Atlas2 Plus OLED Display: PROFINET Permanent Monitoring Kit 100 tester

Delivery includes:

• 1 x Atlas2 Plus OLED (101-800341)
• 1 x EtherTAP: PROFINET Analysis (101-700204E) 
• 1 x EtherTAP 10/100 (513-00011A)
• 1 x TAP Din Rail Mount (70010057)
• 1 x USB 3.0 A -B - 1,8m
• 1 x Patch kabel CAT5E - 2m 

PROFINET industrial networks can be measured in two ways, actively and passively. Each type of measurement provides different data. The ATLAS2 Plus OLED Display analyzer measures PROFINET networks actively and passively. Active tests consist of the analyzer sending queries to all stations in the measured network at regular intervals and processing the information obtained in a clear dashboard.

1. Active PROFINET test

The Atlas2 queries all stations in the network, most often using SNMP. To perform an active analysis, simply connect the Atlas2 to any free port in the PROFINET network. A free port can usually be found on a PLC, on a PLC switch or on the last station in the network. 

By active measurement we can find out:

• PROFINET station names,
• IP and MAC addresses of the stations,
• the firmware versions of the stations,
• device ordering code and station serial numbers
• device type,
• network topology,
• number of corrupted messages on each station (depends on the firmware of the station),
• the number of dropped messages on each station (depending on the firmware of the station),
• data flows on all ports of the stations in the network (depending on the firmware of the station),
• station status, e.g. everything is OP, reporting some diagnostics on XY channel, etc,
• station loss (only on the principle of ping),
• time since last reboot (uptime),
• port statuses (busy, free)
• cable lengths between stations (depends on the firmware of the stations).

2. Passive analysis

The passive test is not included in the purchase of the "Atlas2 Plus OLED Display" tester. The passive test can be purchased.

The passive method works by using a TAP adapter placed on the busiest cable in the network (usually between the PLC and the rest of the network) to intercept communications. We only eavesdrop on the communication, we do not write anything down. The TAP adapter assigns a timestamp to each packet and then sends the data via USB to the Atlas2 analyzer.

By passive measurement, we can determine:

• PROFINET alarms and their characteristics,
• data exchange cycles,
• maximum and minimum communication variance (jitter),
• the number of dropped packets,
• packet types.

Do you need to measure with the active or passive method?

If you want to know the names of the stations in the network, their topology, information about the network, etc., then it is sufficient to measure the network by active analysis.

However, if your PROFINET network is experiencing a fault and you want to identify (and subsequently eliminate) this fault, you need to measure the network both actively and passively.