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Posted to dev@plc4x.apache.org by Robert B <ro...@gmail.com> on 2020/01/04 03:58:47 UTC

B&R plc protocol

Hi there.
Do you plan to support a driver for B&R plc?

I'm looking to read data directly from the B&R plc using the plc4x source
kafka connector. The Kafka part is clear to me and have experience with
Kafka, but connecting to PLCs is a new world for me. From what I understand
my B&R plc will support opc-UA but going direct to B&R protocol sounds
better. Currently we use a SCADA tool to connect to B&R and I'd like to
replace with an open source approach to read/write data to PLC.

If there is no integration to B&R for plc4x then I'd like to help. I'm new
to the world of PLCs but I would be willing to help in any way if i could
get a little direction.

Thanks
Rob

Re: B&R plc protocol

Posted by Christofer Dutz <ch...@c-ware.de>.
Hi Rob,

yeah ... a nice warm welcome from me too.
I took the liberty to check which types of protocols the B6R devices seem to support.
From the specification it seems to support the following protocols which PLC4X already supports:
- Modbus
- EtherNet/IP
And one we'll probably add support for this year: 
- ProfiNet
However I am not 100% sure if the X20 CPU supports this via it's Ethernet Port or if you have to purchase a separate IO module.

The protocol it seems to natively support is called HART which however is not ethernet based. 
So same as with ProfiBus for which we will probably not implement drivers as these would be dependent on individual hardware extensions.

If you have some more information on the protocols your PLCs support directly without any additional hardware (Or with the hardware you already have)
I think we can help you with this.

So far we don't have a roadmap and as Julian said, if you do it, it's on the roadmap ;-)
If you want to do this, I and I guess the rest of the team would be happy to help.
however in the last year I have also worked on implementations of new protocols as paid gigs (BACnet/IP for example), so that would also be an option.


Chris

Am 04.01.20, 13:17 schrieb "Julian Feinauer" <j....@pragmaticminds.de>:

    Hi Rob,
    
    first welcome to the project : )
    As @Christofer Dutz sometimes states, if you do it, then its on the roadmap : )
    From the currently most active contributors, I think nobody has it in its focuse (we do not and AFAIK chris also has nothing with B&R yet).
    Although we would love to have it in there, of course.
    
    So If you want to contribute here, we would really welcome it and try to support you as good as possible.
    Another possibility (if its for a company) is to find someone who implements it for you.
    Currently the only person I know for that Job is Chris __
    He has already done it (part of the deal then is, that its contributed back to the Project).
    So possibly this is also interesting for you, if you have time constraints.
    
    Julian
    
    PS.: Funny side note, even we as heavy contributors payed Chris once to help us to implement a driver (DF1 / AB-ETH that was)
    
    Am 04.01.20, 06:26 schrieb "Robert B" <ro...@gmail.com>:
    
        Hi there.
        Do you plan to support a driver for B&R plc?
        
        I'm looking to read data directly from the B&R plc using the plc4x source
        kafka connector. The Kafka part is clear to me and have experience with
        Kafka, but connecting to PLCs is a new world for me. From what I understand
        my B&R plc will support opc-UA but going direct to B&R protocol sounds
        better. Currently we use a SCADA tool to connect to B&R and I'd like to
        replace with an open source approach to read/write data to PLC.
        
        If there is no integration to B&R for plc4x then I'd like to help. I'm new
        to the world of PLCs but I would be willing to help in any way if i could
        get a little direction.
        
        Thanks
        Rob

Re: B&R plc protocol

Posted by Julian Feinauer <j....@pragmaticminds.de>.
Hi Rob,

first welcome to the project : )
As @Christofer Dutz sometimes states, if you do it, then its on the roadmap : )
From the currently most active contributors, I think nobody has it in its focuse (we do not and AFAIK chris also has nothing with B&R yet).
Although we would love to have it in there, of course.

So If you want to contribute here, we would really welcome it and try to support you as good as possible.
Another possibility (if its for a company) is to find someone who implements it for you.
Currently the only person I know for that Job is Chris __
He has already done it (part of the deal then is, that its contributed back to the Project).
So possibly this is also interesting for you, if you have time constraints.

Julian

PS.: Funny side note, even we as heavy contributors payed Chris once to help us to implement a driver (DF1 / AB-ETH that was)

Am 04.01.20, 06:26 schrieb "Robert B" <ro...@gmail.com>:

    Hi there.
    Do you plan to support a driver for B&R plc?
    
    I'm looking to read data directly from the B&R plc using the plc4x source
    kafka connector. The Kafka part is clear to me and have experience with
    Kafka, but connecting to PLCs is a new world for me. From what I understand
    my B&R plc will support opc-UA but going direct to B&R protocol sounds
    better. Currently we use a SCADA tool to connect to B&R and I'd like to
    replace with an open source approach to read/write data to PLC.
    
    If there is no integration to B&R for plc4x then I'd like to help. I'm new
    to the world of PLCs but I would be willing to help in any way if i could
    get a little direction.
    
    Thanks
    Rob