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THE INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

PROFIBUS AND PROFInet
IGOR BLAI, PETER DRAHO
Institute of Control and Industrial Informatics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and
Information Technology STU, Ilkoviova 3, Bratislava, SK-812 19, Slovak Republic
(igor.belai@stuba.sk, peter.drahos@stuba.sk)
Abstract: PROFIBUS and PROFInet are open and vendor independent industrial communication systems
used in the area of control of the discrete and continuous processes. There are introduced the main
PROFIBUS and PROFInet characteristics in the article. The application of these communication systems in
the education on the Institute of Control and Industrial Informatics is introduced too. There are also the
examples of both, the workplaces and the exercises, in the article. The exercises allow the following: 1. to
understand the principles of the work with the smart sensors, 2. to master the communication on the basis of
the PROFIdrive communication profile in the motion systems, 3. to handle the PROFIBUS diagnostics, 4. to
master the communication configuration in the PROFInet CBA systems.

Key words: Fieldbus, Industrial Ethernet, PROFIBUS, PROFInet, PROFIdrive.

1. Introduction
The industrial automation systems can be very complex, and they are usually
structured into several hierarchical levels. Each of these levels has an appropriate
communication level, which poses different claims on the communication system of
each level. The industrial communication systems is possible classify on different
categories based on functionality: field-level networks, control-level networks and
information-level networks. Hierarchy of an industrial automation system is on Fig.1
(DJIEV, 2009).
At the field level distributed devices such sensors, actuators, I/O modules, drive
units, communicate with automation systems over a powerful, real-time
communication system. Transmission of the data is cyclic and is characterized by short
bus cycle. The real length of the bus cycle is application dependent. It varies from the
tenth of microseconds to hundreds of milliseconds. Profibus DP and PROFInet IO
fulfill these criteria and offer the universal solutions for both factory automation and
process automation.
At the cell level programmable controllers such as PLCs and IPCs, communicate
with each other and with IT systems of the office world using standards such as
Ethernet, TCP/IP, Intranet and Internet. This information flow requires data packets
and a range of powerful communication functions. As well as PROFIBUS, Ethernet
based PROFInet offers a trendsetting solution for this purpose.

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Fig.1: Hierarchy of an industrial automation system

The information level is the top level of a plant or an industrial automation
system. The plant level controller gathers the management information from the area
levels and manages the whole automation system. At the information level there exist
large scale networks, e.g. Ethernet WANs for factory planning and management
information exchange.
2. PROFIBUS and PROFInet
PROFIBUS and PROFInet respect ISO/OSI reference model. PROFIBUS uses OSI
layers 1, 2 and 7 only (DRAHO, 2008). PROFInet uses OSI layers 1, 2, 3, 4 a 7
(Ethernet, TCP/IP, UDP/IP, DCOM) (PNO, April, 2006).
PROFIBUS DP (Decentralized Periphery) is the simple, fast, cyclic and
deterministic process data exchange between bus master end the assigned slave
devices. The original version designed DP-V0, has been expanded to include versions
DP-V1 and DP-V2. PROFIBUS DP is the main emphasis for factory automation, it
uses RS485 transmission technology, one of the DP communication protocol versions
and one or more application profiles. RS485 Transmission Technology is simple and
primarily used for task that require high transmission rate. Shielded twisted pair

