AnOverviewofEtherNet/IP

AnApplicationLayerProtocolforIndustrialAutomation

ByJohnRinaldi RealTimeAutomation 2825N.MayfairRd.Suite11 WauwatosaWI53222

(414)4535100(V) (4144535125(F) www.rtaautomation.com eip1@rtaautomation.com

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SYNOPSIS
ThispaperpresentsanoverviewofEthernet/IP(EIP),ahighlevelindustrial applicationlayerprotocolforindustrialautomationapplications.BuiltonthestandardTCP/IP protocolsuite,EIPusesallthetraditionalEthernethardwareandsoftwaretodefinean applicationlayerprotocolthatstructuresthetaskofconfiguring,accessingandcontrolling industrialautomationdevices.Ethernet/IPclassifiesEthernetnodesaspredefineddevice typeswithspecificbehaviors.ThesetofdevicetypesandtheEIPapplicationlayerprotocol isbasedontheControlandInformationProtocol(CIP)layerusedinbothDevicenetand Controlnet.BuildingonthesewidelyusedprotocolsuitesEthernet/IPforthefirsttime providesaseamlessintegratedsystemfromthesensoractuatornetworktothecontroller andenterprisenetworks.

ALITTLEBACKGROUND
MostpeoplewhoworkinanofficeassociatethetermEthernetwiththephysical cablebehindtheirdesk.ThiscableconnectstheirofficePCtotheprintersandserversof thelocalnetworkandtheinfinitewebsitesontheInternet.Thiscableisonlythephysical partofEthernet,themediacarryingEthernetmessagestoyourPC.Onthiswireisawhole seriesofcommunicationprotocolssuchasIP,theInternetProtocolTCP,theTransport ControlProtocolandvariousMicrosoftprotocolssuchasNetBEUI.Thissuiteofprotocols workswellfortheofficeenvironment.Itallowsuserstosharefiles,accessprinters,send email,searchtheInternetandperformalltheothercommunicationsusedintheoffice environment. Theneedsofthefactoryflooraremuchdifferentwithsomeveryspecial requirements.Insteadofaccessingfilesandprinters,factoryfloorcontrollersmustaccess dataembeddedindrivesystems,operatorworkstationsandI/Odevices.Insteadoflettinga userwaitwhileataskisbeingperformed,factoryfloordatacommunicationsneedsarereal timeorveryclosetorealtime.Terminatingthefilloperationonabottlerequiresmuchmore timeprecisecommunicationsthanaccessingthenextpageofanInternetsite. Traditionally,EthernethadonlylimitedacceptanceinIndustrialAutomation.Until recentlytheexpense,lackofintelligentswitchesandroutersandthedominationoflarge
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vendorswithproprietaryprotocolspreventedthewideacceptanceofEthernetonthefactory floor.Nowwithpricesfalling,PCswithinherentEthernetcapabilitymovingindrovesonto thefactoryfloorandintelligentswitchesandrouters,Ethernetisgainingacceptance.Only thelackofawidelyaccepted,flexibleapplicationlayertargetedtoIndustrialAutomationhas preventeditscompleteacceptance.

ETHERNET/IP
Ethernet/IPistheapplicationlayerprotocolthatcanmeetthischallenge.Four independentgroupshavejoinedforcestodevelopandpromoteEIPasapublicdomain EthernetapplicationlayerforIndustrialAutomation.ThesegroupsincludetheOpen DeviceNetVendorAssociation(ODVA),theIndustrialOpenEthernetAssociation(IOANA), ControlNetInternational(CI)andtheIndustrialEthernetAssociation(IEA).Thegoalsofthis effortillustratehowEIPprovidesawideranging,comprehensive,certifiablestandard suitabletoawidevarietyofautomationdevices:

1. Ethernet/IPusesthetoolsandtechnologiesoftraditionalEthernet
Ethernet/IPusesallthetransportandcontrolprotocolsusedintraditionalEthernet includingtheTransportControlProtocol(TCP),theInternetProtocol(IP)andthemedia accessandsignalingtechnologiesfoundinofftheshelfEthernetinterfacecards.Building onthesestandardPCtechnologiesmeansthatEIPworkstransparentlywithallthestandard offtheshelfEthernetdevicesfoundintodaysmarketplace.ItalsomeansthatEIPcanbe easilysupportedonstandardPCsandalltheirderivatives.Evenmoreimportantly,basing EIPonastandardtechnologyplatformensuresthatEIPwillmoveforwardasthebase technologiesevolveinthefuture.

