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PROFIBUS-Specification-Normative-Parts-1:1997
© Copyright by PNO 1997 - all rights reserved
This specification defines the technical and functional characteristics of a
serial fieldbus which is aimed at the inter-connection of digital field devices
or systems with low or medium performance, e.g. sensors, actuators, transmit-
ters, programmable logical controllers (PLC), numerical controllers (NC), pro-
gramming devices, local man machine interfaces etc.
Often a field control system is based on a central control and supervision unit,
which is connected to a number of devices and small systems distributed in the
field. In such cases the dominant data transfer is centrally oriented and cyclic
from the field devices to the central data processing unit or to a superior con-
trol system.
Strict realtime requirements have been met using the following simplifications:
- segmentation of long messages (> 235 byte) is not supported.
- blocking of short messages is not supported. The combination of many short
messages into one long message packet is not in accordance with the require-
ment of short messages, and therefore the specification does not provide this
function.
- support of routing functions by the network layer is not provided in the
specification.
- except for a mandatory minimum configuration, arbitrary subsets of services
can be created depending on the application requirements. This is a particu-
larly important aspect for small systems (sensors, etc.).
- other functions are optional such as password protection schemes.
- the network topology is a linear bus with or without terminator, including
drop cables and branches (tree)
- the medium, distances, number of stations Depending on the signal character-
istics, e.g. for shielded twisted pair, ≤ 1,2 km without repeaters, 32 sta-
tions
- transmission speed depends on network topology and line lengths, e.g. step-
wise from 9,6 to 1500 kbit/s
- a second medium (redundancy) is optional
- a halfduplex, asynchronous, slip protected synchronization (no bit stuffing)
is used for transmission
- Data integrity of messages is Hamming distance (HD)=4, sync slip detection,
special sequence to avoid loss and multiplication of data
- Addresses are defined in the range of 0 to 127 (127 = global addresses for
broad-cast and multicast messages), address extension for regional address,
segment address and Service Access address (Service Access Point, LSAP), 6
bit each
- two station types are used: (1) Masters (active stations, with bus access
control), (2) Slaves (passive stations, without bus access control); prefera-
bly at most 32 masters, optionally up to 127, if the applications are not
time critical.
- Bus access is based on a hybrid, decentral/central method; token passing be-
tween master stations and master-slave between master and slave stations. The
token circulates in a logical ring formed by the masters. If the system con-
tains only one master, e.g. a central control and supervision station, no
token passing is necessary. This is a pure single-master/n-slave system. The
minimum configuration comprises one master and one slave, or two masters.