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copper cable with one conductor pair is used. Various transmission rates can be
selected between 9,6 kbit/s and 12 Mbit/s. Fiber optic transmission over fiber optic
conductors is suitable in environments with very high electromagnetic interference or
when particularly large distances need to be covered. Each PROFIBUS DP system is
made up of 3 different device types (FRANEKOV et al., 2007): 1. DP Master Class
I is a central controller that cyclically exchanges information with the distributed
stations (slaves) at a specified message cycle (e.g. programmable logic controller).
2. DP Master Class II is engineering, configuration or operating devices. 3. Slave is a
peripheral device which reads in process information and/or uses output information to
intervene in the process.
PROFIBUS PA (Process Automation) is the main emphasis for process
automation, for smart sensors and actuators. Profibus PA uses MBP (Manchester
Coded Bus Powered) transmission technology, typically MBP-IS (Intrinsically Safe),
communications protocol version DP-V1 and the application profile PA Devices.
PROFIBUS PA is named MBP (Manchester Coding and Bus Powered) too according
IEC 61158-2. MBP is synchronous transmission with a defined transmission rate of
31,25 kbit/s and Manchester coding. This technology is frequently used in process
automation as it satisfies the key demands of chemical and petrochemical industries
for intrinsic safety and bus power using two-wire technology. This means that
PROFIBUS can also be used in potentially explosive areas and be intrinsically safe.
PROFInet is based on Industrial Ethernet ISO/IEC 8802.3 (Full Duplex),
IEEE802.1Q (Priority Tagging), always 100 Mbit/s and switched Ethernet. The
PROFInet communications model defines a vendor-independent standard for
communication on Ethernet with conventional IT mechanisms (runtime
communications). It uses the most common standards of the PC world. It provides
direct access from the office world to the automation level and vice versa (vertical
automation). PROFInet has two basic orientations PROFInet IO and PROFInet CBA.
PROFInet IO (Input, Output) is the simple, fast, cyclic and deterministic process data
exchange between Controller and Decentralized Periphery such as PROFIBUS DP.
PROFInet CBA (Component Based Automation) is a comprehensive automation
concept that has emerged as a result of the trend in automation technology towards
modular reusable machines and plants with distributed intelligence.
3. PROFIBUS and PROFInet systems at the Institute of Control and Industrial
Informatics
The properties of the PROFIBUS systems are educated on several workplaces of the
Institute of Control and Industrial Informatics. The control units of these workplaces
are interconnected through PROFIBUS DP or/and PROFInet
via built in
communication processors. The SIMATIC S7-300 CPUs are used as the control units.
The short description of these workplaces and their usage on the exercises from the
subjects Industrial communication systems and Industrial buses are described
thereinafter.
3.1 The PROFIBUS PA / HART communication with the smart sensors

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This workplace allows the education of the configuration of the temperature and
pressure sensors communicating via HART protocol or via PROFIBUS PA. The
communication structure of the system is on Fig.2.

Fig. 2: The communication structure of the PROFIBUS PA/HART system

The control unit represented by PLC SIMATIC S7-300 communicates with four
sensors. One HART device (Sitrans P pressure sensor equipped with HART
transmitter) communicates through PROFIBUS DP and ET 200M remote I/O system
with a built in analog HART module. The PROFIBUS PA devices are connected to
two PROFIBUS PA segments created by PROFIBUS DP/PA link (IM 157 module).
Two Sitrans T temperature sensors and one Sitrans P pressure sensor are connected to
PROFIBUS PA. The parametrization, configuration and diagnostics of all four sensors
are performed from five engineering stations (ES1 - ES5) via SIMATIC PDM
software.
This system is exploited in the education on the exercises from the above
mentioned subjects. The tasks solved by students are the following: 1. Study the
principle of the work of the connected sensors. 2. Draw the overall communication
diagram. 3. Study the software equipment SIMATIC PDM. 4. Verify selected
engineering activities (read the actual values, verify the parametrization of the device,
change and download new parameters of the device). 5. Compare the alarm signaling
in the pressure sensors PT 101 and PT 104.
The above mentioned tasks are solved via standard software SIMATIC Step 7
and SIMATIC PDM.
3.2 PROFIBUS DP communication in the motion systems
The motion systems workplace allows the education of the process values transfer
principles via PROFIBUS DP and the PROFIdrive communication profile (described
in: PNO, May, 2006). The communication structure of the system is on Fig. 3.

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Fig. 3: The communication structure in the motion system exercise

The system is composed of the controller SIMATIC S7-300 (PLC), ET 200M
remote I/O system (RIOS) with a counter module counting the impulses from the
incremental encoder (IRC), P-Device represented by frequency inverter supplying an
asynchronous motor (AM). Five engineering stations (ES1- ES5) make possible the
configuration of PLC and they also serve as supervisors by PROFIdrive profile
definition.
The tasks solved by students are the following: 1. Configure the PROFIBUS
network and the controller for the communication with the frequency inverter. 2. Write
a PLC program which will allows the frequency inverter control: Start, Stop, sending
of the reference frequency and receiving of the actual frequency. 3. Verify your
solution on the real system.
The above mentioned tasks are solved via standard software SIMATIC Step 7.
3.3 PROFIBUS diagnostics
The communication errors may be caused by physical layer malfunctions or by
incorrect network settings. The PROFIBUS diagnostics can be performed during a
PROFIBUS system installation, preventative on the working systems, or when the
system malfunction happens. In the PLC systems, the basic diagnosis of the
PROFIBUS networks is realizable via configuration software of the PLC. But the
diagnostic possibilities of this software is limited and more profound diagnostics has
to be performed by special software and/or hardware tools. We utilize two of such
tools: BC-450 PROFIBUS protocol analyzer and PB-T3 PROFIBUS cable tester
produced by Softing AG.
The communication network of our system is on Fig. 4. The network consists of
five PROFIBUS DP Masters Class I (programmable logic controllers PLC1- PLC4,
PLC6), six PROFIBUS DP Masters Class II (engineering stations ES1 ES6) , five
PROFIBUS DP Slaves (one DP/PA link, two remote I/O systems ET 200M, two
frequency inverters) and hardware error generator (ERR) which makes possible
generation of some cabling errors. The following errors are possible to generate via

