Modbus (TCP/UDP/Serial)

Connection String Options

Modbus TCP

Name

Type

Default Value

Required

Description

Name

Modbus TCP

Code

modbus-tcp

Maven Dependency

 
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.plc4x</groupId>
  <artifactId>plc4j-driver-modbus</artifactId>
  <version>0.13.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>

Default Transport

tcp

Supported Transports

  • tcp

Config options:

request-timeout

INT

5000

Default timeout for all types of requests.

default-unit-identifier

INT

1

Unit-identifier or slave-id that identifies the target PLC (On RS485 multiple Modbus Devices can be listening). Defaults to 1.

ping-address

STRING

4x00001:BOOL

Simple address, that the driver will use to check, if the connection to a given device is active (Defaults to reading holding-register 1).

default-payload-byte-order

STRING

BIG_ENDIAN

Default encoding used for transporting register values (Defaults to BIG_ENDIAN).
Allowed values are:
- BIG_ENDIAN
- LITTLE_ENDIAN
- BIG_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP
- LITTLE_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP

Since: 0.13.0

max-coils-per-request

INT

2000

Maximum number of coils addressable in one request (Defaults to 2000)
Since: 0.13.0

max-registers-per-request

INT

125

Maximum number of registers addressable in one request (Defaults to 125)
Since: 0.13.0

Transport config options:

tcp

tcp.keep-alive

BOOLEAN

false

Should keep-alive packets be sent?

tcp.no-delay

BOOLEAN

true

Should packets be sent instantly or should we give the OS some time to aggregate data.

tcp.default-timeout

INT

1000

Timeout after which a connection will be treated as disconnected.

Modbus RTU

Name

Type

Default Value

Required

Description

Name

Modbus RTU

Code

modbus-rtu

Maven Dependency

 
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.plc4x</groupId>
  <artifactId>plc4j-driver-modbus</artifactId>
  <version>0.13.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>

Default Transport

serial

Supported Transports

  • tcp

  • serial

Config options:

request-timeout

INT

5000

Default timeout for all types of requests.

default-unit-identifier

INT

1

Unit-identifier or slave-id that identifies the target PLC (On RS485 multiple Modbus Devices can be listening). Defaults to 1.
Since: renamed from 'unit-identifier' in 0.13.0

default-payload-byte-order

STRING

BIG_ENDIAN

Default encoding used for transporting register values (Defaults to BIG_ENDIAN).
Allowed values are:
- BIG_ENDIAN
- LITTLE_ENDIAN
- BIG_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP
- LITTLE_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP

Since: 0.13.0

max-coils-per-request

INT

2000

Maximum number of coils addressable in one request (Defaults to 2000)
Since: 0.13.0

max-registers-per-request

INT

125

Maximum number of registers addressable in one request (Defaults to 125)
Since: 0.13.0

Transport config options:

tcp

tcp.keep-alive

BOOLEAN

false

Should keep-alive packets be sent?

tcp.no-delay

BOOLEAN

true

Should packets be sent instantly or should we give the OS some time to aggregate data.

tcp.default-timeout

INT

1000

Timeout after which a connection will be treated as disconnected.

serial

serial.baud-rate

INT

57600

Baud-rate the serial port is set to.
Typical values are:
- 9600
- 14400
- 19200
- 38400
- 57600
- 115200
- 128000
But can also be smaller or larger values.

serial.num-data-bits

INT

8

Number of data-bits used to send data.
Typical values are:
- 7
- 8
But can also be smaller or larger values.

serial.num-stop-bits

INT

1

Number of stop-bits used to terminate data.
Typical values are:
- 1
- 2
(The theoretical 1.5 stop-bits setting is not supported)

serial.parity

STRING

NO_PARITY

Number of bits used to calculate data parity.
This is used to detect errors in transmission.
Allowed values are:
- NO_PARITY
- ODD_PARITY
- EVEN_PARITY
- MARK_PARITY
- SPACE_PARITY

