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Operating Instructions
Chapter
5
Flexi Soft Gateways
8012664/XB29/2013-06-11
© SICK AG • Industrial Safety Systems • Germany • All rights reserved
57
Subject to change without notice
Ethernet gateways
Point-to-point and multicast connections
For EtherNet/IP PLC to gateway:
Only point-to-point connections will be accepted.
Multicast connections will not be accepted.
For gateway to EtherNet/IP PLC:
Both point-to-point and multicast connections will be accepted.
Multicast connections can be either exclusive owner or multiple listeners.
Maximum number of Class 1 connections
For I/O connections involving
both input and output
data sets:
Each output data set can be controlled by only one I/O connection.
I/O connection attempts to control an output data set that is already controlled by
another I/O connection will be rejected.
If each I/O connection controls only one output data set, then up to 5 I/O connections
can be active simultaneously.
The maximum number of possible I/O connections decreases if an I/O connection
controls more than one output data set.
For connections involving
only input
data sets (gateway to PLC):
Depending on the gateway’s bandwidth, up to 32 connections may be created at one
time if all request the same set of input data.
The maximum number of connections requesting different data that can be supported
depends on the requested data rates and the available gateway bandwidth. If the con-
nections require more bandwidth than available, the gateway will slow down and not be
able to return the input data at the requested data rates.
Class 1 data access — Input data sets
All four input data sets are included in one array that can be read by all Class 1 PLCs.
The start of the input data received by the PLC is defined by the assembly instance
number. Each input instance number corresponds to the start of an input data set.
The length determines how much input data is received by the PLC. This allows partial
and/or multiple input data sets to be received by the PLC. For example, the first
20 bytes of input data set 1 or all input data sets could be read by the PLC.
All input data sent to the PLC must be sequential. This means that input data sets 1 and
2 or input data sets 1, 2, and 3 can be sent together. However, input data sets 1 and 3
can not be sent together because they are not sequential.
Assembly
instance
Byte
index
Length
[bytes]
Input
data set
Description
Valid read
lengths [bytes]
1
0-49 50 1
Starting at input data set 1
Can read input data sets 1-4
1-202
2
50-81 32 2
Starting at input data set 2
Can read input data sets 2-4
1-152
3
82-141 60
3
Starting at input data set 3
Can read input data sets 3-4
1-120
4
142-201
60
4
Can read input data set 4
1-60
Class 1 data access — Output data sets
All five output data sets are included in one array that can be written by all Class 1
PLCs.
The start of the output data is defined by the assembly instance number. Each output
instance number corresponds to the start of an output data set.
Tab. 32: Class 1 read access
points to input data sets