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hardware error generator: line break, wrong cable type, damaged cable, high transition
resistance, too many terminators.

Fig. 4: The PROFIBUS DP network in the Siemens laboratory of the Institute of

Control and Industrial Informatics, FEI STU
The students learn to distinguish the symptoms of the errors generated by error
generator and the way of their detection via PROFIBUS diagnostic tools.
3.4 PROFInet CBA system
The PROFINET component model sees its real use in distributed automation systems.
It is ideally suited for intelligent field devices with programmable functionality as well
as controllers. The component model describes autonomously acting partial units of
machines or plants as technological modules. The engineering of distributed
automation systems differentiates between the programming of the control logic of the
individual technological modules (manufacturer- specific configuration tools) and the
manufacturer independent configuration of the overall installation, in which the
communications relationships between the technological modules are determined.
The communication network of our system is on Fig. 5. PROFInet CBA network
consists of two technological modules and one engineering station (ES4). The
technological module 1 is composed of the SIMATIC S7-300 PLC. The technological
module 2 represents a motion system with SIMATIC S7-300 PLC, engineering station
(ES6) and a frequency inverter supplying an asynchronous motor. Both PLCs have the
PROFInet communication capabilities. The configuration of the PROFInet
communication is performed via standard SIMATIC STEP 7 and SIMATIC iMAP
software tools.

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Fig. 5: The communication structure of the PROFInet CBA system

The students solve the following tasks: 1. Configure the PROFIBUS DP network
of of the technological module 2. 2. Configure and program technological functions of
both PLCs. The PLC of the technological module 1 shall send the commands to the
technological module 2 via PROFInet CBA and on the contrary it shall receive the
actual values from the technological module 2. 3. Generate the PROFInet components
for both PLCs. 4. Generate PROFInet interconnections via SIMATIC iMAP software.
5. Verify your solution on the real system.
4 Conclusion
The basic informations about application of the both PROFIBUS and PROFInet
industrial communication systems in education on Institute of Control and Industrial
Informatics, are summarized in the paper. The above mentioned workplaces are
located in the Laboratory of the Automation Technology Siemens.
The students, during the solution of the exercises, learn the following: 1. The
elements of the SIMATIC S7-300 PLC programming and configuration. 2 The
principles of configuration and diagnostics of the PROFIBUS PA field devices. 3. The
principles of the communication with the drive units by PROFIdrive communication
profile used in PROFIBUS and PROFInet networks. 4. The PROFIBUS error sources
identification via advanced diagnose tools. 5. The configuration of the technology
modules communication within the PROFInet CBA network.
This project is supported by the grant KEGA 3 / 5201 / 07.

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References
PNO: PROFINET Technology and Application. PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V.,
Germany, April 2006.
PNO: Profile Drive Technology PROFIdrive, Technical Specification for PROFIBUS
and PROFINET, Version 4.1. PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V., Germany, May
2006.
FRANEKOV, M., KLLAY, F., PENIAK, P., VESTENICK, P.: Komunikan
bezpenos priemyselnch siet (Communication safety of the industrial networks),
ilinsk univerzita, ilina, 2007, 271 pp.
DRAHO, P.: Multivendor PROFIBUS. Proceedings of the 8th International Scientific
- Technical Conference PROCESS CONTROL 2008. Kouty nad esnou, Czech
Republic, June 9-12, 2008.
DJIEV, S.: Industrial Networks for Communication and Control. http://anp.tusofia.bg/djiev/PDF%20files/Industrial%20Networks.pdf. Viewed on July 2009.