How to Transfer Data from MTConnect to Modbus

Open Automation Software can be used to transfer data from a MTConnect data source to a Modbus device using Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, and Modbus ASCII locally or over a network. This guide walks you through downloading and installing OAS, configuring an MTConnect data source, a Modbus connector and the necessary tags.

This guide uses the Data Route feature of OAS to transfer a Tag's value to another Tag's value using the Tag-to-Tag method.

For this guide on how to transfer data from MTConnect to a Modbus device you will need:

• A Modbus device or simulator connected to your workstation

1 - Download and Install OAS

If you have not already done so, you will need to download and install the OAS platform.

Fully functional trial versions of the software are available for Windows, Windows IoT Core, Linux, Raspberry Pi and Docker on our downloads page.

On Windows, run the downloaded setup.exe file to install the Open Automation Software platform. For a default installation, Agree to the End User License Agreement and then click the Next button on each of the installation steps until it has completed.

If you'd like to customize your installation or learn more, use the following instructions:

• Windows Installation
• Linux Installation
• Raspberry Pi Installation
• Docker Installation

The OAS Service Control application will appear when the installation finishes on Windows.

Click on each START SERVICE button to start each of the three OAS services.

2 - Configure OAS

Web Configuration Application

Configuration of the OAS server is performed from the built-in Web Configuration Application. This is the main application for accessing any settings within the OAS server and is completely self-contained within the server.

You can reach this by opening your browser to:

http://<your server>:58725/app/config

If you are browsing from the OAS machine itself, you can use localhost, otherwise use the IP address of the machine. You will also need to ensure port 58725 is open on both the client and the server or you may not be able to reach the application.

On a new installation the OAS engine has no accounts yet, so the first screen you see is Create Admin Account. Once the administrator account exists that screen is not shown again, and browsing to the application displays the sign in screen instead.

1. Enter a name for the administrator in the Admin user name field. Typically you would use admin, but you can use whatever name you choose.

2. Enter a password in the Password field, then enter the same password again in the Confirm password field.

3. Click on the Create admin & sign in button. The account is created and you are signed in to the engine.

To sign in from then on, enter the Network node of the OAS engine, then the Username and Password of your account, and click on the Sign in button.

Legacy Configuration Application

1. From your operating system start menu, open the Configure OAS application.

2. Select the Configure > Tags screen.

   Important

   If this is the first time you have installed OAS, the AdminCreate utility will run when you select a screen in the Configure menu. This will ask you to create a username and password for the admin user. This user will have full permissions in the OAS platform.

   For further information see Getting Started - Security.

3. If this is the first time you are logging in, you will see the AdminCreate utility. Follow the prompts to set up your admin account. Otherwise, select the Log In menu button and provide the Network Node, username and password.

   

   

3 - Configure MT Connect Data Source

In the following steps you will create and configure an MT Connect Connector that connects to a publicly available endpoint. It will also make use of automatic tag generation.

1. Select Drivers in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add, enter a meaningful Driver Interface Name to give this driver interface instance a unique name, and click Create. Once created, the driver interface name should appear in the list of drivers. Then set Driver to MTConnect.

3. Provide a Live Data Url to connect to an MTConnect endpoint. The driver starts with the address of Mazak's public demo agent, which is the endpoint this guide uses. The app flags that address because it polls Mazak's demo agent over the internet rather than a machine on your network - outside of this walkthrough, replace it with your own agent's URL, for example http://<agent-host>:5000.

4. Specify the Interval at which to poll the endpoint.

   

5. Turn on Enable and click on the Apply changes button. The driver interface is not active until it is enabled and the changes are applied.

   

4 - Automatic Tag Generation

The MTConnect endpoint provides a schema that allows OAS to automatically create Tags for the data points defined in the schema.

1. Select Tags in the sidebar.

2. You will see a Tag Group that matches the name of the MTConnect driver you created. The MTConnect driver creates all of the Tag Groups and Tags within this parent Tag Group.

   

3. You can remove any Tags or even entire Tag Groups that you do not need by right-clicking on a Tag or Tag Group and selecting Delete Tag or Delete Group.

