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RMC Communications Overview

The RMC motion controllers support communication to many external devices. This topic describes the following communications in detail:

• Communication with a PLC, HMI, etc.

• EtherCAT MainDevice

• RMCTools Communication

• RMCLink .NET Assembly and ActiveX Control

• Discrete I/O

• RMC150-RMC150 Communications

• Communication Tools

Communication with a PLC, HMI, etc.

The communication types listed below are available in the RMC family. For details on how to set up and use each communication protocol, click on the respective link.

EtherCAT MainDevice

The RMC200 ECAT module supports EtherCAT communication to drives, valves, sensors, and other I/O devices. The RMC200 can use these devices in its axes and control them in closed loop control. For more details, EtherCAT Overview.

Instructions for Third-Party Master Controller

For information on how to communicate with an RMC from various master controllers, see the topics below:

Allen-Bradley Controllers via Message Block

Allen-Bradley Controllers via EtherNet/IP I/O

AutomationDirect PLCs

GE PLCs

Mitsubishi Q-Series

Omron PLCs va FINS

Omron PLCs via EtherNet/IP I/O

RSView

Siemens S7 PLCs via PROFIBUS

Siemens S7 PLCs via PROFINET

Schneider Electric PLCs via EtherNet/IP I/O

Schneider Electric PLCs via Modbus

Wonderware

Communicating from a PC

Other Master Controllers

Sample Master Controller Projects

Delta provides free example projects for various host controllers, such as PLCs and HMIs, for communicating with the RMC. These example programs will get you up and running quickly. See the downloads page of Delta's website at deltamotion.com for example projects available for the RMC.

Communicating with RMCTools

The RMCTools software can communicate with each RMC via the follow methods:

RMCLink .NET Assembly and ActiveX Control

Use RMCLink to communicate with an RMC from numerous programming languages and applications on a PC. See the RMCLink topic for details.

Discrete I/O

Discrete I/O augments the communications of the RMC. Discrete I/O is typically faster and more deterministic than the communications, and is therefore well-suited for starting a sequence in the RMC at a specific time. For details, see the Discrete I/O for Communications topic.

RMC150-to-RMC150 Communications

The RMC150 Universal I/O Module provides limited inter-RMC150 communications via SSI. The communication transaction is performed each loop time, allowing for tight synchronization between controllers, although only one 32-bit register can be sent and one received. For details, see the Universal I/O Module topic.

Communication Tools

Indirect Data Map

The Indirect Data Map is important for several communication types and especially for the RMC200. It maps any data items from anywhere in the RMC to one location. This allows scattered data to be consolidated for efficient I/O and messaging communications.

Finding Register Addresses

When configuring a host controller to communicate with the RMC, you must enter addresses for the RMC registers that you wish to read from or write to. The address must be in the correct format for the protocol that is being used. To find the RMC addresses in the correct format, use any of the following:

Ways to find RMC addresses:

1. In RMCTools editorss
   RMCTools displays the addresses of many registers, such as in the Axis Tools. To change the address format, right-click any register address cell, choose Address Formats, and choose the desired format.

2. Use the Address Maps in RMCTools to browse all the register addresses for any addressing method.

3. Use the Register Map help topic to browse all the register addresses for any addressing method.

See Also

Ethernet Overview | PROFIBUS Overview | Serial Overview | EtherCAT Overview

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