2. Ethernet/IPisacertifiablestandard
ThegroupssupportingEIPplantoensureacomprehensive,consistentstandardby careful,multivendorattentiontothespecificationandthroughcertifiedtestlabsashasbeen donewithDeviceNetandControlNet.Certificationprogramsmodeledaftertheprogramsfor DeviceNetandControlNetwillensuretheconsistencyandqualityoffielddevices.

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3. EIPisbuiltonawidelyacceptedprotocollayer
EIPisconstructedfromaverywidelyimplementedstandardusedinDeviceNetand ControlNetcalledtheControlandInformationProtocol(CIP)andisillustratedonthe attacheddrawing.Thisstandardorganizesnetworkeddevicesasacollectionofobjects.It definestheaccess,objectbehaviorandextensionswhichallowwidelydisparatedevicesto beaccessedusingacommonmechanism.Over300vendorsnowsupporttheCIPprotocol inpresentdayproducts.UsingthistechnologyinEIPmeansthatEIPisbasedonawidely understood,widelyimplementedstandardthatdoesnotrequireanewtechnology shakedownperiod.

ANOVERVIEWOFCIP
TheCommunicationsandInformationProtocol(CIP)isacommunicationsprotocol fortransferringautomationdatabetweentwodevices.IntheCIPProtocol,everynetwork devicerepresentsitselfasaseriesofobjects.Eachobjectissimplyagroupingofthe relateddatavaluesinadevice.Forexample,everyCIPdeviceisrequiredtomakean Identityobjectavailabletothenetwork.Theidentityobjectcontainsrelatedidentitydata valuescalledattributes.AttributesfortheidentityobjectincludethevendorID,dateof manufacture,deviceserialnumberandotheridentitydata.CIPdoesnotspecifyatallhow thisobjectdataisimplemented,onlywhatdatavaluesorattributesmustbesupportedand thattheseattributesmustbeavailabletootherCIPdevices. TheIdentityobjectisanexampleofarequiredobject.Therearethreetypesof objectsdefinedbytheCIPprotocol:

1. REQUIREDOBJECTS
RequiredobjectsarerequiredbythespecificationtobeincludedineveryCIPdevice. TheseobjectsincludetheIdentityobject,aMessageRouterobjectandaNetworkobject. A. Theidentityobjectcontainsrelatedidentitydatavaluescalledattributes.

AttributesfortheidentityobjectincludethevendorID,dateofmanufacturer,device serialnumberandotheridentitydata.

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B.

TheMessageRouterobjectisanobjectwhichroutesexplicitrequest

messagesfromobjecttoobjectinadevice. C. ANetworkobjectcontainsthephysicalconnectiondatafortheobject.Fora

CIPdeviceonDeviceNetthenetworkobjectcontainstheMacIDandotherdata describingtheinterfacetotheCANnetwork.ForEIPdevices,thenetworkobject containstheIPaddressandotherdatadescribingtheinterfacetotheEthernetport onthedevice.

2. APPLICATIONOBJECTS
Applicationobjectsaretheobjectsthatdefinethedataencapsulatedbythedevice. Theseobjectsarespecifictothedevicetypeandfunction.Forexample,aMotorobjectona DriveSystemhasattributesdescribingthefrequency,currentratingandmotorsize.An AnalogInputobjectonanI/Odevicehasattributesthatdefinethetype,resolutionand currentvaluefortheanaloginput. Theseapplicationlayerobjectsarepredefinedforalargenumberofcommondevice types.AllCIPdeviceswiththesamedevicetype(DriveSystems,MotionControl,Valve Transduceretc)mustcontaintheidenticalseriesofapplicationobjects.Theseriesof applicationobjectsforaparticulardevicetypeisknownasthedeviceprofile.Alarge numberofprofilesformanydevicetypeshavebeendefined.Supportingadeviceprofile allowsausertoeasilyunderstandandswitchfromavendorofonedevicetypetoanother vendorwiththatsamedevicetype. AdevicevendorcanalsogroupApplicationLayerObjectsintoassemblyobjects. ThesesuperobjectscontainattributesofoneormoreApplicationLayerObjects.Assembly objectsformaconvenientpackagefortransportingdatabetweendevices.Forexample,a vendorofaTemperatureControllerwithmultipletemperatureloopsmaydefineassemblies foreachofthetemperatureloopsandanassemblywithdatafrombothtemperatureloops. Theusercanthanpicktheassemblythatismostsuitedfortheapplicationandhowoftento accesseachassembly.Forexample,onetemperatureassemblymaybeconfiguredto reporteverytimeitchangesstatewhilethesecondmaybeconfiguredtoreporteveryone secondregardlessofachangeinstate.

