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Profibus



 
 
PROFIBUS (Process Field Bus) is a standard for field bus communication in automation
Automation

Automation or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industry machinery and industrial processes, reducing the need for human intervention....
 technology and was first promoted (1989) by BMBF (German department of education and research). It should not be confused with the PROFINET standard for industrial Ethernet.

history of PROFIBUS goes back to a publicly promoted plan for an association started in Germany in 1987 and for which 21 companies and institutes devised a master project plan called "field bus".






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PROFIBUS (Process Field Bus) is a standard for field bus communication in automation
Automation

Automation or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industry machinery and industrial processes, reducing the need for human intervention....
 technology and was first promoted (1989) by BMBF (German department of education and research). It should not be confused with the PROFINET standard for industrial Ethernet.

Origin

The history of PROFIBUS goes back to a publicly promoted plan for an association started in Germany in 1987 and for which 21 companies and institutes devised a master project plan called "field bus". The goal was to implement and spread the use of a bit-serial
Bit-serial

In digital logic applications, Bit-Serial architectures are contrasted to Parallel transmission where a data word tends to be a one-to-one function of the system clock signal....
 field bus based on the basic requirements of the field device interfaces. For this purpose, respective company members agreed to support a common technical concept for production and process automation. First, the complex communication protocol Profibus FMS (Field bus Message Specification), which was tailored for demanding communication tasks, was specified. Subsequently in 1993, the specification for the simpler and thus considerably faster protocol PROFIBUS DP (Decentralized Peripherals) was completed. It replaced FMS.

Use

There are two variations of PROFIBUS; the most commonly used DP, and the lesser used PA variations:
  • PROFIBUS DP (Decentralized Peripherals) is used to operate sensors and actuators via a centralized controller in production technology. The many standard diagnostic options, in particular, are focused on here. Other areas of use include the connection of "distributed intelligence", i.e. the networking of multiple controllers to one another (similar to PROFIBUS FMS). Data rate
    Data rate

    Data rate can refer to:* Bit rate* Data signaling rate* Data transfer rate...
    s up to 12 Mbit/s on twisted pair
    Twisted pair

    Twisted pair cabling is a form of wiring in which two conductors are twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference from external sources; for instance, electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted pair cables, and crosstalk between neighboring pairs....
     cables and/or fiber optics are possible.
  • PROFIBUS PA (Process Automation) is used to monitor measuring equipment via a process control system in process engineering. This PROFIBUS variant is ideal for explosion-hazardous areas (Ex-zone
    Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas

    Domestic electrical equipment in British homes is made and tested to a British Standard. The aim of the testing is to ensure that the equipment is fairly robust and has no exposed parts that can cause harm to the user....
     0 and 1). Here, a weak current flows through bus lines in an intrinsically safe circuit so that explosive sparks are not created, even if a malfunction occurs. The disadvantage of this variant is the slower data transmission rate of 31.25 kbit/s.
PROFIBUS is the only field bus that can be used in equal measure in production automation and process automation and has since become a global market leader. Worldwide, over 20 million PROFIBUS devices are in use (as of 2007).

Technology

PROFIBUS Protocol (OSI reference model)




Application layer

To utilize these functions, various service levels of the DP protocol were defined:
  • DP-V0 for cyclic exchange of data and diagnosis
  • DP-V1 for acyclic and cyclic data exchange and alarm handling
  • DP-V2 for isochronous
    Isochronous

    Isochronous : From Greek iso, equal + chronos, time. It literally means to occur at the same time or at equal time intervals. The term is used in different technical contexts....
     mode and data exchange broadcast (slave-to-slave communication)


Security layer

The security layer FDL (Field bus Data Link) works with a hybrid access method that combines token passing
Token passing

In telecommunication, token passing is a channel access method where a signal called a token is passed around between nodes that authorizes the node to communicate....
 with a master-slave method. In a PROFIBUS DP network, the controllers or process control systems are the masters and the sensors and actuators are the slaves.

Various telegram types are used. They can be differentiated by their start delimiter (SD):

No data: SD1 = 0x10

Variable length data:

SD2 = 0x68

Fixed length data:

SD3 = 0xA2

Token:

SD4 = 0xDC

Brief acknowledgement:

SC = 0xE5

SD: Start Delimiter

LE: Length of protocol data unit, (incl. DA,SA,FC,DSAP,SSAP)

LEr: Repetition of protocol data unit, (Hamming distance = 4)

FC: Function Code

DA: Destination Address

SA: Source Address

DSAP: Destination Service Access Point
Service Access Point

A Service Access Point or SAP is an identifying label for network endpoints used in Open Systems Interconnection networking.When using the OSI networking layer , the base for constructing an address for a network element is an NSAP address, similar in concept to an IP address....


