Passive Fieldbus Integration

Functional Overview

Firewall

The Passive Fieldbus Integration is working only "Oneway". That means, all the data packets can be read from the fieldbus, but there is no way to write data packets to the fieldbus. In this case there is a real firewall in between your IT and OT network.

Data Access

The data collected by the fieldbus can be provided as data endpoint by the OPC UA Server, can be accessed via a Hilscher specific Node-RED node or a system device interface used in a Docker Container.

Seamless Integration and Maintenance

The use of a netMIRROR is not mandatory but recommended, because the installation and maintenance of the Edge Gateway can be done completely independant from the network operation in the shopfloor.





Configuration

The configuration of the signal selection used for the application is done by frame filtering. Those filter can be created by the Passive Fieldbus Configurator. The following network protocols are supported currently:

  • PROFINET
  • EthernetIP
  • EtherCAT

The simple configuration of these protocols are supported by the Passive Fieldbus Configurator at the moment. It is simple, because the user is able to load Device Description Files in order to get "talking" device information. So it is easy to recognize, which device is available in the network and what are the data they provide.

In order to create a filter, drag the device output from the tree on the left side and drop it to the upper right side. A monitoring function is supporting the plausibility check of the signal filter.

In other cases, the user should have some deeper knowledge about the protocol. Then he is able to create also filter for protocols like:

  • Powerlink
  • Sercos
  • Modbus TCP