Modbus

Universal Controller provides native support of Modbus protocol for Modbus physical interfaces (PHIs). Core support is provided with pymodbus Python module, but with additional functionality, such as bus locking, automatic retry attempts, virtual ports for drivers etc.

Universal Controller works as Modbus master, connection links to all slave devices should be defined as virtual ports. After that, defined virtual ports and Modbus unit IDs should be set in corresponding PHI modules load configurations.

Defining Modbus virtual port

Before using any Modbus PHI, you must define Modbus virtual port. Modbus PHIs work with Modbus virtual ports only, while UC handles all hardware calls and responses.

List of the defined Modbus virtual ports can be obtained with command:

eva uc modbus list

To create new Modbus virtual port, execute the following command:

eva uc modbus create [-l] [-t SEC] [-r RETRIES] [-d SEC] [-y] ID PARAMS

where:

  • -l lock port on operations, which means to wait while Modbus port is used by another controller thread (driver command)

  • -t SEC Modbus operations timeout (in seconds, default: default timeout)

  • -r RETRIES retry attempts for each operation (default: no retries)

  • -d SEC delay between virtual port operations (default: 20ms)

  • -y save Modbus port config after creation

  • ID virtual port ID which will be used later in PHI configurations

  • PARAMS Modbus params

Modbus params should contain the configuration of hardware Modbus port. The following hardware port types are supported:

  • tcp , udp Modbus protocol implementations for TCP/IP networks. The params should be specified as: <protocol>:<host>[:port], e.g. tcp:192.168.11.11:502

  • rtu, ascii, binary Modbus protocol implementations for the local bus connected with USB or serial port. The params should be specified as: <protocol>:<device>:<speed>:<data>:<parity>:<stop> e.g. rtu:/dev/ttyS0:9600:8:E:1

As soon as the port is created, it can be used by PHI. Let’s create Modbus TCP port and load dae_ro16_modbus PHI module:

eva uc modbus create p1 tcp:192.168.11.11:502 -y
eva uc phi load r1 dae_ro16_modbus -c port=p1,unit=1 -y

As the result, controller creates a driver r1.default which can be set to item to work with any relay port of unit #1 of the Modbus relay 192.168.11.11 connected via TCP.

Warning

UC will grant Modbus port access to PHI only if it has enough timeout to wait for the longest possible call. It means operation timeout (action_timeout, update_timeout) in item should be greater than modbus_port_timeout*(1+modbus_port_retries). If the command max timeout is less than this value, attempts to access Modbus virtual port return an error.

If you need to change Modbus port params or options, you can always create new Modbus virtual port with the same ID, without deleting the previous one. Port configuration and options will be overwritten.

Testing Modbus virtual port

To test defined Modbus virtual port, execute the following command:

eva uc modbus test <ID>
# e.g.
eva uc modbus test p1

The command connects UC to Modbus port and checks the operation status.

Note

As Modbus UDP doesn’t require a port to be connected, test command always return “OK” result.

Deleting Modbus virtual port

To delete Modbus virtual port, execute the command:

eva uc modbus destroy <ID>
# e.g.
eva uc modbus destroy p1

Note that controller doesn’t check if the port is in use or not, so double check this manually before deleting it.

Generic Modbus drivers

If equipment has no dedicated PHI, generic Modbus PHIs can be used.

Note

The generic Modbus drivers don’t support bulk get/set requests and are not recommended for heavy production setups.

But for the most cases it’s possible to use the generic drivers for equipment monitoring and control only, fetching real-time data with external high-speed data pullers.

The modules are called:

  • modbus_sensor generic module for Modbus sensors

  • modbus_xvunit generic module for Modbus units

Both modules support widely-used Modbus data types, starting from simple coils and 16-bit unsigned integers and up to signed / unsigned 64-bit integers (4 x 16-bit registers) and 32-bit floats (2x 16-bit registers, IEEE 754-encoded). Refer to module help for more details.

modbus_xvunit supports both standard and “always-on” units, the last ones are used for complicated equipment, where only unit value is used, while the unit status is always 1.

Example: let’s create a sensor and bind IEEE 754-float to it, stored in the equipment holding registers 5 and 6. Consider Modbus virtual port “p1” is already defined.

# download PHI module if not downloaded yet
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/modbus/modbus_sensor.py
# load PHI, if not loaded yet
# here port = Modbus virtual port
eva uc phi load ms1 modbus_sensor -c port=p1,unit=1 -y
eva uc create sensor:tests/s1 -yE
# and here port = register number
# don't forget that extra PHI params (type, multiplier etc.) should be
# prefixed with an underscore
eva uc driver assign sensor:tests/s1 ms1.default -c port=h5,_type=f32 -y
# update the sensor state every 500 milliseconds
eva uc config set sensor:tests/s1 update_interval 0.5 -y

Another example: let’s create a unit with status 0/1 (OFF/ON) stored as 5th bit of holding register 1000:

# download PHI module if not downloaded yet
eva uc phi download https://pub.bma.ai/eva3/phi/modbus/modbus_xvunit.py
# load PHI, if not loaded yet
# here port = Modbus virtual port
eva uc phi load m1 modbus_xvunit -c port=p1,unit=1 -y
eva uc create unit:tests/u1 -yE
# and here port = register number
eva uc driver assign unit:tests/u1 m1.default -c port=h1000/5 -y
# update the unit state every 5 seconds
eva uc config set unit:tests/u1 update_interval 5 -y
# update unit state after each action to make sure the state is properly set
eva uc config set unit:tests/u1 update_exec_after_action 1 -y
# execute test action
eva uc action toggle unit:tests/u1 -w 5

Modbus slave

Universal Controller can work as Modbus slave. Ports, the slave listens to, are set in config/uc/main registry key. Supported: modbus over TCP, UDP and serial ports (rtu/ascii/binary).

modbus-slave:
    - proto: tcp
      listen: 127.0.0.1:5502
      unit: 0x01
    - proto: rtu
      listen: /dev/ttyS0
      unit: 2

Controller uses single memory space for all ports it listens to, ports can have different Modbus addresses. Memory space has 10 000 holding registers, 10 000 coils, 10 000 input registers and 10 000 discrete inputs.

Units can listen to memory space changes and automatically update their status and value as soon as Modbus register is being changed. To activate state updates via Modbus slave memory space, set unit modbus_status and/or modbus_value properties to the corresponding registers, using before the number c for coil and h for holding register, e.g. c5 for 5th coil register, h50 for 50th holding register etc.

As Modbus values can be only integers, you may specify divider (or multiplier as well). To convert unsigned integer to signed, specify “S” before address. E.g. you have Modbus temperature sensor which stores its value every X seconds to holding register 5 on Universal Controller, multiplied by 100 and as signed integer. To automatically convert this value, set modbus_value = hS5/100

Sensors can update their value only. Don’t forget to enable sensor (set its status to 1) manually.

More complex data processing can be performed via PHI modules.