Modbus RTU/ASCII

A guide to Modbus RTU/ASCII connectivity and applications

Modbus is a serial communications protocol originally published by Modicon (now Schneider Electric) in 1979 for use with its programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Simple and robust, it has since become a de facto standard communication protocol, and it is now a commonly available means of connecting industrial electronic devices. The main reasons for the use of Modbus in the industrial environment are: developed with industrial applications in mind openly published and royalty-free easy to deploy and maintain moves raw bits or words without placing many restrictions on vendors

This document includes a number of Modbus connectivity examples which are intended to help the system integrator or plant engineer determine how to set up installations. These examples include information such as the recommended chassis and Modbus firmware for each configuration.
Information on how to configure the functionality for each particular DeviceMaster is left to the User Guide Manuals. Due to flexibility of the DeviceMaster UP Modbus firmware applications, it is not possible to show every possible Modbus solution. The Modbus Router and Modbus/TCP firmware applications provide the ability to create either very simple or very complex Modbus installations. For instance, you can combine more than one of these connectivity solutions onto one gateway or use several gateways to build a Modbus network. (A Modbus network typically involves multiple gateways providing communication between Modbus controller(s) and device(s) on a network.)

Modbus Diagram

Modbus RTU is an open, serial (RS-232 or RS-485) protocol derived from the Master/Slave architecture. It is a widely accepted protocol due to its ease of use and reliability. Modbus RTU is widely used within Building Management Systems (BMS) and Industrial Automation Systems (IAS). This wide acceptance is due in large part to MODBUS RTUs ease of use.
MODBUS RTU messages are a simple 16-bit CRC (Cyclic-Redundant Checksum). The simplicity of these messages is to ensure reliability. Due to this simplicity, the basic 16-bit MODBUS RTU register structure can be used to pack in floating point, tables, ASCII text, queues, and other unrelated data.

Modbus Poll is the very popular Modbus master simulator for test and debug of your slave devices. Supports Modbus RTU/ASCII and Modbus TCP/IP.

Read the quick start guide here.

Modbus Slave is a slave simulator for simulating 32 slave devices/address areas. OLE Automation support for easy interface to your Excel spreadsheet.

WSMBT: Modbus master .NET control for C#, VB and managed C++. Supports Modbus TCP/IP

WSMBS: Modbus master .NET control for C#, VB and managed C++. Supports Modbus RTU/ASCII

MBAXP is an easy to use ActiveX control for Excel, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Delphi etc. Supports Modbus RTU/ASCII and Modbus TCP/IP.

When setting up your Modbus installation, please keep the following in mind: When using either Modbus Router or Modbus/TCP firmware, all Modbus masters can communicate to all slave devices. For example, you can have multiple serial and Modbus/TCP masters communicating to the same or different slave(s) at one time. When using Modbus/TCP firmware, both Modbus controllers and applications can communicate to a single raw/ASCII device at the same time. Modbus messages are automatically converted from one format to another. For instance, you can connect Modbus/RTU masters to Modbus/TCP or Modbus/ASCII slaves and the gateway automatically performs all conversions and message verification. Each serial port or Ethernet TCP/IP device interface is individually configurable. That allows: o For Modbus/TCP and Modbus Router firmware, multiple serial master or slave devices of either the same or different Modbus type can be attached to the same gateway. o For Modbus/TCP firmware, each raw/ASCII serial port or Ethernet TCP/IP device interface can operate in different receive and transmit modes. (i.e. One can operate in master mode while others operate in slave or master/slave mode.)