Chapter 2
Basic Operation
General
The Anybus Communicator gateway is designed to exchange data between a serial sub-network and a
higher level network (in this case Modbus RTU). Unlike most other gateway devices of similar kind, it
does not have a fixed protocol for the sub-network, and can be configured to handle almost any form
of serial communication.
The gateway can issue serial telegrams cyclically, on change of state, or based on trigger events issued by
the control system of the higher level network (i.e. the fieldbus master or PLC). It can also monitor cer-
tain aspects of the sub-network communication and notify the higher level network when data has
changed.
An essential part of the Anybus Communicator package is the ABC Config Tool, a Windows™ appli-
cation which is used to supply the gateway with a description of the sub-network protocol. No program-
ming skills are required; instead, a visual protocol description-system is used to specify the different parts
of the serial communication.
