Reducing Ethernet traffic for Radios

BillRobinson

Member
Join Date
Oct 2006
Location
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Posts
185
I've got a Ethernet radio on the same network as a RSLogix 5000 controller and a Remote IO rack. The multicast messaging from the remote IO rack is killing the bandwidth on the radio to the point where the radio is un-usable. I have a managed switch but only one Ethernet card on the main PLC chasis.

Is there anything I can do with the switch to limit traffic on the radio's port or should I insert a router? I the router is my only "route", anyone know how that should be set up?

The other end of the radio is a Micrologix where i have to use SLC type reads.
 
Is it a managed switch or an unmanaged switch. If it is managed and has the feature, turn on IGMP snooping.

Edit** hard to read on the phone. I see it's a managed switch but still confirm the IGMP setting.
 
Last edited:
This is exactly the sort of thing that managed switches are intended to do in Rockwell EtherNet/IP networks.

Ideally, your switch should support both "IGMP Snooping" and "IGMP Querying". If both are turned on, and there are no other managed switches in the network, you should see the multicast traffic on the radio link drop to zero.

Your managed switch may also have the ability to block all multicast traffic on the port that the radio is connected to.

Post details on exactly what make and model of managed switch you are using and members may be able to point you to the precise settings.
 
Now with Version 18, would it be possible to flash the controller, and re-configure the remote IO to uni-cast?
 
Yes, version 18's unicast I/O would do the trick too.

I figure if you've got a fancy managed switch you may as well use it.

ControlLogix I/O traffic is usually the largest contributor to multicast in an automation network, but don't discount the ability of normal multicast and broadcast traffic (ARP and discovery protocols, mostly) to steal bandwidth from IP radio systems.
 
There is a signal issue as well (soon to be fixed with better antenna) but this problem with the flooding was diagnosed by the lights on the radio. The radio lights go dark once plugged into the network. According to the radio tech support guy; no lights equate to zero available bandwidth.
 

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