IFM Proof-Of-Concept project, need help on connecting to a DIO hub to Ignition

General Discussion
1

Morning. I am new to using IFM I/O link products and currently working on a proof-of-concept project.

The project has an Ethernet/IP master (AL1326) with several IFM 'smart' sensors. Using IFM's supplied UDT's I have all of these devices communication with our local Ignition instance.

This master is also connected to a hub (AL2301) which provides 8 DIO ports which are planned to be used for various analog inputs and some discrete inputs. IFM helped us set these up and they appear to be successfully communicating.

My question is with the hub. How do I get values from it? there's no UDT on the website for this (the AL2301).

ANy guidance and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thanks!!

2

I'm not sure I have any help for you, but I do want to clarify...

Your setup is something like this?

Ignition -> ControlLogix PLC -> AL1326 -> AL2301

Or some other ENIP-enabled PLC that Ignition has a driver for.

3

Morning, Kevin. There is no PLC is the mix right now... it's all strictly IoT for data collection. We ordered the Ethernet/IP to test (later) local annunication of alarms etc (but may use IFM's output device for this purpose).

The POC contemplates multiple use-cases, from consuming the data via local Ignition, a remote Ignition, or a Logix PLC.

Does that help?

4

What UDTs are you talking about? How is Ignition communicating with these right now, and which is it communicating with if you don't actually have the AL1326?

5

Kevin, here's the kink to the UDT's (as provided by IFM)....

6

IFM has some UDT's which are available from the Ignition Exchange that are tailored to their devices.

They use UDT parameters to configure an httpPost message to the devices. The devices provide a JSON response that will have the requested information, which then according to the IODD file for that device may need some conversion to get to a useable value.

The nice thing about the UDT's is you give it the Ip address of the IO-Link master, and the port the device is connected to, and as long as the device is recognized it will do all the work for you.

@jkelleyus I'm guessing that they are polling the port that the AL2301 is connected to on the Master, and then they know how to parse the response down to the needed information from there.

Have you looked into this at all?

This allows for a direct OPC connection.

1 Like
7

I have not looked at this, but it appears we purchased one and the plant says it's configured and connected.

So this device is a OPC server.... how do I connect to it in Ignition?

Thank you for your help!

8

I haven’t yet done this, in fact I was just informed of its existence yesterday. However, it can be connected as a client to Ignitions OPC UA server.

On that page there is a download available for instructions to set up a connection to an OPC server.

9

For reference, the IFM IO-Link masters are coming out with a second ethernet PHY that is fully set up with a REST API for IIoT data collection.
IFM have provided some very clunky basic components for Ignition that bypass the need for a PLC and use httpRequest() as linked above.
I have had a play around with these units previously, a sample below.

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I have actually written more utilities for the IO-Link masters using scripting and such, and have an intention to make a full tag system for these units based on Travis Cox's API Module.

10

Glad you guys seem to know what's going on here :slight_smile:

Is this REST API documented? Are the DIO from the connected AL2301 available via the API on the master?

I kind of gave up when I tried to download their docs and it required an account.

11

Basically the process data from each IO-Link device is accessible as a pdin process data input and pdout process data output data blocks. As a Hub is essentially an IO-link device that provides the sub device data as a sub structure under those data blocks, you would likely map the pdin and pdout data to a udt in ignition that can be chosen when the deviceid (Unique device identifier that specifies the device is that particular hub) matches the Hub.