Deterministic and cycle-accurate: Data acquisition from optimized data blocks

Cycle-accurate data acquisition from S7 controllers with optimized data blocks in ibaPDA: With version 8.3 of ibaPDA, process values from optimized data blocks can now be acquired cycle-accurately. Since firmware 3 and TIA Portal V18, S7 controllers offer users the the long-awaited possibility to acquire data from optimized data blocks. This means that the data blocks are no longer addressed via the operand address, but exclusively via their variable names. Since the PLC manages the internal memory itself in this case, access is much faster. With the extension of the S7 request function blocks in ibaPDA, iba AG reacts to this update and thus allows the signal acquisition from optimized blocks - directly and with cycle accuracy. The creation or adaptation of separate DBs is thus not necessary, even in the environment of optimized data blocks. Thus, ibaPDA enables both request functions: those that support optimized data blocks and those that do not.

Improved data transfer without additional hardware

With version 8.3, the S7 request in ibaPDA can also be realized with the deterministic network protocol ibaNet-E. In this case, the request blocks configured in ibaPDA are sent by the controller in a defined clock frequency via the iba-specific network protocol. Since the amount of data transmitted here is lower than with the standard protocols due to the buffered transmission, the risk of data collision and network jitter is significantly reduced. In this way, the data acquisition with ibaPDA can be done deterministically and the quality of the acquired data increases. Since the ibaNet-E protocol can be realized via a standard network card, users do not have to install any additional hardware - thus, the operation of ibaPDA on virtual machines is also supported.