Simple Profibus communication

[vt92]

Hello all,

I have an application where I need my host PC to receive a simple message from a PLC via Profibus.  I will be using LabVIEW on the host PC.  The message will only be about 20 bytes and there will be a new message every 5 seconds or so. 

As you can see, the throughput is pretty low.  Are there any low cost solutions for Profibus interfaces that would suit my needs? 

[Jesse_D]

Hi vt, 

We have a PCI card that we sell here. I that is your cheapest best bet. There is a PXI and cRIO solution if needed also. 

[vt92]

Thanks, Jesse.  All things being equal, I certainly would prefer NI products.  I was hoping to find something < $500. 

[Jesse_D]

Sorry vt, 

I don't think we have anything that low. The next best option is getting a third party card and calling it's driver API from LV. I have seen cards for $600. You would just need to build up the API between the two. 

If your PLC can act as a profibus master, you could configure your PC as a slave and use a Profibus to serial converter to convert to RS 232. Then the PC could use Modbus or serial to communicate to the profibus network. However, I would make sure you have plenty of time to implement a system like that. People I worked with in the past needed a lot of time to get things working after messing with the physical layer of profibus. 

[indianandroid]

you can do it using a 3rd party OPC server and then pol the data. I hope that PLC is Siemens ...

[Jesse_D]

Hey indiana, 

Can you expound on this solution? I have heard people talk about it but haven't seen it implemented yet. Would it use the DSC opc servers? if so which one?  

Thanks.