disconnected at this point (for
example during servicing).
 PROFIBUS Wiring Cont..
✓ Segments are needed for exceeding the length
and exceeding32 devices (including Repeater).
✓ They can be used for building branch segments
and connecting up to 126 stations (no address for
Repeater). The rules are:
▪ segment has a max. of 32 devices (including.
Repeater);
▪ the first and the last segment can have 31 stations;
▪ segments between have 30 stations as a maximum.
▪ each PROFIBUS station is given a unique
address which should be a number between 0
and 126. i.e that it can never be more than 127
stations in a network.
▪ If the cables are long or the number of stations
exceeds 32, it is a need for repeaters.
 PROFIBUS Wiring Cont..
▪ Each segment has to be terminated in each end.
▪ A repeater is also needed if the cable distance is
long (100m at 12 Mbit/s, 1200 at 9.6 kBit.s).
▪ The total length of the network can not exceed 10 km.
 4. Configuration
✓ All of the information that the master must know to
start up the bus comes from a configuration database
file that is generated by a PROFIBUS configuration
tool.
✓ A configuration tool for cyclic I/O operation must be
able to do the following:
▪ process GSD (device description) files and
maintain a hardware catalog of devices to be
configured on the bus
▪ allow the PROFIBUS device address to be specified
▪ allow the specification of the input and out-put
data to be transferred between master and slave
▪ allow selection of the system baud rate
▪ generate the database file so it can be used by the
master
 4. Configuration cont…
✓ At the same time a vendor develops a slave device, it
must develop a device description (GSD) file.
✓ This file completely describes the PROFIBUS
functionality of the device for example, baud rates
supported, possible input output data configurations,
startup parameter choices, and so on.
✓ Once all the appropriate GSD files are installed into
the configuration tool, Configuration can be defined .
✓ To define configuration first pick the appropriate
master from the master device list in the hardware
catalog and assign a PROFIBUS address.
✓ Select a slave device, assign the PROFIBUS address,
specify the I/O to be exchanged, and select the
appropriate parameters for the desired operation of
the device.
 4. Configuration cont…
✓ Load this configuration database file into the master
device.
✓ After download, the master has the information
necessary to start up all the devices in its
configuration.
✓ This information is stored in retentive memory
✓ if the master device experiences a power loss, it uses
the configuration data base in retentive memory to go
through the startup sequence with each device in its
configuration
✓ If a slave device fails and must be replaced, the
master recognizes that a replacement device of the
same type and with the same PROFIBUS address has
been attached to the bus.
 5. Device Diagnostic Reporting
✓ The PROFIBUS protocol offers quite extensive
diagnostic capabilities that device vendors can design
into their products.
✓ PROFIBUS offers the capability to diagnose an
operations problem all the way down to, for example,
an overvoltage on an analog input or a broken wire on
an output
✓ During a data-exchange cycle, a PROFIBUS slave
device can indicate to the master that it has detected a
diagnostic condition.
✓ In the next data-exchange cycle, the master fetches the
diagnostic information from the slave.
 5. Device Diagnostic Reporting Cont..
✓ A device can report diagnostic information in four
different formats:
1. standard diagnostics
2. device-related diagnostics
3. module-related diagnostics
4. channel-related diagnostics.
1. The standard diagnostics: that every slave device is
required to report contain information that is generally
related to startup problems.
✓ For example, if the I/O configuration that was set up
in the configuration tool does not match what the
slave expects, it will report a “configuration fault.”
✓ If there is a slave device in the configuration file, but
the slave actually found on the bus at that address is
different, the device will report a “parameterization
 5. Device Diagnostic Reporting Cont..
2. device-related diagnostics: A vendor can use the
device-related diagnostics format to report information
that may be specific to the particular device or
application area.
✓ The format of this type of diagnostic information is
defined by the vendor. its detailed structure is not
covered in the PROFIBUS standard.
✓ Therefore, the device’s documentation must be
checked to determine the exact format.
3. Module-related diagnostics: are used to report
diagnostics for a modular slave that is, one that consists
of an “intelligent” head module plus plugin modules.
✓ This format gives the head module the capability to
report that a particular plugin module has a
diagnostic.
 5. Device Diagnostic Reporting Cont..
✓ It does not tell what the diagnostic is .
✓ The format for module-related diagnostic information
is defined in the PROFIBUS standard.
✓ This means that once a logic block is constructed to
decode this type of diagnostic information, the
decode logic will work for any device from any
vendor that reports module-related diagnostics.
4. Channel-related diagnostics: A device can use this
format to report that an individual channel of a specific
module has a problem. for example, short circuit, wire
break, overvoltage, and so on.
✓ This makes it very easy to diagnose the problem right
down to the wire level.
✓ The format for this type of diagnostic information is
also defined in the PROFIBUS standard.
5. Malfunctions and Diagnoses
✓ Possible profibus network malfunctions
▪ Address was not set or set incorrectly
▪ The terminating resistor was not set correctly
▪ Broken cable
▪ The cores in profibus plugs A and B were
changed over
▪ The profibuse cable was laid together with the
motor cable
▪ The cable shielding was not earthed