Modbus ASCII

Name

Type

Default Value

Required

Description

Name

Modbus ASCII

Code

modbus-ascii

Maven Dependency

 
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.plc4x</groupId>
  <artifactId>plc4j-driver-modbus</artifactId>
  <version>0.13.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>

Default Transport

serial

Supported Transports

  • tcp

  • serial

Config options:

request-timeout

INT

5000

Default timeout for all types of requests.

default-unit-identifier

STRUCT

1

Unit-identifier or slave-id that identifies the target PLC (On RS485 multiple Modbus Devices can be listening). Defaults to 1.

default-payload-byte-order

STRING

BIG_ENDIAN

Default encoding used for transporting register values (Defaults to BIG_ENDIAN).
Allowed values are:
- BIG_ENDIAN
- LITTLE_ENDIAN
- BIG_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP
- LITTLE_ENDIAN_BYTE_SWAP

Since: 0.13.0

max-coils-per-request

INT

2000

Maximum number of coils addressable in one request (Defaults to 2000)
Since: 0.13.0

max-registers-per-request

INT

125

Maximum number of registers addressable in one request (Defaults to 125)
Since: 0.13.0

Transport config options:

tcp

tcp.keep-alive

BOOLEAN

false

Should keep-alive packets be sent?

tcp.no-delay

BOOLEAN

true

Should packets be sent instantly or should we give the OS some time to aggregate data.

tcp.default-timeout

INT

1000

Timeout after which a connection will be treated as disconnected.

serial

serial.baud-rate

INT

57600

Baud-rate the serial port is set to.
Typical values are:
- 9600
- 14400
- 19200
- 38400
- 57600
- 115200
- 128000
But can also be smaller or larger values.

serial.num-data-bits

INT

8

Number of data-bits used to send data.
Typical values are:
- 7
- 8
But can also be smaller or larger values.

serial.num-stop-bits

INT

1

Number of stop-bits used to terminate data.
Typical values are:
- 1
- 2
(The theoretical 1.5 stop-bits setting is not supported)

serial.parity

STRING

NO_PARITY

Number of bits used to calculate data parity.
This is used to detect errors in transmission.
Allowed values are:
- NO_PARITY
- ODD_PARITY
- EVEN_PARITY
- MARK_PARITY
- SPACE_PARITY

Supported Operations

Name Value Description

Supported Operations

read

write

Individual Resource Address Format

Connection String

Modbus has the following connection string format:-

modbus-tcp:{transport}://{ip-address}:{port}?{options}

An example connection string would look like:-

modbus-tcp:tcp://127.0.0.1:502

Note the transport, port and option fields are optional.

General Format

In general all Modbus addresses have this format:

{memory-Area}{start-address}:{data-type}[{array-size}]:{name-value-tag-options}

If the array-size part is omitted, the size-default of 1 is assumed. If the data-type part is omitted, it defaults to BOOL for Coils and Discrete Inputs and INT for input, holding and extended registers. If the name-value-tag-options part is omitted, simply no configuration fine-tuning is applied.

Additionally address can contain tag configuration:

{unit-id: 123}

Specifying this value overrides value of default-unit-id parameter specified at the connection string.

{byte-order: 'LITTLE_ENDIAN'}

With this, can the default byte-order be overridden on a per-tag basis. If not provided the default-byte-order from the connection string is used, or BIG_ENDIAN, if this is also not provided.

Memory Areas

There are a number of memory areas defined in the Modbus specification.

