PmOmronFINS - Driver for communication with OMRON PLC devices by the FINS protocol

This driver serves for communication with OMRON PLC devices by the FINS protocol. See also Communication with Omron PLC devices.

The FINS protocol (Factory Interface Network Service) is a network protocol for PLC devices by the OMRON company working on different physical networks like Ethernet, Controller Link or DeviceNet. This driver is designed only for Ethernet.

Before using this driver in the PROMOTIC application it is highly recommended to watch "PROMOTIC video tutorial 4 - Communication drivers".

Basic properties of the driver:

- Usage of this driver requires purchase of the PmOmron licence. When developing the application in the freeware mode PmFree, or with development environment and while testing it in runtime, this component is always functional.

- The communication is done for Ethernet (PROMOTIC application is client).

- The PROMOTIC application is the Master (it means that it initiates the data transfer) from this communication point of view.

- The driver is incorporated into the PROMOTIC system by means of the PmaComm object.
The driver supports the usage of the PmaCommGroup object. The PmaCommMsg object cannot be used yet.
For easy integration of this driver into the application it is handy to use: Preconfigurations in group "Omron"

Recommended values of the PmaComm object parameters:

Recommended values for the Ethernet-client parameters:

TCP/UDP remote port number	9600 (default) (can be changed). See: Wikipedia: A list of TCP and UDP port numbers used by protocols to run network applications.
Ethernet transfer type	TCP - Designed for FINS TCP type. UDP - Designed for FINS UDP type.
Not connect until first transfer	NOT checked (mandatory)
Close connection after every transfer	NOT checked (mandatory). After each connection, it is necessary to transfer several initialization messages and if the connection is closed repeatedly, the communication speed would be decreased significantly.

Description and recommended values for the Protocol parameters:

Protocol data type	FINS TCP - Use this type: - if the FINS nodes are connected through several IP layers - if the connection quality is poor (for example for wireless LAN) FINS UDP - Use this type: - if the FINS nodes are connected to the same Ethernet segment (FINS UDP provides higher bandwidth) - if the remote device does not support FINS/TCP
Source Network Address	Number of FINS network where the PROMOTIC application is located. If the network contains only a single Ethernet layer, then is entered 0.
Source Node	Number of PROMOTIC application node (PC identifier) in the FINS network. The default value is 253. If using FINS TCP and entering the value 0 then the PLC device assigns the value automatically.
Source Unit	Formal number of the program on the computer (of the PROMOTIC application). Usually is 0.
Destination Network Address	Number of FINS network where the PLC device communicating with the PROMOTIC application is located. If the network contains only a single Ethernet layer, then is entered 0.
Destination Node	Number of the PLC device node (PLC identifier) in the FINS network. The value is configured by jumpers in the PLC device. The FINS network topology allows to have one or more FINS nodes behind a single IP address.
Destination Unit	Number of logical unit (parts) in the PLC device. The OMRON PLC can be logically divided into several parts (units). The typical parts are the CPU, internal bus, perifery unit, communication module, memory of different types, etc. If a compact PLC is used then the value 0 is entered, otherwise follow the device documentation.

The communication description by means of the PmaCommGroup object

The variables in the PmaCommGroup object (or even better the variables in the PmaData object with ExtComm data extension) can be of arbitrary number, type and order. The driver uses optimized internal communication messages for reading the data from the device.
All variables are read (if the "Data refresh enabled" configurator is checked). On writing into the variable, only the single variable is sent into the device (if the "Auto send on writing to item" configurator is checked).

The driver supports the following data types:

- W: (Word) In the PLC device stored on 2 bytes (from 0 to +65 535).
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Long data type.

- I: (Integer) In the PLC device stored on 2 bytes (from -32 768 to +32767).
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Integer data type.

- L: (Long) In the PLC device stored on 4 bytes (from -2 147 483 648 to +2 147 483 647).
bytes order PC:1234, PLC:4321.
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Long data type.

- L1: (Long) In the PLC device stored on 4 bytes (from -2 147 483 648 to +2 147 483 647).
bytes order PC:1234, PLC:2143.
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Long data type.

- R: (Real) In the PLC device stored on 4 bytes.
bytes order PC:1234, PLC:4321.
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Single data type.

- R1: (Real) In the PLC device stored on 4 bytes.
bytes order PC:1234, PLC:2143.
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Single data type.

- Bit: (1 bit)
In the PROMOTIC application represented by the Boolean data type.

The driver supports the following data areas:

- CIO = Common Input/Output Register

- WR = Working Relay Register

- HR = Holding Relay Register

- AR = Auxiliary Relay Register

- TIM = Timer Register

- CNT = Counter Register

- DM = Data Memory Register

- EM = Extendet Data Memory Register

- TK = Task Flag. The data type is Bit.

- TKS = Task Flag Status. The value is stored in one byte.

For all areas (except for TK and TKS) the "index" represents an index to array of values of 16-bit registers (W data type). Even if the 32-bit data types (L and R) are used then the "index" specifies the index of lower 16-bit register. The ItemId identifier can (but also may not) contain the specification of forced data type (b, I, L, R).

Description of the "ItemId" configurator:
ItemId is the text identifier of the item that is used for addressing the item in the device. The "ItemId" configurator tells the driver how to receive or send the item value.
The text can be either written manually, or it can be assembled in the window opened by the button to the right of the configurator.
Macro expression can be used for input (it is evaluated after the application is launched).
Examples of the identifier syntax:

- CIO15 = The W type value in CIO data area on the index 15.

- CIO9.5 = The value of the bit 5 in the CIO data area on the index 9.

- DM8.L = The L type value in DM data area on the index 8 and 9.

- TK3 = The Bit type value in TK data area on the index 3.

- TKS7 = The value of the Byte type in TKS data area on the index 7.