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Omron PLC Connectivity

ProtoTwin Connect supports the FINS (Factory Interface Network Service) and Ethernet/IP protocols for connection to Omron PLCs. Please check which protocol(s) your PLC supports.

FINS Protocol

The FINS over UDP protocol is supported for connection to most Omron PLCs. FINS is the native protocol for Omron PLCs and typically benefits from lower read/write latencies than Ethernet/IP.

Server Configuration

Click the “Add Server” button in the “Servers” tab of the IO Browser and configure the server as follows:

  • Protocol: Select “FINS” from the list.
  • Name: Enter a (preferably) unique name, which will be used to identify the server.
  • Host: Enter the static IP address of the PLC.
  • Port: Enter the port number for FINS UDP server (typically 9600).
  • Local Network: Enter the local network number (typcially 0).
  • Local Node: Enter the local node number (typcially 3).
  • Remote Network: Enter the remote network number (typcially 0).
  • Remote Node: Enter the node network number (typcially the last octet of the server’s IP address).
  • Scan Rate: Enter the desired scan rate, which is the interval (in seconds) at which ProtoTwin Connect will read and write tag values.

Areas

The following FINS address areas are supported:

  • CIO Area: Common Inputs/Outputs (Write to PLC / Read From PLC)
  • Work Area: Temporary working memory (Read from PLC, Write to PLC)
  • Holding Area: Retentive memory (Read from PLC, Write to PLC)
  • Data Memory Area: Retentive memory (Read from PLC, Write to PLC)

Your PLC may not support all of these areas. Please refer to the manual for your PLC in order to determine the areas supported.

Addressing

ProtoTwin uses an addressing scheme very similar to that used by Omron CX-Programmer. The only difference is that you must specify whether a CIO address corresponds to an input or output. Some examples are provided below:

  • I0.0: The first bit of the first input register.
  • I1.15: The last bit of the second input register.
  • O100.0: The first bit of the first output register.
  • O101.15: The last bit of the second input register.
  • W0: The first working register.
  • H1: The second holding register.
  • D2: The third data memory register.

Note that each register is 16-bits wide. It is possible to store larger data types across multiple registers:

  • UINT32 at address W0: The 32-bit unsigned integer is stored in the working registers, occupying registers W0 and W1.
  • FLOAT at address H3: The 32-bit floating point number is stored in the holding registers, occupying registers H3 and H4.
  • DOUBLE at addredd D10: The 64-bit floating point number is stored in the data memory registers, occupying registers D10, D11, D12 and D13.

Ethernet/IP Protocol

The Ethernet/IP protocol is supported for connection to Omron NJ/NX series PLCs. Communications latency is typically higher than FINS, but the setup is easier. It is not necessary to specify addresses when using the Ethernet/IP protocol. ProtoTwin can automatically import all variables that have their “Network Publish” property set to “Input” or “Output” in Omron Sysmac Studio.

Server Configuration

Click the “Add Server” button in the “Servers” tab of the IO Browser. ProtoTwin Connect can automatically discover Ethernet/IP devices on your local network. Select the “Discovery” tab to start searching for compatible devices. Click the desired device to automatically populate the server configuration. Alternatively, you can manually configure the server if you know the IP address of the PLC. The following configuration options must be specified:

  • Protocol: Select “Ethernet/IP” from the list.
  • Name: Enter a (preferably) unique name, which will be used to identify the server.
  • Host: Enter the static IP address of the PLC.
  • Type: Select the type of the PLC as “Omron NJ/NX”.
  • Scan Rate: Enter the desired scan rate, which is the interval (in seconds) at which ProtoTwin Connect will read and write tag values.

Note that the scan rate is the desired interval at which tags are read and written. The actual rate will depend on the performance of the PLC and networking latency. You can set the scan rate to zero in order to read/write as fast as possible.

Save the configuration to add the server.

Importing Tags

Select the server and then click the “Import Tags” button to automatically import all the compatible tags from the PLC. Please note that ProtoTwin Connect does not currently support UDTs or Arrays. Please refer to the IO Browser documentation for the complete list of supported data types.