Field Device Access Point for Legacy Modbus RTU Wireless Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy industrial Modbus RTU enabled field devices in industrial plants require expensive and time-consuming wired connections for communication with control rooms, making it challenging to integrate them into industrial wireless systems.
Innovation Solution
Enabling a communications interface on a field device access point from a user interface associated with a wireless device manager, implementing a proxy object to communicate with RTU devices, and using a cache to store read data, which is then periodically published to the wireless device manager, allowing Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP devices to connect to an industrial wireless network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wired connections are used for legacy Modbus RTU devices, then communication reliability is ensured, but installation cost and time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical wired connection system with a wireless communication system. The gateway device establishes wireless connections between legacy Modbus RTU field devices and the control network, eliminating the need for physical wiring while maintaining communication functionality. This substitution resolves the contradiction by removing the mechanical constraint (wiring) that causes high installation cost and time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a gateway device as an intermediary between legacy Modbus RTU devices and the control network. The gateway performs protocol conversion, translating Modbus RTU communication protocols into formats compatible with modern wireless networks. This intermediary enables reliable communication without direct wired connections, resolving the contradiction between reliability and installation complexity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If wired connections are installed for legacy devices, then communication stability is maintained, but maintenance complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical wiring with wireless communication channels, eliminating the mechanical components (cables, connectors, terminals) that are prone to physical damage and difficult to repair. Wireless communication maintains stability through protocol-level error correction while removing the maintenance burden of physical infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the communication functionality from the physical wiring infrastructure. By separating the logical communication layer from the physical connection layer, the system maintains communication stability through software protocols while eliminating the need to maintain physical wiring, thus reducing maintenance complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If wireless communication is implemented for legacy devices, then installation cost is reduced, but protocol compatibility challenges arise
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway device serves as a protocol intermediary, receiving Modbus RTU communications from legacy devices and translating them into formats compatible with wireless networks and modern control systems. This mediation resolves protocol incompatibility while enabling cost-effective wireless deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway device performs parameter transformation between different communication protocols, converting data formats, address structures, and communication timing parameters from Modbus RTU to wireless network formats. This parameter adaptation enables protocol compatibility while maintaining legacy device functionality over wireless channels.
4Ease of operation
If intermediate devices are added for wireless integration, then legacy devices can communicate wirelessly, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway device is designed with multi-functionality, handling protocol conversion, wireless communication, data buffering, and device management within a single unit. This consolidation reduces system complexity compared to multiple specialized intermediate devices, while enabling wireless communication for legacy devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple functions (protocol conversion, wireless interface, data caching, device management) into a single gateway device. This integration simplifies the overall system architecture by reducing the number of intermediate components needed, while maintaining wireless communication capability for legacy devices.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for integrating communication devices into an industrial wireless system. A communications interface can be enabled on a field device access point from a user interface associated with a wireless device manager. The field device access point is configured to enable registers to read from different slave devices at different speeds and different data types. A proxy object can be implemented, which communicates with RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) devices and a cache can be implemented to store read data from different RTU slave. The read data is then periodically published to the wireless device manager through a wireless interface, thereby permitting the RTU devices or TCP devices to connect to the industrial wireless network using the field device access point.