Study, design and development of a modbus master that evaluates the modbus communication between equipments

Abstract

Data communication is essential in any mechatronic system or product. It allows for devices to communicate with one another, for a more efficient and self-regulating system. To effectively rely on the communication between devices, the communication must firsts be tested and evaluated for errors and correct data transmission. Sensors and sensor data addresses can easily be switched and when a device is communicating with another, it is imperative that the correct sensor data is transmitted when a slave device receives a signal to do so. If this condition is not verified, the master device could be receiving wrong signals and coincidently sending alerts or warning messages to the user. In more extreme cases the device can enter an emergency shutdown situation and fail to restart. The objective of this work is to study, design and develop a software device that allows the user to simulate, evaluate and verify the Modbus communication between the Platform Management System (PMS) of a ship and the main equipment on board. The PMS is the onboard static master device that displays all the received data to the ship’s captain for analysis. This work focuses in particular on a ship's generators, where the available signals will be assessed. The signals, stipulated in the equipment’s specification documents, are transmitted directly from the equipment and are then received by the PMS. The PMS and the onboard equipment are programmed by various entities, of which, can all make mistakes while programming and therefor, the sensor and warning names and messages are not coherent with the corresponding values.