WO2016154702A1

WO2016154702A1 - Method for connecting a serial device to an ethernet network

Info

Publication number: WO2016154702A1
Application number: PCT/BR2016/050075
Authority: WO
Inventors: Daniel ALEXANDRE OLEINIK; Wagner CALDAS BRESSAM
Original assignee: Furukawa Industrial S.A. Produtos Elétricos
Priority date: 2015-04-02
Filing date: 2016-04-01
Publication date: 2016-10-06
Also published as: AR103901A1; BR102015007487A2

Abstract

The present method comprises the following steps: receiving, through the serial port (31) of a bidirectional converter (30), or through the serial port (11) of a serial device (10), data released by the serial port (11) and the serial port (31), respectively, and representing a response of one of the devices (10, 60, 70) to an information request from the other device, or an instruction from one of the devices to the other device (10, 60,70); requesting, through an ethernet network (20) and through an ethernet interface (32) of the bidirectional converter (30), communication with an ethernet interface (32, 72) associated with the other device (60,70); encapsulating in the bidirectional converter (30) the data received from the serial device (10) and instructing the other device (60, 70); and sending the encapsulated data to the ethernet interface (32) associated with the other device (60, 70), over the ethernet network (20) and using the TCP/IP protocol.

Description

"METHOD FOR CONNECTING SERIAL EQUIPMENT TO A NETWORK

ETHERNET "

Field of the invention

[001] The present invention relates to a method for allowing serial interface equipment such as older or very specific automation equipment to be used in remote monitoring or even direct automation networks. that is, it can initiate a spontaneous communication to send or request data or information, via ethernet, in relation to at least one other equipment, as occurs in case of failures or alarms in automation networks.

Invention History

[002] The constant evolution of technology has considerably increased the demand on communication capacity, not only for equipment but also for network infrastructure. In order to guarantee the operational interaction between different equipments, it is necessary to have a unifying protocol between them, and the protocol that stands out as a candidate to fulfill this role is Ethernet.

[003] To enable Ethernet communication on an IP network it is necessary that all information exchanged, besides being compatible with this type of protocol, have data characteristic of this type of communication. Among these data, the most important are the source IP address, source MAC address, destination IP address, and destination MAC address data.

[004] IP is currently the most widely used protocol worldwide for communication between computers and devices. It was originally based on a set of communication-related data patterns known as the OSI model. This model provides for seven layers of abstraction that are each responsible for a specific part of the communication itself. This way this protocol can enable communication between heterogeneous machines through network building directives, regardless of the technology used.

Due to the widespread use of this type of communication, most commercial equipment has an interface according to this IP protocol standard.

However, there are devices that have only one serial interface available. Serial interfaces were originally designed to provide peer-to-peer communication or small networks, not offering features such as native addressing.

[007] Thus, it is impracticable to use equipment that does not have a network-oriented communication interface, remote monitoring systems or even automation directly.

[008] To use this type of equipment with serial interface in IP networks it is necessary to use a serial-ethernet converter. This type of serial-ethernet converter equipment enables the equipment with its serial interface connected to the serial-ethernet converter to initiate a connection with other equipment using the ethernet protocol standards. As a result, serial interface equipment can exchange information using the current communication infrastructure (ethernet networks).

[009] However, known methods for allowing serial interface equipment to be connected to an ethernet network use serial-ethernet converter devices capable of allowing only serial interface equipment to respond via ethernet and via associated converter with a request for information from other equipment capable of communicating over the ethernet network. Thus, the serial-ethernet converters used allow a serial interface device to communicate with other equipment via ethernet only in a "passive" manner. Serial interface devices are thus unable to initiate spontaneous communication with other equipment via ethernet, that is, they are unable to "actively" communicate with other equipment via ethernet.

Summary of the invention

Due to the above-mentioned limitations relating to communication between serial interface equipment via ethernet, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing serial interface equipment to be used in an IP network with protocol-specific data encapsulation for "passive" and "active" communication with other equipment over wired, optical, or wireless networks using the packet transmission mode described by the OSI model.