SSAP: Source Service Access Point
Service Access Point

A Service Access Point or SAP is an identifying label for network endpoints used in Open Systems Interconnection networking.When using the OSI networking layer , the base for constructing an address for a network element is an NSAP address, similar in concept to an IP address....


SAP (Decimal) SERVICE
Delault 0 Cyclical Data Exchange (Write_Read_Data)
54 Master-to-Master SAP (M-M Communication)
55 Change Station Address (Set_Slave_Add)
56 Read Inputs (Rd_Inp)
57 Read Outputs (Rd_Outp)
58 Control Commands to a DP Slave (Global_Control)
59 Read Configuration Data (Get_Cfg)
60 Read Diagnostic Data (Slave_Diagnosis)
61 Send Parameterization Data (Set_Prm)
62 Check Configuration Data (Chk_Cfg)


Note: SAP55 is optional and may be disabled if the slave doesn't provide non-volatile storage memory for the station address.

PDU: Protocol Data Unit (protocol data)

FCS: Frame Checking Sequence

ED: End Delimiter (= 0x16 !)

The FCS is calculated by simply adding up the bytes within the specified length. An overflow is ignored here. Each byte is saved with an even parity and transferred asynchronously with a start and stop bit. There may not be a pause between a stop bit and the following start bit when the bytes of a telegram are transmitted. The master signals the start of a new telegram with a SYN pause of at least 33 bits (logical "1" = bus idle).

Bit-transmission layer

Three different methods are specified for the bit-transmission layer:
  • With electrical transmission pursuant to EIA-485
    EIA-485

    In telecommunications, EIA-485 is an electrical specification of a two-wire, duplex , multipoint serial communications channel. Since it uses a high-voltage differential signalling balanced line over twisted pair , it can span relatively large distances ....
    , twisted pair cables with wave impedance
    Wave impedance

    The wave impedance of an electromagnetic wave, is the ratio of the transverse components of the electric field and magnetic fields . For a transverse-electric-magnetic plane wave travelling through a homogeneous medium , the wave impedance is everywhere equal to the intrinsic impedance of the medium....
    s of 150 ohm
    Ohm

    The ohm is the SI unit of electrical impedance or, in the direct current case, electrical resistance, named after Georg Ohm....
    s are used in a bus topology. Bit rates from 9.6 kbit/s to 12 Mbit/s can be used. The cable length between two repeater
    Repeater

    A repeater is an Electronics device that receives asignal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation....
    s is limited to 100 to 1200 m, depending on the bit rate used. This transmission method is primarily used with PROFIBUS DP.
  • With optical transmission via fiber optics, star-, bus- and ring-topologies are used. The distance between the repeaters can be up to 15 km. The ring topology can also be executed redundantly.
  • With MBP (Manchester Bus Powered) transmission technology, data and field bus power are fed through the same cable. The power can be reduced in such a way that use in explosion-hazardous environments is possible. The bus topology can be up to 1900 m long and permits branching to field devices (max. 60 m branches). The bit rate here is a fixed 31.25 kbit/s. This technology was specially established for use in process automation for PROFIBUS PA.


For data transfer via sliding contacts for mobile devices or optical or radio data transmission in open spaces, products from various manufacturers can be obtained, however they do not conform to any standard.

Standardization

PROFIBUS was defined in 1991/1993 in DIN 19245, was then included in EN 50170 in 1996 and, since 1999, established in IEC 61158/IEC 61784.

Organization

The PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PROFIBUS User Organization) (PNO) was created in 1989. This group is comprised of manufacturers and users from Germany. In 1992, the first regional PROFIBUS organization was founded (PROFIBUS Schweiz in Switzerland). In the following years, additional RPAs (Regional PROFIBUS & PROFINET Associations) were added. Today, PROFIBUS is represented by 25 RPAs around the world. In 1995, all the RPAs joined together into the international umbrella association PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI).

See also

  • Fieldbus
    Fieldbus

    Fieldbus is the name of a family of industrial computer network protocols used for real-time distributed control, now standardized as IEC 61158....
  • List of automation protocols
    List of automation protocols

    This includes list of communication network protocols used for process or industrial automation, building automation and substation automation applications....


External links