Universal Modbus Driver With Mini SCADA (UMD-MiniSCADA)

Abstract

Living in a connected world, it is essential that the computers communicate successfully with a disparate variety of devices, without compromising the standards for dealing with data transfer. Application layer communication and messaging protocols play the interesting role in this scenario. They can be used when communication takes place between computers and various types of controllers. The Modbus protocol is an application layer messaging protocol that supports communication between computers and Modbus based devices. In order to communicate with a device, the computer needs an interface. A driver is used as an interface between the computer and the device. The driver decodes and encodes the messages of the two parties involved. Thus, the driver hides the complexity of the protocol from users. The complexity involved in data processing is not provided by the driver. Hence, a SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) approaches the scene at this stage. It is a computer system for gathering and analyzing real time data. The SCADA system can be used to demonstrate the functionality of a driver. Most of the Modbus drivers that are available in the commercial world are customized to a particular device or they have few features to interact with the device. Some of them are too complex for users with less exposure to Modbus protocol. Universal Modbus Driver with Mini SCADA (UMD-MiniSCADA) system resolves these problems and it is compatible across many Modbus devices. UMD-MiniSCADA is a Modbus Driver with a Mini SCADA that supports monitoring and controlling of Modbus based devices. The system provides an easy way for users without having a thorough knowledge of the Modbus protocol. The system was designed taking into consideration all of the above facts.