Would an EtherNet/IP multi-adapter simulator be of interest to Rockwell SIs?

[AlfredoQuintero]

Hello. I have a customer who integrates car-body assembly lines using robots and other GPIO which conform to EtherNet/IP adapter devices. When developing a new line, there is a very narrow window of time to test the logic with the full set of devices, during the time the line is in test. After this the line is disconnected and sent to the actual shop-floor, and shortly prior to commissioning again there is a bit of time to test with all the IO. Of course the car maker wants to have this investment churning out cars as soon as possible.
If there was a way to simulate all this IO virtually, it would be possible to do extensive testing of the logic, and if the simulator could support server explicit messaging, also simulation of the operator interface. Similar to what PICS (from SST/Woodhead) was able to do for AB remoteIO and Profibus.

So I thought about using Codesys for this purpose. I have used the Codesys EtherNet/IP adapter to communicate Codesys to Logix, and this was very easy. So I thought that by configuring several IP addresses on the host computer, it would be possible to instantiate the EtherNet/IP adapter from Codesys to simulate the different EtherNet/IP devices on the PLC application.
The Codesys tool allows customization of vendor ID, product name, product code major revision and minor revision, but not device type. And crucially, it does not allow modification of the connection path supported by the Codesys EtherNet/IP adapter. So it is not possible to develop a simulator as I wanted. I am currently asking the Codesys forum if there is a way to modify the connections paths, maybe if one buys the professional development environment, who knows. Let's see how lucky I am with the Codesys forum.

The question for the PLCTALK forum is, what is your opinion on the value of a tool such as the one I am describing above? Would system integrators have interest in this? Or, are there already much better ways of simulating the process data, the actual inputs to the PLC application with some other tool, such as the idea I explain above would would motivate nobody? As usual, I will be grateful for some words of wisdom.

 

[JesperMP]

The question for the PLCTALK forum is, what is your opinion on the value of a tool such as the one I am describing above? Would system integrators have interest in this? Or, are there already much better ways of simulating the process data, the actual inputs to the PLC application with some other tool, such as the idea I explain above would would motivate nobody? As usual, I will be grateful for some words of wisdom.

We use something similar, not for Ethernet/IP but Profinet.
It is Siemens SIMIT, which is a hardware device that simulates all the nodes or parts of the nodes in a Profinet system. And there is a simulation of the I/O by a graphical programming language. It is part of the "digital twin" concept for testing machines virtually.
Two things.
1 it is VERY expensive.
2 the programming of the I/O simulation is a different programming language, not related to any language in TIA. So no reuse there.

Bottom line is that it is of value to us. For example we can test option handling of nodes and I/O modules which otherwise would require a test on a real machine.

 

[AlfredoQuintero]

Bottom line is that it is of value to us. For example we can test option handling of nodes and I/O modules which otherwise would require a test on a real machine.

Thanks Jesper: I was trying to see if the Codesys Profinet device could do something similar (would require physical LAN cards in order to have more MAC addresses), but just as the EtherNet/IP adapter, the standard Codesys tool does not allow changing the Profinet IO device ID, ID for the modules and so on; this identification information is hard-coded so it is only good to use the Codesys as an i-device, but not for simulation. Let's see if the Codesys forum helps, but thanks for confirming that such functionality has value for your company.
Maybe it would be possible to license a Profinet IO device stack for Widnows or an EtherNet/IP adapter stack for Windows and build a library that Codesys can access so the Codesys application can become a customizable virtual IO device, which would only work in Windows but this should be OK as it would be for simulation rather than controlling IO. And last but not least, of course I need to confirm whether the customer would pay for the development because if not, I will wish them best of luck.

 

[JesperMP]

Just for a comparison.
We use the "large" software version plus the "full" hardware controller.
List price for this kit is approx 30000 €. To this add the time needed to code the simulation of the I/O.
That this actually is worth it for us maybe tells you something.

SIMIT loads simulations on the real Profinet network by taking the hardware setup of the TIA project you want to simulate. On the hardware side it is therefore a reasonably smooth process, we dont have to program the hardware in SIMIT.

One problem with your plan to use Codesys or an Ethernet/IP stack, can these be setup to be more than 1 device ?
Also, I am guessing the simulated device must mimic the device type(s) of the node(s) of the PLC project. At least on a Profinet network, you cant just add any other device type and just give it the same device name. So it has to be pretty low-level simulation of the hardware.

 

[AlfredoQuintero]

One problem with your plan to use Codesys or an Ethernet/IP stack, can these be setup to be more than 1 device ?
Also, I am guessing the simulated device must mimic the device type(s) of the node(s) of the PLC project. At least on a Profinet network, you cant just add any other device type and just give it the same device name. So it has to be pretty low-level simulation of the hardware.

Yes, the Codesys can do for Ethernet/IP scanner more than one device. It could do also more than one device but the problem is that the device is not customizable.
The screenshot below is one setup I did configuring multiple scanners in Codesys in order to test our EtherNet/IP adapter's listen-only and input-only connections. Normally you would need 10 PLCs to do this, bit wit Codesys you can have more than one scanner, with different IP addresses. Too bad that the EtherNet/IP adapter is not customizable.

 

[BavD]

Personally I'm learning to work with SIMIT this very moment. I'm finding out if it's worth using for a company for my graduation internship. We use it here alongside PLCSIM-Advanced. That way the simulation can be done 100% software in the loop. However I would like to @ that SIMIT is still not capable of communicating directly with an (TCP)ethernet device. However we managed to 'emulate' an ethernet device by starting an extra controller instance within PLCSIM-Advanced and running a code on it that emulates the devices we wish to simulate.

Our goal is to simulate production machines before they get build for real. To start testing software before the hardware is done.