Inter-Processor Communications Analysis Details#

The Inter-Processor Communications analysis dashboard provides an overview of the produced and consumed tags in the project.

Produced tags are tags that a controller makes available for use by other controllers. Multiple controllers can simultaneously consume (receive) the data. A produced tag sends its data to one or more consumed tags (consumers) without using logic.

Consumed tags are tags that receive the data of a produced tag. The data type of the consumed tag must match the data type (including any array dimensions) of the produced tag. The RPI of the consumed tag determines the period at which the data updates

For two controllers to share produced or consumed tags, both controllers must be in the same backplane or attached to the same control network, such as ControlNet or EtherNet/IP network.

The Inter-Processor Analysis details page has four sections:

  • Graphical depiction of the data flow

  • Produced tags table

  • Consumed tags table

  • Message tags table

Produced tags#

The Produced tags data table provide these details:

  • Tag Name - The name of the tag.

  • Data Type - The type of tag

  • Description - The tag description.

  • Class - Indicates whether the tag is a Standard tag or a Safety tag.

  • Max Consumers - The maximum number of tags that can consume this tag.

  • Send Data State Change Event to Consumers - Indicates whether a data state change on the tag initiates an update to consumer tags.

  • Minimum RPI (ms) - The smallest requested packet interval (fastest rate) at which consumers may consume data from the tag.

  • Maximum RPI (ms) - The largest requested packet interval (slowest rate) at which consumers may consume data from the tag.

  • Provide Default RPI for Out-of-Range Requests - Enable a producing tag to provide an RPI to a consuming tag whenever a consuming tag has an RPI outside the range of the producer’s Minimum RPI and Maximum RPI values

  • Default RPI (ms) - The value that the producer provides to the consumer when the consumer’s RPI falls outside the range of the producer’s Minimum RPI and Maximum RPI values.

  • Allow Unicast Consumer Connections - Connections allows multiple unicast consumers to consume from the produced tag.

  • External Access - Determines whether the tag has Read/Write, Read Only, or no access (None) from external applications such as HMIs.

Consumed tags#

The Consumed tags data table provides these details:

  • Tag Name - The name of the tag.

  • Data Type - The type of tag.

  • Description - The tag description.

  • Class - Indicates whether the tag is a Standard tag or a Safety tag.

  • Producer - The controller that produces the data.

  • Remote Data - The name of the produced tag consumed by this tag.

  • RPI (ms) - The requested packet interval for the connection as measured by amount of time (in ms) between updates of the data from the remote controller. This value is the minimum rate at which the local controller receives data.

  • Use Unicast Connection - Allows the use of a unicast connection to consume from the produced tag.

  • External Access - Determines whether the tag has Read/Write, Read Only, or no access (None) from external applications such as HMIs.

Messages#

Note

If the controller project does not have any messages contained in it, this section will not be present in the analysis details view.

The Messages data table provides these details:

  • Tag Name - The name of the tag.

  • Description - The tag description

  • Program Name - The name of the program in which this message instruction is located.

  • Message Type - The type of message configuration.

  • Remote Element - The target of the receiving message. If the message reads data, the remote element is source element. If the message writes data, the remote element is the destination element.

  • Requested Length - How many words the message instruction will attempt to transfer.

  • Connected - For CIP Generic type messages. Identifies whether the message is to be sent Connected or Unconnected. Broadcast messages only support unconnected messages

  • Connection Path - The path to the target controller.

  • Comm Type Code - Identifies the type of communication used to transmit the message.

  • Service Type - For CIP Generic type messages. Describes the function of the message.

  • Service Code (Hex) - The hexadecimal value assigned to the target device

  • Class (Hex) - The hex value that identifies whether it is a Class 1 CIP connection or a Class 3 CIP connection.

  • Channel - Indicates whether communications are using Channel A or B of the module that is connected to the DH+ network.

  • DH+ Source Link - Identifies the link ID of the local DH+ link.

  • DH+ Destination Link - Identifies the link ID of the remote DH+ link where the target device resides.

  • DH+ Destination Node (Octal)- Identifies the station address of the target device.

  • Rack (Octal) - Identifies the rack connection used to communicate with the digital I/O modules in a remote chassis

  • Group - Identifies the starting group of the target module if the remote I/O rack.

  • Slot - Identifies the slot number of the target module in the remote I/O rack.

  • Local Index - The index location of the element in the local array.

  • Remote Index - The index location of the destination element in the remote array.

  • Local Element - The local source tag that contains the data sent in the message.

  • Destination Tag - The tag that will contain data received from the message.

  • Cache Connections - Indicates whether connections should be kept open after the instruction has completed.

  • Large Packet Usage - For CIP Generic type messages. Indicates whether messages can use a large connection size (4002 bytes).

  • External Access - Indicates the level of access (Read Only, Read/Write, or None) external applications and devices have to tags.

About message types#

The message type is correlated with the target device that is receiving the message instruction. Use this table as a reference:

Message Types#

Device

Message Types

Logix 5000 controller

CIP data table read, CIP data table write

I/O module that you configure using the Logix Designer application

Module Reconfigure, CIP Generic

PLC-5® controller

PLC-5 typed read, PLC-5 typed write, PLC-5 word range read, PLC-5 word range write

SLC™ controller, MicroLogix™ controller

SLC typed read, SLC typed write

Block transfer module

block transfer read, block transfer write

PLC-3® processor

PLC-3 typed read, PLC-3 typed write, PLC-3 word range read, PLC-3 word range write

PLC-2® processor

PLC-2 unprotected read, PLC-2 unprotected write

Note

When redundancy is enabled, only the Logix 5000 controller and I/O module target device message types are supported.

You can sort and filter the data in this dashboard. If you want to see the information in a different order, you can reorder the columns in the data table by dragging and dropping them as needed. To help you move around the analysis details page quickly, use keyboard shortcuts.