According to the present invention, the data is trafficked by the network. Ethernet need not be interpreted, and serial communication between the serial equipment and its converter is emulated within an IP network to ensure integrity, information and security, as it is possible to exchange encrypted data between the equipment without the need for knowledge of no encryption key.

According to the method of the invention there is provided a bidirectional converter having a serial port and an ethernet communication interface, connected via an ethernet network, to other equipment which may be serial or ethernet, being the serial port of the serial equipment. connected to the serial port of the bidirectional converter via a conductor.

[0013] The bidirectional converter is designed to allow its serial port or serial equipment serial port to receive data released respectively from the serial equipment serial port or bidirectional converter serial port, where the data represents a response of one of the equipment, to a request for information from of the other equipment, or an instruction for one of the equipment, to be communicated to the other equipment.

With this, it is possible to request, through an ethernet network and from the ethernet interface of the bidirectional converter, a line of. communication with an ethernet interface operatively associated with the other equipment, when the data to be received at the bidirectional converter serial port is an instruction to the other equipment.

If the bidirectional converter accepts the communication line request with the ethernet interface operatively associated with the other equipment, data received from the serial interface of the serial equipment and representative of the instruction to the other equipment are encapsulated in the bidirectional converter and sent to the ethernet interface operatively associated with the other equipment, through the ethernet network, using the TCP / IP protocol with guaranteed delivery.

As can be seen, the method of the present invention enables bidirectional data exchange between receiving equipment and sending equipment not only in a "passive" manner, ie with serial equipment being requested by other equipment, providing data to this other equipment, as well as "actively", with the serial equipment spontaneously sending data to another equipment without being requested by the latter, this type of bidirectional connection of a serial equipment to an ethernet network, For communication with other equipment, it is very useful, for example, for sending alarms and events occurring on the serial equipment and being transmitted to another equipment.

Brief Description of Drawings

The invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, given by way of example of possible applications of the invention and in which:

Figure 1 represents a diagram illustrating the applying the method in question to establish two-way communication via ethernet between two devices provided with a serial communication interface; and Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the application of the method in question for establishing bidirectional communication via ethernet between a serial communication interface device and an ethernet communication interface device.

Description of the invention

As shown schematically by the accompanying drawings, the method of the invention has been developed to enable communication of a serial equipment 10 over an IP-based ethernet 20 by encapsulating data received from a serial interface 11 of the 10 serial equipment within a TCP / IP packet. To perform this operation, it is necessary to provide a bidirectional converter 30 of the serial-ethernet type, having a serial interface 31 and an ethernet interface 32, with the serial interface 31 connected by a conductor 40 to the serial interface 11 of the equipment. serial 10. The ethernet interface 32 of the bidirectional converter 30 is connected by a conductor 50 (in fiber optic or other suitable medium) to an ethernet network 20 with which other equipment, serial 60 or ethernet 70, is maintained in communication.

The communication method in question can be applied in two ways, as shown schematically in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

However, regardless of whether the other equipment is serial 60 or ethernet 70, the proposed method can be synthesized as allowing one serial equipment 10 to be able to communicate with other equipment over an ethernet network. 20

Thus, the method in question comprises, regardless of the characteristics of the other equipment operably associable with ethernet network 20, the operational steps of: selectively receiving at serial port 31 of bidirectional converter 30 or serial port 11 of serial equipment 10, and through conductor 40, a data released, respectively, from serial port 11 serial equipment 10 or bidirectional converter 30 serial port 31.

That data represents one of the conditions defined either by a response from one of the devices 10, 60, 70 to a request for information from the other device, or by an instruction from one of the devices 10, 60, 70, to be reported to other equipment 10, 60, 70.

The method further comprises the step of requesting, via an ethernet network 20 and from the ethernet interface 32 of the bidirectional converter 30, a communication line with an ethernet interface that may be defined by an ethernet interface, 32 on the other. bidirectional converter 30 operatively associated with other serial equipment 60, or an ethernet interface 72 of another ethernet equipment 70.

The aforementioned step is performed when the data to be received at the serial port 31 of the bidirectional converter 30 is representative of an instruction to be sent to the other equipment 60, 70.

