IntesisBox IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-100, IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-A, IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-B, IBOX-BAC-MBRTU-100, IBOX-BAC-MBRTU-A User Manual

IntesisBox

®

BACnet/IP Server

Modbus TCP Master

User's manual

Issue Date: 17/12/2012

r1 eng

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

This information is subject to change without notice

IntesisBox® is a registered trademark of Intesis Software SL

URL
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© Intesis Software S.L. All Rights Reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The software described in
this document is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The
software may be used only in accordance with the terms of those agreements. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form
or any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any
purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission of Intesis
Software S.L.

Intesis Software S.L.
Milà i Fontanals, 1 bis
08700 Igualada
Spain

TRADEMARKS
All trademarks and tradenames used in this document are acknowledged to be the copyright of their respective holders.

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

This information is subject to change without notice

IntesisBox® is a registered trademark of Intesis Software SL

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Gateway for the integration of Modbus TCP slave
devices into BACnet/IP control systems.

Models available for this gateway, with their following Order codes:

IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-100
Tiny model with capacity of 110 internal datapoints.

IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-A
Basic model with capacity of 500 internal datapoints.

IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-B
Extended model with capacity of 3000 internal datapoints.

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

This information is subject to change without notice

IntesisBox® is a registered trademark of Intesis Software SL

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INDEX

1. Description ...................................................................................................... 5

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 5

1.2 Functionality ................................................................................................. 6

1.3 Capacity of IntesisBox ................................................................................... 7

2. Interfaces ........................................................................................................ 8

2.1 BACnet ........................................................................................................ 8

2.2 Modbus TCP .................................................................................................. 8

3. Quick Setup ................................................................................................... 10

4. Connection .................................................................................................... 11

4.1 Power device .............................................................................................. 11

4.2 Connect to Modbus TCP................................................................................ 12

4.3 Connect to BACnet ...................................................................................... 12

4.4 Connect to PC (LinkBoxBacnet) ..................................................................... 12

5. LinkBoxBacnet. Configuration & monitoring of IntesisBox BACnet series ................ 14

5.1 Project configuration .................................................................................... 14

5.1.1 Connection configuration ........................................................................ 14

5.1.2 Signals configuration ............................................................................. 17

5.1.3 How to configure read/write points .......................................................... 23

5.1.4 Saving the configuration ........................................................................ 24

6. Mechanical & electrical characteristics ............................................................... 26

7. Dimensions.................................................................................................... 27

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

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1. Description

1.1 Introduction

This document describes the integration of Modbus TCP systems with BACnet ASHRAE 135 –
2001 Annex J - BACnet protocol compatible devices or systems using the gateway
IntesisBox BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master.

This document assumes that the user is familiar with Modbus TCP and BACnet/IP technology
and technical terms.

From now on, and with the aim of easy the read of this document, the words "gateway" or
“IntesisBox” are used instead of IntesisBox BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master. Any
other use of the word "gateway" not meaning IntesisBox BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP
Master will be specifically indicated.

The aim of this integration is to make accessible Modbus TCP system signals and resources
from a BACnet/IP based control system or device, as if it was a part of the own BACnet
system and vice-versa. For this, the gateway acts as a BACnet/IP Server device in its
BACnet interface, allowing other BACnet/IP devices to perform subscription (COV) requests,
and also read and write its internal points. From the Modbus TCP system point of view,
IntesisBox simulates a Modbus master device, the readings of the Modbus TCP slave
device(s) is performed by IntesisBox by automatic continuous polling.

BACnet IP

client

Ethernet

IntesisBox

LinkBoxBacnet

configuration

software

Only needed for configuration

RS232

LAN

TCP/IP

BACnet IP

BACnet IP

client

Modbus

slave

Modbus

TCP

Modbus

slave

Figure 1.1 Integration of Modbus TCP and BACnet/IP using IntesisBox BACnet/IP

Server - Modbus TCP Master gateway

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

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1.2 Functionality

The integration operation is as follow:

From the Modbus TCP system point of view, after the start up process, IntesisBox reads
continuously the points configured to be read in the Modbus TCP slave devices, and updates
in its memory all the values received from the Modbus TCP system.

From the BACnet system point of view, after the start up process, the gateway listen for any
subscription (COV) request, serves any polling request, or performs any writing request of
its internal points received from BACnet system. The values received from BACnet are
immediately written in the associated register of the corresponding Modbus TCP slave
device.

Every one of the Modbus TCP registers in the slave devices is associated to a BACnet object,
with this, all the Modbus TCP system (all the slave devices) is seen as a single BACnet
device with many objects from the BACnet system point of view, each object corresponding
to a Modbus TCP slave/register address.

When a new value is read from Modbus TCP for a given register, the new value is updated
in the gateway's memory and, if this signal is associated to a BACnet active subscription
then the new value will be sent to the subscripted BACnet device(s).

In the continuous polling of the Modbus TCP devices, if a non response of the Modbus TCP
device is detected, the corresponding virtual signal inside IntesisBox will be activated
indicating communication error with the Modbus TCP device. These virtual signals indicating
communication status in real time with the Modbus TCP devices are also accessible from
BACnet, like the rest of the points of IntesisBox.

