For communication of the PROMOTIC application with
FESTO PLC devices of the
FEC series (for example PLC devices
FC660,
FC640) the following methods, for example, can be used:
Serial link RS232 communication by the CI protocol
In the PLC device for serial link (branded as
COM, but can be also runned on
EXT using specific software) there is a simple text protocol, so-called
COMMAND INTERPRETER (
CI in the following text). It is a simple character communication of the query-response type, without the checksum and PLC adressing (i.e. only for point-to-point connection). The protocol standard has been published by the manufacturer.
The default setting is 9600b/s, 8bit, no parity (it can be opened using non-default setting, but it is used rarely, especialy for the
COM link because it is unavailable for the programming software then).
For this communication in the PROMOTIC system can be used:
Communication via Ethernet
If the TCP/IP drivers are installed, then a similar Telnet server is running in the PLC, able to send and receive CI commands.
For this communication in the PROMOTIC system can be used:
Communication via OPC or DDE
The
FESTO company supplies the
OPC and
DDE server for Ethernet-client and for serial link.
The DDE server is for free. It is using the
CI commands for communication. Via
RS232 it can communicate with 4 PLC max., via Ethernet the maximum count is 48 PLCs.
OPC server is a commercial software.
Communication by the Modbus protocol
The
FEC automatic machines can be configured to communicate via by the
Modbus protocol. This is not a very commonly used option.
For this communication in the PROMOTIC system can be used: