ETHERNET GLOBAL DATA SCREENS


ETHERNET GLOBAL DATA SCREENS

1. EGD Producer Configuration Screen

EGD Producer Tags specify how the robot produces data. The information required to set up producer tags includes the IP address/host name of the remote device, size of data, slot number of the mapped I/O on the robot, interval in milliseconds for the data to be produced, and the exchange ID that the remote device expects.

Table 1.  EGD Producer Screen Setup Items

Field Name

Description

Remote IP address/hostname

This item is the IP address or the host name. If the host name is entered, ensure that DNS option is installed or the host name is entered in the host entry table. Refer to "Setting up TCP/IP" in the Internet Options Manual for more details on the host entry table.

Exchange ID

This is the EGD exchange ID that will be sent along with the data to the remote device. Make sure that the exchange ID is what the remote device is configured to receive.

Data size

This item is the size of the data in bytes that should be sent to the remote device. The maximum allowable value is 256 bytes.

Interval

This item is the time interval in milliseconds that the data should be produced. The smallest value that it can be set to is 8 ms. It is recommended that if more than one tag is being used, a value of 24 ms or higher is used for each tag or the communication processor and the network will be overloaded.

Slot

This item is the slot number for rack 88 that should be sent out. If slots for two tags are the same then both the devices associated with the two tags will receive the same data.


2. EGD Consumer Configuration Screen

EGD Consumer tags specify how the robot accepts and maps the data being sent to it using EGD by a remote device. The information required to set up a consumer tag includes exchange ID, data size, and timeout value in milliseconds.

Table 2. EGD Consumer Screen Setup Items

Field Name

Description

Exchange ID

This item is the ID that will be sent with the data by the remote device.

Data size

This item is the maximum size of data in bytes that will be sent by the remote device. The maximum allowable value is 256 bytes.

Timeout

This item represents the time in milliseconds between two messages that the tag will wait before posting an error indicating a timeout. Ethernet communications do not provide any guarantee on when the message will be delivered. UDP/IP used for EGD does not provide any guarantee that the message will be delivered without loss (best-effort protocol). Therefore, there are no timing or delivery guarantees that the I/O message will be received on time. A value should be chosen based on network topology and the network components involved in transmission of the message. Consult your network administrator before selecting a value. A value too small might result in too frequent timeouts causing the processes to be interrupted. A value of 3 times the expected consumption rate is recommended--for example, if updates should be received every 24ms, a timeout of of 72ms would be recommended.

Status

This item is a display only field. A status of OFF indicates that the tag has not been initialized and is not being used. A status of IDLE indicates that data is not being received. A status of ON indicates that data is being received periodically from the remote producer.