Since the bidirectional communication request with the ethernet interface 32, 72 operatively associated with the other equipment 60, 70 is accepted in the bidirectional converter 30, the method in question includes the step of encapsulating the data in the bidirectional converter 30. received from serial interface 11 of serial equipment 10 and representative of instruction to other equipment 60, 70 so that said encapsulated data is sent to ethernet interface 32 operatively associated with other equipment 60, 70 over the network. ethernet 20, using the TCP / IP protocol with guaranteed delivery.

The method proposed in the present invention allows the encapsulated instruction in bidirectional converter 30 is communicated via ethernet to the other equipment 60, 70 either in the form of a unidirectional command to the other equipment 60, 70 without requiring any response from the latter. However, the method also operates when the instruction encapsulated in bidirectional converter 30 and communicated via ethernet to the other equipment 60, 70, presents the form of a request for information from serial equipment 10 to the other equipment 60, 70, which sends, via ethernet and ethernet interface 32 of bidirectional converter 30, a response from the other equipment 60, 70, which is decapsulated in bidirectional converter 30 and sent via serial port 31 of the latter and conductor 40 to serial port 11 of the serial equipment 10.

The operation described above occurs in cases where serial equipment 10 operates "actively" by spontaneously sending to the other equipment 60, 70 an instruction encapsulated in bidirectional converter 30 and which may be in the form of a unidirectional command to the said other equipment 60, 70, or in the form of an information request to the latter, when then the response of the other equipment 60, 70 is received and unencapsulated in bidirectional converter 30 to be sent to serial port 11 of serial equipment 10 .

[0030] The method in question allows, even if serial equipment 10 operates in a "passive" manner, when then data, in the form of an encapsulated and ethernet instruction from other equipment 60, 70, is received at the ethernet interface (32) of the bidirectional converter (30), which is unsealed and released by the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30), to be received via

(40) on the serial interface (11) of the serial equipment (10).

Thus, the method proposed in the present invention permits the unencapsulated instruction in bidirectional converter 30 and communicated via conductor 40 to serial equipment 10 to be in the form of a unidirectional command to the serial equipment 10, without requiring any response from it. However, the method also operates when the decapsulated instruction in the bidirectional converter 30 and communicated via conductor 40 to serial equipment 10 presents the form of an information request from the other equipment 60, 70 to serial equipment 10 which sends, via conductor 40 and serial interface 31 of bidirectional converter 30, a response from serial equipment 10, which is encapsulated in bidirectional converter 30 and sent via ethernet interface 32 of the latter to ethernet interface 32, 72 of other equipment 60, 70

Regardless of the "active" or "passive" operating mode of serial equipment 10, 60, and whether the instruction is a one-way command or information request or data is a response from one device to another. , the encapsulation and decapsulation operations of. Data in bidirectional converter 30 is made using an available ethernet stack and embedded in bidirectional converter 30.

[0033] As illustrated in Figure 1, the method allows to emulate local, peer-to-peer serial communication within a standard ethernet network 20 between a serial 10 equipment and another 60 serial equipment. In this case, the use of. two bidirectional converters 30, each allowing communication of serial port 11, 61, of a respective serial equipment 10, 60, with ethernet network 20. In other words, bidirectional converters 30 are responsible for translating serial data to IP and vice versa.

In order to perform said translation of serial data (serial port) to IP (ethernet port) and vice versa, each bidirectional converter 30 is provided with known construction elements, but associated with a particular logic to allow processing of the data. IP protocol here called the Ethernet stack. This Ethernet stack takes care of all communication protocol aspects and enables the equipment to have an IP address and a MAC address, in addition to the logical ports required for communication.

To enable communication, a first bidirectional converter 30 must be programmed / configured with the parameters of local IP, local port (which will be logically related to serial interface 11 of serial equipment 10), destination IP (where data should be forwarded) and destination port (logical remote port related to serial interface 61 on other serial equipment 60). Similarly a second bidirectional converter 30 must be programmed / configured with the parameters of. Local IP, local port (which will be logically related to serial interface 61 of this other serial equipment 60), destination IP (where data should be forwarded) and destination port (logical remote port related to serial interface 11 on serial equipment 10).