5 - Configure Modbus Data Destination

In the following steps you will create and configure a Modbus Connector to act as a data destination. This will use a Master connection type and an Ethernet TCP connection. It assumes that your device is using the default port 502.

1. Select Drivers in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add, enter a meaningful Driver Interface Name to give this driver interface instance a unique name, and click Create. Once created, the driver interface name should appear in the list of drivers.

3. Ensure the following parameters are configured:

   • Driver: Modbus
   • Type: Master
   • Connection: Ethernet
   • Ethernet Type: TCP
   • Port Number: 502

4. Specify the device IP in the IP Address field.

   

5. Turn on Enable and click on the Apply changes button. The driver interface is not active until it is enabled and the changes are applied.

   

6 - Add Data Destination Tag

In this section you will create a Tag to represent a data point that you want to write to.

1. Select Tags in the sidebar.

2. If you want to add a Tag at the root of the tag list, make sure no Tag Group is selected and click on the + button, then choose Add tag.

   

   If you want to add a Tag to a Tag Group, select the Tag Group first and then click on the + button and choose Add tag here.

   You can also add Tag Groups by choosing Add group.

3. Provide a Tag Name such as TemperatureOutput and click the Create button.

   

7 - Assign Modbus as Tag Data Destination

You will now set the Tag's data source to the Modbus driver interface that you created previously to act as a data destination.

1. Select the Tag that will be associated with the Modbus destination.

   

2. Set the Data Source to Modbus.

3. Set the Select Driver Interface drop-down to the ModbusDestination interface created previously.

4. Configure the Modbus parameters accordingly based on your device requirements.

   • Device Address: The Modbus station number [default: 1]
   • Memory Type: The Modbus data model table type [Coil Status, Input Status, Input Register, Holding Register]
   • Address: The register to read/write based on the address offset
   • Modbus Data Type: The Input and Holding Register data type
   • Zero Based Address: Whether the Address starts at 0 or 1 [default: true]
   • Word Swap & Byte Swap: Adjust as required for your controller type [default: false]

5. Set the polling rate in seconds by setting the Polling Rate property [default: 1 second].

   

6. Click on the Apply changes button to apply the changes.

7. Check that the quality status is Good and the Tag value is as expected. If the PLC does not hold any value in the given register then the value will remain zero.

8 - Configure Tag-To-Tag Data Route

In this section you will configure the Target of the source Tag to be the destination Tag value. This means whenever the source Tag value is updated, the destination Tag value will also be updated. This will cause a write operation on any associated driver if it is supported.

1. Select the source data Tag in the MTConnect tag groups.

   

2. Scroll down to the Target section.

   

3. Enable the Enable Write to Target option.

   

4. Click on the Browse… button, select the destination Tag and click on the Use this tag button.

   

5. Optionally, configure the Deadband property or enable Write Continuously to configure a continuous writing frequency.

   

6. Click on the Apply changes button to apply the configuration.

7. To verify that your data transfer is working correctly, select the destination Tag and check that the Tag value matches the Tag value of the source Tag.

   

   You should also verify that the Tag value has been written to your destination device. Depending on your configuration in step 5 above, this destination value should be updated whenever the source value changes or at the given frequency.

9 - Modbus Troubleshooting

• Check your device address and register address and if the device is using Zero Based Addressing.
• Ensure the data types for the Tag and the Modbus Data Type match and if they are boolean or numeric values.
• Check your IP addresses and ports and any firewalls that might be enabled in the operating system.
• Enable Log Modbus Communications in the System Logging section of the Options screen in the Web Configuration Application and check the log files for any errors.
• Use tools such as Wire Shark to troubleshoot deeper connection and protocol issues.

10 - Save Changes

Once you have successfully configured your OAS instances, make sure you save your configuration.

On each configuration page that has a Save button, click on it.

If this is the first time you are saving the configuration, or if you are changing the name of the configuration file, OAS will ask you if you want to change the default configuration file.

If you select Yes then OAS will make this configuration file the default and if the OAS service is restarted then this file will be loaded on start-up.

If you select No then OAS will still save your configuration file, but it will not be the default file that is loaded on start-up.