Introduction

This Application Note represents a complete commissioning guide, with the setup shown previously, using TIA Portal.

In this example, a Hilscher CIFX M223090AE-DP (netX 90 based) is configured for use as a PROFIBUS DP Slave, to communicate with a Siemens PLC S7 1500, working as a PROFIBUS DP Master.

Setup

The figure, below, shows the used Setup during creation of this commissioning example.

Create a new Project

• Open Siemens TIA Portal

• Create a new project

Add Devices

• Open the Project View

Add PLC

• Click "Add new device" and select your PLC (in this example S7 1500).
  Make sure to use the exact article number, to be found on the device itself.
  The Version, shows the currently installed Firmware Version.

Add CIFX DPS

Import CIFX DPS Description File

• Import the GSD provided for the CIFX netX 90 DPS, by selecting Options → "Manage general station description files (GSD)".

• Browse to the folder, where the GSD File is located and select it from the list of available files:

• Click install, to import the GSD to TIA Portal.

Add CIFX netX 90 DPS to the Project

• Double click "Devices and Network", to open the Network View.
  In this view, the Hardware Catalog is shown on the right side of the window.
  
  
• Add the Hilscher CIFX netX 90 DPS from the catalog to the Network View by double-click or drag and drop.
  The CIFX netX 90 DPS can be found in the structure "Other field devices → PROFIBUS DP → General → Hilscher GmbH → NETX DP/DPS".

Connect PROFIBUS Devices

• Connect both devices (via the PROFIBUS port) and assign (if not done automatically) the PLC to the CIFX netX 90 DPS:

Add Modules to CIFX netX 90 DPS

• Double-click on the CIFX netX 90 DPS (NETX DP/DPS) in the Network view, to open the Device view.
• Add Module "32 Byte Input" to Slot 1 and "32 Byte Output" to Slot 2 of the CIFX DPS (that's how the CIFX netX 90 Card has been configured via Communication Studio, in this example).
  Please note that the Module configuration in TIA Portal always needs to be completely equal to the configuration done with Communication Studio.
  There is no need to swap In- and Output.

• The PLC I/O addresses, will be automatically assigned and can be changed depending on individual needs.

Main PROFIBUS Settings

• In the Device View, double-click to the CIFX netX 90 DPS (NETX DP/DPS), to open the "Properties".
  This Area offers several main configurations, like the Station address of the CIFX netX 90 Card.

Set Station Address

• To define the Station Address of the CIFX netX 90 DPS, open the General configuration "PROFIBUS address".
• In the section "Parameters", change the address, if required. In this example, the CIFX netX 90 DPS is configured to use address 3.

Change Transmission Speed

• The transmission speed below the address in the slave properties, shown above, shows the currently configured baud rate of the PLC.
  The CIFX netX 90 DPS itself is in this example configured to automatically detect the proper baud rate.

• To change the baud rate of the PLC, change to the "Network View".
• Double-click on the pink bus line, to open the PROFIBUS properties. Go to the section "PROFIBUS → Network settings" to change the used baud rate.

Download configuration to PLC

• After the configuration has been finished, it needs to be downloaded to the PLC.
  Therefore, select the PLC in the Network view and click "Download to Device".

• Search for new devices in the upcoming window and select the corresponding PLC.
• Apply with "Load".

• Check all needed actions, to overwrite the current PLC configuration.
  Apply with "Load".

• After the Download has been finished successfully, the following window appears:

Diagnosis

After starting the communication, the PLCs Status LED "BF1" should stop blinking red and turn constantly off.

This indicates, that the PROFIBUS Side is working fine and there is a communication established to all configured PROFIBUS slaves.

Start Online Diagnosis

• Mark the Siemens PLC and use the function "Go online".

• If required, search for the PLC on the network and select it from the list of available devices.
  Click "Go Online" to connect to the PLC. The diagnosis is now accessible.

Check Communication State

• In the network view, the current state of each device is shown.

• The Device view, shows the state of each module of a device.
  As long as the green hook is shown in front of each configured module, the communication to the device should be fine.

• If any diagnosis is available, just double-click to the small icon in front of each module, to open the corresponding diagnosis:

• In the upcoming window, more information about the current state will be visible:

Watch Table

The watch table in TIA Portal is used to take a closer look at the currently received process data.
This can be used to easily check whether the exchange of process data works as expected.

• Double-click on "Add new watch table" in the PLCs structure, to open a new watch table:

• In the watch table, fill in the internal addresses of the process data, which has been automatically assigned.
  These addresses are shown in the "Device View" of the IO Device - in this case, the CIFX netX 90 DPS.
  Here, the 32 Byte input data is addressed from 0 to 31, the output data from 0 to 31:

• Fill in the table with the input bytes and select "Monitor all", to view the current content of the incoming data:

• Add some output addresses.
  Now change the field "Modify value", to force some output data. Note that this option will overwrite all other settings, like an already programmed behavior.
  By clicking "Modify all selected values one and now", the changes will be set. The modified output data should now be visible in the process data image of the CIFX netX 90 DPS.

Read and Write Data with CIFX netX 90 DPS

To read and write data via a CIFX Card, the IO Monitor of the tool "cifX Test" can be used.

The IO Monitor is used to send and receive IO Data, to check the current communication.

It does only work, if a communication is already successfully established.

"cifX Test" is part of the CIFX Device Driver installation and is available in the Driver folder:

C:\Program Files\cifX Device Driver\cifXTest.exe

• Execute "cifXTest.exe".
• Click "Device → Open" and select the Profibus protocol channel of the used CIFX Card:

• Open "Data Transfer → IO Monitor".

• In the "Length field" of the Process Data Input Image area, enter the number of bytes to be displayed.
  Then click into the "Data" field.

• In the Data field of the Process Data Output Image area, enter output data to be sent to the opposite device and click "Update", to send data.
  At the opposite device, the corresponding data is being received now.

• You can also use the functions "Cyclic" and "Auto Increment Data", to make it change automatically.