Setting up for EtherNet/IP

To use the EtherNet/IP protocol, you must enable it in the MILConfig utility, then specify the size of each assembly. If you are not using the configuration assembly, then set it to the same instance as the output assembly and set the size to 0. If you do not fill in the assembly size, the default size is 64 bytes. The size of the assemblies specified in the MILConfig utility must match, or be larger than the size specified when configuring the PLC. It is not recommended to enable EtherNet/IP on a platform that has both RSLogix software and Matrox Design Assistant installed, because there might be network adapter addressing conflicts.

Allen-Bradley

To configure the PLC to recognize your runtime platform as an adapter (equivalent to slave) when using the EtherNet/IP industrial communication protocol, you can use an RSLogix configuration software package. Before launching the software, you will need to power up and connect your runtime platform to your EtherNet/IP network. In RSLogix, add a generic Ethernet device with the IP address of your runtime platform, which should be static, and fill in the assembly instances so that they match what is set in the MILConfig utility. When choosing the communication format in RSLogix, select Data-SINT. Be aware that sizes in Matrox Design Assistant are in bytes and you will have to convert these values if the communication format for the module is not 8-bit.

Omron

An EDS file is available in Program Files\Matrox Imaging\MIL\Config\EthernetIP. Information provided by this EDS file is very basic and only necessary in cases where installing an EDS file is forced by the software (For example, Omron's network configurator).

Data tables in EtherNet/IP

Matrox Design Assistant data tables correspond to assemblies in EtherNet/IP. The Ethernet/IP page in the Platform Configuration dialog shows all the fields used by Quick Comm, which represents the first 32 bytes of the DataToPLC (producer) and DataFromPLC (consumer). There are 3 types of assemblies:

Producer. The runtime platform writes to this assembly, and the PLC reads from it upon its next read cycle. The producer assembly ID is 110.
Consumer. The runtime platform reads from this assembly the data that the PLC has written to it during the PLC's last write cycle. The consumer assembly ID is 111.
Configuration. The runtime platform reads from this assembly, and the PLC configures and writes to it. The configuration assembly is 112.

Use the DataToPLC and DataFromPLC pages to add or remove user-defined data fields. The diagram below displays how EtherNet/IP assemblies are used when communicating with a PLC.