In the example of Figure 1, for sending data from the first serial equipment 10 to the other serial equipment 60, the method comprises the steps of:

receiving, on a serial port 31 from a first bidirectional converter 30, through conductor 40, data released from serial port 11 of serial equipment 10;

- request via a network. ethernet 20 and from an ethernet interface 32 of the first bidirectional converter 30, a communication line with an ethernet interface 32 of a second bidirectional converter 30, using an ethernet stack embedded in the first bidirectional converter 30 through the ethernet network 20 and previously configured with source / destination IP / PORT parameters;

the communication line request being accepted by the second bidirectional converter 30, encapsulating, in the first bidirectional converter 30, the data received from serial interface 11 of serial equipment 10; - send the encapsulated data to the ethernet interface of the second bidirectional converter 30 via the ethernet network 20 using the TCP / IP protocol provided with delivery guarantee;

receive the encapsulated data on the ethernet interface of the second bidirectional converter 30 via its embedded ethernet stack and signal, via the TCP / IP protocol, to the ethernet interface 32 of the first bidirectional converter 30, the reception of the encapsulated data, terminating the communication line with the second bidirectional converter 30 and enabling other communications;

decapsulating the data in the second bidirectional converter 30 and sending it to the other serial equipment 60 via its serial interface 61, in the same format as said data was sent from the serial equipment 10 to the first bidirectional converter 30;

receive on the other serial equipment 60 the decapsulated data without becoming aware that it was sent remotely via the second bidirectional converter 30, making the ethernet network 20 transparent and making it. the other serial equipment 60 sees the received data as if serial equipment 10 is directly connected to it.

It should be noted that the method described above allows the two bidirectional converters 30 to operate without having to know the content of the data. This allows communication with encrypted data to be established, since all information received on one side of the communication is made available on the other side in exactly the same way as it was sent.

Upon a response from the other serial equipment 60 to serial equipment 10, the processing of data originating from the second serial equipment 60 will be performed in a manner analogous to that described above, as previously mentioned. [0039] In the application of Figure 2, the method allows to emulate peer-to-peer local serial communication within a standard ethernet network 20 between a serial 10 equipment and another ethernet type 70 equipment. In this case, the use of only one bidirectional converter 30 is required to enable communication of serial interface 11 of serial equipment 10 with the ethernet network 20. In other words, bidirectional converter 30 ê, responsible for realizing Z cl 1 cl serial data translation to IP and vice versa. The other ethernet 70 equipment has its ethernet interface 72 directly connected to the ethernet network 20 via a generally optical fiber conductor 50, or by any other suitable means, and there is no reason to provide one. second bidirectional converter 30.

To perform said translation of serial data

(serial port) to IP (ethernet port) and vice versa, the bidirectional converter 30 is. provided with the same construction elements as previously discussed for bidirectional converters 30 of the application illustrated in figure 1.

To enable communication, the bidirectional converter 30 must be programmed / configured as described above for bidirectional converters 30 of the application shown in Figure 1.

In the example of Figure 2, for sending data from serial equipment 10 to other ethernet-type equipment 70, the method comprises the steps of:

receiving, at serial port 31 of bidirectional converter 30 and through a conductor 40, data released from serial port 11 of serial equipment 10;

requesting, via the ethernet network 20 and from an ethernet interface 32 of the bidirectional converter 30, a communication line with the ethernet interface 72 of the other ethernet type 70 equipment;

- negotiate the communication line with other ethernet 70 equipment by using the ethernet stack embedded in bidirectional converter 30;

the request for communication line being accepted by the other encapsulating ethernet-type equipment 70 in bidirectional converter 30, the data received from the interface, serial 11 of the serial equipment 10;

- sending encapsulated data to ethernet interface 72 of other ethernet type 70 equipment over ethernet network 20 using the TCP / IP protocol provided with delivery guarantee;

receiving the encapsulated data on the etherne interface of the other ethernet 70 equipment and signaling, via the TCP / IP protocol, to the ethernet interface 32 of the bidirectional converter 30, the reception of the encapsulated data, terminating the communication line with the other 70 type equipment. ethernet and enabling other communications.