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AssembliesareusuallypredefinedbythevendorbutCIPalsodefinesamechanism inwhichtheusercandynamicallycreateanassemblyfromapplicationlayerobject attributes.

3. VENDORSPECIFICOBJECTS
ObjectsnotfoundintheprofileforadeviceclassaretermedVendorSpecific.These objectsareincludedbythevendorasadditionalfeaturesofthedevice.TheCIPprotocol providesaccesstothesevendorextensionobjectsinexactlythesamemethodaseither applicationorrequiredobjects.Thisdataisstrictlyofthevendorschoosingandisorganized inwhatevermethodmakessensetothedevicevendor. Inadditiontospecifyinghowdevicedataisrepresentedtothenetwork,theCIP protocolspecifiesanumberofdifferentwaysinwhichthatdatacanbeaccessedsuchas cyclic,polledandchangeofstate.

ADVANTAGESTOEIP
TheadvantagesoftheCIPprotocollayeroverEIParenumerous.Theconsistent deviceaccessmeansthatasingleconfigurationtoolcanconfigureCIPdevicesondifferent networksfromasingleaccesspointwithoutusingvendorspecificsoftware.The classificationofalldevicesasobjectsdecreasesthetrainingandstartuprequiredwhennew devicesarebroughtonline.EIPprovidesimprovedresponsetimeandgreaterdata throughputthanDeviceNetandControlNet.EIPlinksdevicesfromthesensorbuslevelto thecontrolleveltotheenterpriselevelwithaconsistentapplicationlayerinterface. TherearenumerousapplicationlayercompetitorstoEIPincludingModbus/TCPfrom GroupeSchneider,ProfiNetfromSiemens,HSEFieldbusfromtheFieldbusfoundationand othervendors.Unfortunatelyspacepreventsadetailedreviewofeachoftheseproducts. However,noneofthesecompetitorscanprovidethevendorsupport,flexibilityandtotal architecturesupportofferedbytheimplementationofCIPoverEthernet.

USERCHALLENGES
EIPimplementationisnotwithoutchallenges.Twoofthemostimportantchallenges tothefirsttimeuserincludetrainingandnetworkconfiguration.Onecommonproblemisthe
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lackoftrainedstaffwhounderstandboththeITfundamentalsandtheautomationnetwork. AcollaborativeeffortbetweentheITandAutomationstaffsisrequiredtosuccessfully implementthefirstEthernet/IPsystem.Asecondchallengeispropernetworkconfiguration. PlanningyourEthernetfactoryautomationinfrastructureisessential.Carefulidentificationof allyourcontrolloops,choosingthecorrectrouters,switchesandpathsanddocumenting yournetworkproperlyarerequisitesforacommunicationsnetworkwhichmeetsyour productiongoalsandrequireslittleongoingmaintenance. DetractorsofEthernetapplicationsonthefactoryflooroftencitethelackofinherent determinisminEthernetcommunicationstokeepitoutofautomationapplications.While trueinthepast,recentdevelopmentsinintelligentswitcheshavelargelyeliminatedthis argument.Theseswitchescreateseparatecollisiondomainsthatofferthedeterminism requiredofalmostallbutthemostdemandingofautomationapplications.

RealTimeAutomation(RTA)isanauthorizedEtherNet/IPDeveloper,amemberofthe ProfibusTradeOrganization(PTO)and theOpenDeviceNetVendorAssociation(ODVA). Formoreinformation seethefollowing: www.rtaautomation.com/devicenet www.rtaautomation.com/profinet www.rtaautomation.com/can OrcontactJohnRinaldi directlyateip1@rtaautomation.com or8002491612.

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ProductionServer

Configuration&MonitoringStation

ERPSystem

CIPMsgPacket

EthernetwithEthernet/IPApplicationLayer

E C
Ethernet/IP DeviceNetRouter

Ethernet/IP ControlNetRouter

E D
ControlNet CIPMsgPacket

C D

ControlNet DeviceNetRouter

ProgrammableController

DeviceNet

CIPMsgPacket IDENTICALCIPMESSAGEPACKETSCAN BESENTANDRECEIVEDTOANYDEVICE ATANYLAYEROFTHESYSTEM ARCHITECTURE.

I/O Point

I/O Point

CUSTOMERAPPROVAL
__________________________
REV. DESCRIPTION DATE BY

Title

DrawingNumber

RTA
REAL TIM E AUTOM ATION

DESCRIPTION

Signature Date____/____/____
A InitialRevision xx/xx xxx

DRAW NBY

DATE

xxx

xx/xx/99
(c)1999RealTimeAutomationLLC.