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

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1.3 Capacity of IntesisBox

Element

Tiny

version

Basic

version

Extended

version

Notes

Type of BACnet
devices

Only those supporting BACnet/IP.

Number of BACnet
points

110

500

3000

Maximum number of points that can be
defined in the virtual BACnet device
inside the gateway.

Number of BACnet
subscribers

8 8 8

Maximum number of BACnet
subscribers accepted by the gateway.

Number of BACnet
subscriptions
(COV) requests

220

1000

6000

Maximum number of BACnet
subscriptions (COV) requests accepted
by the gateway.

Type of Modbus
TCP slave devices

Those supporting Modbus TCP protocol.
Communication over TCP/IP.

Number of Modbus
TCP Slave devices

5 5 5

Number of Modbus TCP Slave devices
supported by the device

There are different models of IntesisBox BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master, with
different capacity every one of them.

 Tiny model with capacity of 110 internal data points.

Ref.: IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-100.

 Basic model with capacity of 500 internal data points.

Ref.: IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-A.

 Extended model with capacity of 3000 internal data points.

Ref.: IBOX-BAC-MBTCP-B.

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

This information is subject to change without notice

IntesisBox® is a registered trademark of Intesis Software SL

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2. Interfaces

This section gives the reader an idea on how a Modbus TCP system/installation is integrated
with IntesisBox BACnet. It is not meant to provide an in-depth explanation on how BACnet
or Modbus TCP technology work as understanding the protocol principles is assumed
throughout this document.

The IntesisBox behaves as a regular BACnet device inside the BACnet system integrating all
the KNX devices. Note that each datapoint defined on IntesisBox will have two associated
data types:

 One data-type, related to the BACnet/IP protocol of the IntesisBox
 And another data-type, related to Modbus TCP side of IntesisBox

Conversions of data values from Modbus TCP to BACnet/IP data-types (and vice versa) are
internally performed at application level of IntesisBox, and keeping the highest possible
level of precision, with the restrictions of the data-type itself. Further detail on behavior and
data-types of the BACnet/IP and Modbus TCP interfaces of IntesisBox is given in the
following sections.

All configuration of IntesisBox BACnet is done using software tool LinkBoxBacnet. This tool,
covered in depth in section 5, is used to define the Modbus TCP and BACnet related
parameters on each of the datapoints defined in IntesisBox.

2.1 BACnet

The IntesisBox integrates all the Modbus TCP devices in a single BACnet device. The
communication with the other BACnet devices is done via the Ethernet port of the gateway
which implements the BACnet ASHRAE 135 – 2001 Annex J - BACnet protocol.

The supported BACnet Objects and Building Blocks can be found in the PICS document
available on the web:

http://www.intesis.com/pdf/IntesisBox_BACnet_IP_Server_Modbus_TCP_master_PICS.pdf

Configuration of all BACnet/IP parameters of IntesisBox and their links to Modbus TCP using
LinkBoxBacnet software tool is covered in section 5.1.

2.2 Modbus TCP

Modbus TCP communication is characterised basically by the embedding of the Modbus RTU
protocol into TCP/IP frames. This communication over TCP/IP allows faster communication
and a longer distance between master and slave devices in comparison with RTU
communication over serial line, and can use common TCP/IP infrastructure in buildings as
well as communication over WAN or internet. It allows also the co-existence of one or more
masters and of course one or more slave devices in a given network, all of them
interconnected through a TCP/IP based network.

IntesisBox acts as master in the Modbus TCP network, and the other Modbus devices
connected to the network communicating with IntesisBox must be always slave devices.

Up to 5 Modbus TCP slave devices can be defined in IntesisBox, to communicate with them.

IntesisBox® BACnet/IP Server - Modbus TCP Master

User’s Manual r1 eng

© Intesis Software S.L. - All rights reserved

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For each point defined that belongs to a defined Modbus TCP slave device, a slave address
from 0 to 255 can be also freely configured, this feature allows great flexibility, for example
to integrate Modbus RTU slave devices connected in a serial line and with an RTU/TCP
converter on top of this serial line, enabling the access to the RTU slaves' points through
TCP/IP, in this case the RTU/TCP converter communicating in TCP identifies the destination
of the point (slave address in the RTU network) by the contents of the slave address field.

Modbus TCP slave devices are characterised by their IP address, and their predefined
registers address map, this address map specifies the address, type and characteristics of
each internal point (commonly called register) of the Modbus slave device, these registers
being accessible using Modbus TCP protocol.

Communication parameters of IntesisBox Modbus TCP interface (IP address, Net Mask,
Default router address, and TCP port) are fully configurable to adapt to any IP network and
slave device.

Modbus TCP protocol defines different types of function codes to use to read/write different
type of registers that can be found in Modbus devices, and also different data formats to
encode values.

Also the data encoding used for 16 bits registers (big-endian or little-endian) can be
configured in IntesisBox Modbus interface. This is the byte order for data encoding
(MSB..LSB or LSB..MSB). This data encoding, although is specified as big-endian in Modbus
protocol specification, it varies depending on manufacturer/type of slave.

All this gives great flexibility to integrate a wide range of Modbus slave devices that can be
found in the market.