LabVIEW Connection to Ethernet IP I/O

[mlwarren]

Does anyone have information on how to connect LabView to an Ethernet IP I/O?

[RavensFan]

You will need to provide more information.  What is the brand/model of your ethernet IP I/O?

Some possibilities would be a Modbus TCP/IP protocol, or an OPC server/client, or communicating with some sort of driver provided by the manufacturer of the device. 

[Kodeeswaran]

give more details we look in for this

[mlwarren]

We are attempting to connect to ethernet IP devices in the same way that an AB Controllogix plc would.  I am aware that you can use an OPC server to interchange information directly between the PLC and LabView.  But in situations where there is no PLC, we would still like to be able to connect to ethernet IP devices.

[RavensFan]

Look at the NI Modbus Library.

There are VI's and examples for how to use Modbus communication over serial ports and ethernet connections.

[DuffmanSays]

Unfortunately National Instruments does not have any hardware that natively communicates using the EtherNet IP protocol. You can easily implement applications in LabVIEW that use simple TCP/IP or UPD communication, but I do not know enough about the EtherNet IP protocol specification to know if these standard protocols will work. As you mentioned, LabVIEW can interface with an OPC server. If you have any hardware which uses this protocol that can access the OPC server tags, then this would be your best option.

How is this generally done even outside of LabVIEW? Namely, if I have just a PC without a PLC attached, how can I communicate using this protocol from another software interface? If there are PCI or USB devices available that can use this protocol, then you may be able to utilize them from LabVIEW. I hope this information is useful for you. Please post back if we can provide any additional assistance. Thanks,

Mike D.
National Instruments
Applications Engineer

[DuffmanSays]

Message Edited by Duffman Says: on 08-20-2007 10:56 PM

[sivamgr]

I've written a set of VIs to perform communication with Allen Bradely PLCs (MicroLogix, Compact Logix, Control Logix) via ethernet. These set of VIs use TCP  to read/write tags. No OPC Server, NI-DSC Module nor Automation Runtime is required.

Any Device that supports EtherNET/IP Protocol can ba accessed using these VIs.

I've posted the VIs in LAVA forum.

Please refer to the following topic at LAVA.

http://forums.lavag.org/Industrial-EtherNet-EtherNet-IP-t9041.html

[Gabi1]

too bad your vis are password protected

[sivamgr]

I've posted all the unlocked VIs in the replies on that topic..

Check this link..

http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=6948