  • Discrete Input Area

  • Coil Area

  • Input Register Area

  • Holding Register

  • Extended Register Area

Name Memory Area Aliases Description Bit-Size Permissions Starting Address

Discrete Input

discrete-input: or 1 or 1x

Boolean input value, usually representing a binary input to the PLC

1

Read Only

1

Coil

coil: or 0 or 0x

Boolean value, usually representing a binary output from the PLC

1

Read/Write

1

Input Register

input-register: or 3 or 3x

Short input value, usually representing an analog input to the PLC

16

Read Only

1

Holding Register

holding-register: or 4 or 4x

Short value, usually representing an analog output from the PLC

16

Read/Write

1

Extended Register

extended-register: or 6 or 6x

Short value,

16

Read/Write

0

Initially the Modbus format allowed up to 10000 address to be specified or the discrete inputs, coils, input registers and holding registers. Later on, this was expanded to allow up 65536 address within each memory area (except the extended register area). When using the long address format i.e. input-registers:1 the addresses between 1 and 65535 are able to be specified. When using the shorter versions there are two formats available i.e. 30001 and 300001. With the shorter format 3XXXX being limited to between 30001 and 39999, while the longer format 3XXXXX being limited to between 300001 and 365535. These memory areas all start at address 1.

For the extended register area the addresses 0-99999 are able to be specified. These registers are mapped to file records with a length of 10000. Address 600000 corresponds to the first address in file record 0. Address 610000 is then the first address in the second file record and so on. It is noted that there is generally only 10 file records (600000 thru to 699999) however the spec allows for 65536 file records. Using the extended-register: format you are able to reference all of these, if the shorter format is used then it is limited to 699999. This memory area starts at address 0.

Data Types

The following data types are supported

  • BOOL (boolean)

  • SINT (int 8)

  • USINT (uint 8)

  • BYTE (uint 8)

  • INT (int 16)

  • UINT (uint 16)

  • WORD (uint 16)

  • DINT (int 32)

  • UDINT (uint 32)

  • DWORD (uint 32)

  • LINT (int 64)

  • ULINT (uint 64)

  • LWORD (uint 64)

  • REAL (float)

  • LREAL (double)

  • CHAR (char)

  • WCHAR (2 byte char)

Some useful tips

Most memory areas start at address 1, except for the extended register area which starts at 0. These are both mapped to 0x0000 when it is sent in the Modbus protocol.

The input, holding and extended registers consist of 16-bit registers while the discrete input and coil areas consist of bits.

The following Modbus function codes are supported:-

  • 0x01 (Read Coils)

  • 0x02 (Read Discrete Inputs)

  • 0x03 (Read Holding Registers)

  • 0x04 (Read Input Registers)

  • 0x05 (Write Single Coil)

  • 0x06 (Write Single Register)

  • 0x0F (Write Multiple Coils)

  • 0x10 (Write Multiple Registers)

  • 0x14 (Read File Record)(Extended Register Read)

  • 0x15 (Write File Record)(Extended Register Write)

Examples

To read 10 holding registers starting at address 20 and parse as Unsigned Integers the following examples are all valid.

  • holding-register:20:UINT[10]

  • 400020:UINT[10]

  • 4x00020:UINT[10]

  • 40020:UINT[10]

  • 4x0020:UINT[10]

To read 1 holding register at address 5678 the following examples are valid.

  • holding-register:5678

  • 405678

  • 4x05678

  • 45678

  • 4x5678

To read 1 holding register of unit 10 at address 5678 the following examples are valid.

  • holding-register:5678{unit-id: 10}

  • 405678{unit-id: 10}

  • 4x05678{unit-id: 10}

  • 45678{unit-id: 10}

  • 4x5678{unit-id: 10}

To read 10 extended registers starting at address 50 the following examples are valid.

  • extended-register:50[10]

  • 600050[10]

  • 6x00050[10]

  • 60050[10]

  • 6x0050[10]

This corresponds to addresses 50-59 in file record 1.

To read 10 extended registers starting at address 9995 the following examples are valid.

  • extended-register:9995[10]

  • 609995[10]

  • 6x09995[10]

  • 69995[10]

  • 6x9995[10]

This corresponds to addresses 9995-9999 in file record 1 and addresses 0-5 in file record 2. Note that this request is split into 2 sub requests in the Modbus protocol.