As already mentioned in relation to the application of figure 1, in the application of figure 2 the same situation occurs as. The method allows the bidirectional converter 30 to operate without having to know the content of the data. This allows communication with encrypted data as previously mentioned.

When responding from the other ethernet-like equipment 70 to the first serial equipment 10, the processing of data originating from the other ethernet-like equipment 70 will be performed in a manner analogous to that described above.

Claims

Method for communicating a serial device to another device via an ethernet network, characterized in that it comprises the steps of:

providing a bidirectional converter (30} provided with a serial port (31) and an ethernet interface (32) for communication via an ethernet network (20) to other equipment (60, 70);

- connect a serial port (11) of the serial equipment (10) to the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30) by means of a conductor (40);

- selectively receive in the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30) and the serial port (11) of the serial equipment (10), and through the conductor (40), a data released, respectively, from the serial port (11). ) of the serial equipment (10) and the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30), said data representing one of the conditions defined by a response of one of the equipment (10, 60, 70) to a request for information from the other equipment and an instruction from one of the equipment (10, 60, 70) to be communicated to the other equipment (10, 60, 70);

- request, via an ethernet network (20) and from the ethernet interface (32) of the bidirectional converter (30), a communication line with an ethernet interface (32, 72) operatively associated with the other equipment (60,70 ), when the data to be received at the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30) is representative of an instruction to the other equipment (60, 70);

- the bidirectional converter (30) being accepted for the request of. line of. communication with the ethernet interface (32, 72) operatively associated with the other equipment (60, 70), encapsulating, in the bidirectional converter (30), the data received from the serial interface (11) of the serial equipment (10) and representative of the instruction to the other equipment (60, 70); and

- send encapsulated data to ethernet interface (32) operably associated with the other equipment (60, 70) via the ethernet network (20) using the TCP / IP protocol provided with a delivery guarantee.

Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the instruction encapsulated in the bidirectional converter (30) and communicated via ethernet to the other equipment (60, 70) is in the form of a unidirectional command to the other equipment ( 60, 70).

Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the instruction encapsulated in the bidirectional converter (30) and communicated via ethernet to the other equipment (60, 70) is in the form of a request for information from the equipment serial (10) to the other equipment (60, 70), which sends via ethernet and the ethernet interface (32) of the bidirectional converter 30, a response from the other equipment (60, 70), which is decapsulated in the bidirectional converter (30) ) and sent via the serial port (31) of the latter and conductor (40) to the serial port (11) of the serial equipment (10).

Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the data, released from the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30), is an instruction encapsulated via ethernet from the other. (60, 70), said instruction being received at the ethernet interface (32) of the bidirectional converter (30), unencapsulated therein and released by the serial port (31) of the bidirectional converter (30) to be received, via conductor (40), at the serial interface (11) of the serial equipment (10).

Method according to Claim 4, characterized in that the instruction unsealed in the bidirectional converter (30) and released via the conductor (40) to the serial port (11) of the serial equipment (10) is in the form of , a unidirectional connection from the other equipment (60, 70) to the serial equipment (10).

Method according to claim 4, characterized in because the unencapsulated instruction in the bidirectional converter (30) and released via conductor (40) to the serial port (11) of the serial equipment (10) is in the form of a request for information from the other equipment (60, 70 ), to serial equipment (10), which sends, via conductor (40), to serial port (31) of bidirectional converter (30), a response from serial equipment (10), which is encapsulated in bidirectional converter (30) and sent via the latter's ethernet interface (32) to the ethernet interface (32, 72) operatively associated with the other equipment (60, 70).

Method according to any one of claims 3 to

6, characterized in that the encapsulation and data decapsulation operations in the bidirectional converter (30) are performed using an available ethernet stack embedded in the bidirectional converter (30).

A method according to any one of claims 1 to

7, characterized in that the other device (70) is an ethernet-type device provided with an ethernet interface (72) for communicating with the ethernet network (20).

Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the other device (60) is another serial device provided with a serial port (61) connected to a serial port (31) of another bidirectional converter ( 30) provided with interface, ethernet (32) for communication with the ethernet network (20).