Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7 Monitoring of Profibus, Diagnosis of optical Profibus links with OLM

© Siemens AG 2011

These can be displayed graphically and if desired also supple- mented using individual diagnostics screens. In addition, at runtime cyclical data from Ethernet participants is queried and network alarms are reported. Websites are used to present and pass on the information. Furthermore, the software offers an e-mail client function and OPC server in order to forward network data and alarms to other systems. SINEMA Server can be easily integrated in HMI (Human Machine Interface) and vi- sualization systems such as SIMATIC WinCC. Changes in the network are also accordingly logged and archived in a databa- se. For the analysis of past network failures or as evidence of network availability, the database information can be prepa- red and documented as reports for any configurable period of time. The SINEMA user interface and its available features are accessible via the browser from any computers on the net- work.

The following components can be diagnosed:

•SCALANCE X, W and S network components

•SIMATIC NET Industrial Ethernet CPs

•SIMATIC S7 with integrated PROFINET interface

•PROFINET IO devices, e.g. ET 200

•Other Ethernet devices

SNMP OPC server

The SNMP OPC Server enables diagnostic and configuration data to be read from any Ethernet devices and displayed on the Maintenance Station. Alongside standard maintenance data, simple plant network problems such as failure of a line can be quickly and easily detected by means of this software.

Device configuration is integrated into STEP 7. Ethernet de- vices can be read from a STEP 7 project or, using the autodis- covery function, directly from the live network. The user can easily add all devices detected there to the device list for mo- nitoring on the OPC Server. Then this configuration data is ex- ported into the Maintenance Station, where tags, alarms and faceplates are automatically created for the devices concer- ned.

Monitoring of PROFIBUS

Online diagnostics with diagnostic repeater Particularly in the case of exceptional stress, e.g. trailing cables or strong vibrations, frequent inspection of the cables is recommended to reduce failures to a minimum. The diag- nostic repeater is available for this purpose. It is integrated as an RS 485 repeater in the PROFIBUS network and also has po- werful features for the diagnosis of cable faults.

The diagnostics repeater determines the bus system topology. If there is a fault, a standard diagnostic message is automati- cally transmitted to the master.

This means that even sporadic cable faults can be detected and signaled. Even maintenance engineers without PROFIBUS expertise can also quickly and reliably locate and fix bus cable faults.

Diagnosis of optical PROFIBUS links with OLM

To set up optical PROFIBUS connections, optical link modules (OLMs) are used. They offer the following diagnostic options:

•Function monitoring by means of signaling contact

•Signaling of the fiber-optic cable quality with LEDs for channel monitoring

•Analog value signaling of the fiber optic line quality; evalu- ation with voltmeter via measurement terminal or reading to the PLC via analog module

Benefits of network monitoring and diagnostics

•High network availability through targeted and rapid locali- zation of faults

•Documentation of network activities for analysis and verifi- cation of network availability

•Monitoring and improvement of the network capacity utili- zation

•Automatic recognition of new or faulty participants

•Integration of diagnostics data in automation and visualiza- tion systems

•Detailed and clear graphical network representation

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