Category: Industry Trends

The ELX3 ProLinx Edge™ Gateway is designed to combine OT Protocol

Conversion with edge computing capabilities to meet your most demanding

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications.

For industrial protocol conversion, the ELX3 supports the ProSoft ELX-EIP

MBTCP protocol gateway container, giving you the ability to do protocol

gateway conversion for EtherNet/IP to Modbus TCP/IP.  Built on the field

proven ProSoft communication gateway solutions and as an EtherNet/IP

ODVA conformance tested solution, this protocol gateway container solves

many OT protocol conversion needs.

The ELX3 additionally provides the ability to run Docker containers providing

the flexibility to run custom code for advanced applications such as machine

learning, predictive maintenance, or custom protocol drivers.

With hardware supporting an extended operating temperature range of -40C

to +70C as well as Class 1 Div 2 ratings, this Edge gateway is designed to

withstand harsh industrial environments.

The new ProLinx Edge™ ELX3 module provides OT protocol conversion and

the ability to concurrently run custom Docker container applications all in a

single hardware platform designed to withstand harsh conditions.

The A-CFR ControlNet Fiber Repeater extends the length of a network for

a point-to-point topology while performing network media conversion from

copper to fiber, and from fiber to copper.

The A-CFR can be used when a medium-distance fiber link between two

ControlNet products is needed. The fiber link provides isolation between

nodes and is less susceptible to a noisy environment than copper media.

Features

• A pair of A-CFR modules can be used to physically extend a ControlNet

network by up to 3 km (1.86 miles) using

standard industrial multi-mode fiber.

• Supports Redundant ControlNet applications by duplicating the setup.

• Supports common industrial fiber cables:

• OM1 – 62.5/125 μm

• OM2 – 50/125 μm

• Wide operating voltage 10 to 32 VDC

• Small form factor – DIN rail mounted

Features

• Receive up to 100 pre-configured CAN Bus packets.

• Send up to 100 pre-configured CAN Bus packets.

• CAN Bus transmission can be scheduled (periodic), or externally triggered,

sent on Start-up, or any combination.

• Logix L5X generation – Ready for import

• Supports Passthrough Messaging from Logix

• Module has various Primary Interfaces:

o EtherNet/IP Target (Class 1 connection)

o Modbus Server (TCP, RTU232. and RTU485)

o Modbus Client (TCP, RTU232. and RTU485)

o EtherNet/IP Originator (Class 1 connection with up to 10 EtherNet/IP devices

and Explicit Messaging, including

• Direct-To-Tag Logix tag access, with up to 10 EtherNet/IP devices).

• Slate software provides a CAN Bus and Modbus packet capture utility for better

diagnosis of communication issues.

• Supports common CAN Bus Baud Rates (10k, 20k, 50k, 125k, 250k, 500k, 800k, 1M)

• Dual Ethernet ports which support Device-Level-Ring (DLR).

• Network Time Protocol (NTP) supported for external time synchronization.

• Small form factor – DIN rail mounted

• The Slate Configuration Utility software is used for configuration and troubleshooting

of the router. The stand-alone

configuration utility allows users to define the setup and configuration of the router

and its connections with controllers and devices.

The A-CANBR/B CAN Bus Router provides intelligent data routing between

either EtherNet/IP™ or Modbus® TCP/RTU and a CAN Bus network. This

allows the user to integrate CAN Bus devices into a Rockwell Automation

Logix platform (e.g., ControlLogix® or CompactLogix™) or any Modbus

Client or Server device with minimal effort.

The A-CANBR/B also provides a range of statistics, CAN Bus and Modbus

packet capture functions, and internal Modbus and Data table reads to

simplify remote diagnosis. A built-in webserver provides detailed

diagnostics of system configuration and operation, including the display of

CAN Bus operation and communication statistics, without the need for any

additional software.

Filtering Features

The filtering is extremely flexible. For example, you can select frames:

 To and from a single drop

 With errors

 By type (I/O updates, directed messages, etc.)

 With specific data values

You create an equation that defines the criteria used to select frames of interest.

The equation consists of data values and operators.

Capture Features

The AN-X-AMX gateway can control how captured network frames appear, including:

 Format of timestamps

 Format of data – hexadecimal, unsigned or signed integer, binary

 Timing information – values and text graphs of time between frames and time

 From the start of one selected frame and the start of the next

 Display of frame CRCs

 Detailed status information for frames

Web Access

AN-X acts as a web server. Any web browser can connect to the AN-X to view diagnostics and current I/O data.

A web browser can be used to configure the drop number and drop depth, and to configure scheduled an

AN-X to AN-X data exchange.

The AN-X-AMX Gateway lets you capture, store and analyze network data

on a Reliance AutoMax DCS or remote I/O network. The AN-X-AMX

gateway can be used to examine the behavior of all drops, verify network

data and timing, locate network errors and troubleshoot problems with the

network and with the process.

The AN-X-AMX gateway does not occupy a drop on the network or affect

existing network traffic in any way. The AN-X-AMX gateway captures and

stores ALL network frames, with timestamps to microsecond precision and

uses post-capture filtering to select frames of interest for further analysis.

This approach ensures that everything leading up to an event of interest is

preserved.

The alternative approach, pre-filtering and saving only certain messages,

might cause you to lose key information. At the end of each minute, a new

file is created and the file older than the keep time is deleted.

Typical capture file size is 2.5 megabytes/minute, 150 megabytes/hour,

3.6 gigabytes/day. The AN-X-AMX gateway is field upgradeable.

The operating system and firmware can be upgraded over Ethernet.