The netTAP 100 from Hilscher North America Inc. is a flexible and cost-effective gateway designed to bridge the gaps between traditional fieldbus, Real-Time Ethernet-based systems and serial protocols. Based on Hilscher’s netX chip, up to 1,000 protocol combinations are possible in a modular compact DIN-rail mounted housing. Master and Slave protocols for CANopen, DeviceNet, PROFIBUS, CCLink, EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP, POWERLINK, PROFINET, SERCOS III, MB/RTU, MB ASCII RS232-, RS422, and RS485 are included for Real-Time I/O data exchange.
The netTAP 100 can be configured to be a master or slave on either end. The configuration software for the master side is an enhanced version of SYCON.net which is an FDT/DTM based tool. A standard USB port is used for configuration along with loading network firmware and diagnostics. The netTAP 100 also supports the use of a mutimedia Flash card or SD-card for storage of configuration data. This allows configuration data to be easily duplicated or transferred to multiple netTAPs on a network.
Development tools are also available that allow third parties to develop custom protocol gateways using any one of netTAP’s stacks and a gateway application to their own protocol. These protocols would need to be based on any of the standard available hardware supported by netX including serial, Ethernet, PROFIBUS or CAN-based interfaces.
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