Overview of MODBUS Protocol

What is MODBUS protocol?

 It was used in Process control by Modicon (Schneider Electric) in 1979
 It is enables data transmission between controller and sensors via RS-232
 It was promoted to RS-485 :

Multi drop
Velocity Distance
Net

TCP/IP
Master / Slave

Open Protocol

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 Introduction
 Modbus is an Open protocol
 It is a simple master–slave protocol
 severely limited for electrical substation communication. The basic
protocol for PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) connection
 It is used by local serial connection, is not suited for Telemetry.
 Telemetry is an automated communications process by which
measurements and other data are collected at remote or inaccessible
points and transmitted to receiving equipment for monitoring.
 Optional interface: RS-232, RS-422, RS-485
 20 – 30 supplier De facto
WWW.MODBUS.org

 Support group for vender and user

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 Introduction
 applies to layers 1, 2 and 7 of the OSI stack
relatively slow in comparison with other buses
 wide acceptance among instrument manufacturers and users
• Fixed characteristics:
frame format, frame, sequences, handling of communications errors ,
exception conditions , the functions performed
• Stable characteristics:
transmission medium, transmission characteristics, and transmission mode.

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 Modbus Addressing
 To communicate with a slave device, the master sends a message
containing

 Device Address
 Function Code
 Data
 Error Check

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 • Number from 0 to 247

Device Address • broadcast messages: slave device responds to a MODBUS

message

• command that the slave device is to execute

Function Code • 1-255

• defines addresses in the device’s memory map for read

Data functions

• 16-bit numeric value representing the Cyclic Redundancy

Error Check Check (CRC).

• CRC values do not match, the device asks
• for a retransmission of the message
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 Data field

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 The MODBUS protocol provides frames for the
transmission of messages between master and slaves

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 Modbus infrastructure
 Serial Modbus
 Modbus Plus
 Ethernet TCP/IP

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 Modbus Serial
RTU – • referred to as Modbus-B
for Modbus binary
compact
and faster

• typical message that is

ASCII – about twice the length of
readable the equivalent RTU
message

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 RTU Mode
 the same baud rate in messaging make effective characters, so
operating burden increase
 RTU has 1 byte string and ASCII has 4 bit string

ASCII is slower than others

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 Serial Modbus Operation

 host device transmits a command, attached device(s) respond. Each device has a
unique address assigned to it. Each device is configured for the same protocol
emulation of Modbus.

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 TCP/IP Modbus
 Evolution of Serial Modbus
 Data Transportation Mechanism:
Ethernet

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 Modbus problems
 Output are related to physical interface
 Band width moderating
 Limited IED which are in connection

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 Modbus Plus

 Modbus characteristics
developed after 1980
 Main orders are
common
 Mobus AEG invent this
new method

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 Typical Applications of Modbus Plus in
Substation Automation
 Interlocking between PLCs (e.g. bus restoration)
 Control and monitoring of protective relay I/O from PLCs
 Sharing of analog data among IEDs
 Acquisition of data by a network-resident host computer
 Transfer of status and control between power plant and substation
PLCs
 Uploading and downloading of PLC programs
 Download of configurations and settings to protective relays and
other IEDs

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CoAP
 Constrained Application Protocol
 "A specialized web transfer protocol for use with constrained
nodes and constrained networks in the Internet of Things."
 REST-based web transfer protocol
 manipulates Web resources using the same methods as HTTP:
GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE
 subset of HTTP functionality re-designed for low power
embedded devices such as sensors (for IoT and M2M)
CoAP
 TCP overhead is too high and its flow control is not
appropriate for short-lived transactions
 UDP has lower overhead and supports multicast
CoAP
 Four message types:
 Confirmable – requires an ACK
 Non-confirmable – no ACK needed
 Acknowledgement – ACKs a Confirmable
 Reset - indicates a Confirmable message has been received but
context is missing for processing
CoAP
 CoAP provides reliability without using TCP as transport
protocol
 CoAP enables asynchronous communication
 e.g., when CoAP server receives a request which it cannot
handle immediately, it first ACKs the reception of the message
and sends back the response in an off-line fashion
 Also supports multicast and congestion control
CoAP