SIEMENS S7-200 PPI Direct

1. Overview

This driver provides the software interface and communication protocol between XPANEL and
SIEMENS SIMATIC S7-200 PLCs via PPI protocol.

2. Communication Setup: XPANEL Designer

(1) Create a new device.

For creating a new device activate the menu ‘Tools’->’I/O Devices’ or icon in tool-

bar. Following picture shows the first step of creating a new device.

 I/O Device Name

Give a device name. This name will be used in the TAG configuration window of
database accompanied by the ‘Station Name’.
(2) Select a network type: ‘SIEMENS S7 PPI Direct’
After selecting the ‘OK’ button of previous step, ‘Serial Communication Configuration’
dialog box will be popped up as shown in following picture.

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 In this window, select the ‘Device Type’ as ‘SIEMENS S7 PPI Direct’ and appropriate
communication parameters. Those parameters must be matched with the PLC.
Communication parameters should be configured as shown in the following table.

Parameter Configuration

Baud Rate 9600 or 19200 (must be matched with the one of PLC)
Parity Even
Data Bits 8 Bits
Stop Bit 1 Bit
Comm. Type RS485

 Local ID
The XPANEL occupies the station ID ‘0’ (zero) for its network address. This
XPANEL’s address is fixed and cannot be changed.

(3) Create a station

Move to the ‘Station’ tab of ‘Serial Communication Configuration’ dialog box. In this
dialog box, all the connected PLC stations can be configured and registered to the

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XPANEL. Each field can be configured with following rules.

 Station Name
Give a name to the PLC. This name will be used in the database window
accompanied with the ‘Device Name’.
 Station Type
Choose the ‘S7’. (No other type can be selected.)
 Network ID
This field has no meaning in this driver. (Ignored in runtime)
 Station No.
Specify a decimal number between 1 and 126.
 16Bit Data Swap
This option swaps bytes of all word or double word sized data. Following diagram
shows an example of byte swapping.

Word Data 12ABh AB12h

Double Word Data 1234ABCDh 3412CDABh

Almost all of the data type will be influenced by this option except INT8 / UINT8 /
BCD8 / UBCD8.
 32Bit Data Swap

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 This option swaps words of all double word sized data. Following diagram shows
an example of word swapping.

Double Word Data 1234ABCDh ABCD1234h

INT32 / UINT32 / BCD32 / UBCD32 / FLOAT type of TAG values will be influenced
by this option.
 Using Checksum
This field has no effect.
 Comm. Error Message Pop Up
If this item is checked, XPanel displays a communication error notification
message at every Rx and Tx error.
Otherwise(unchecked), XPanel does not display the message at data receive error.
Only when there is data transmit (writing a TAG value to the station) error, the
notification message is popped up. This message box will be closed automatically
about 5 seconds after.

3. Communication Setup: S7-200

Following picture shows the screen shot of STEP 7-Micro/WIN. The network address and
communication speed (Baud Rate) of PLC are configured in this dialog box. Please note that
those set data should be matched with the device configuration of XPanel.

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4. Address Notation
The address of TAG in XPanel has the following format.

TAG Type Format Example

Analog [Symbol][Address] VW064

[Symbol][Address].[Bit Number] or M012.3 or
Digital
[Symbol][Address][Bit Number] M0123

 Address : decimal number (0..65535)

 Bit Number : decimal number (0..7)

Following table shows the list of devices which can be referenced in XPanel database.

Symbol Description Word Notation Bit Notation Type Access

I Input - I7.7 Digital R

Q Output - Q7.7 Digital R/W
M Internal Memory - M31.7 Digital R/W
SM Special Memory - SM85.7 Digital R/W
T Timer - T127 Digital R
C Counter - C127 Digital R
IW Input IW7 - Analog R
QW Output QW7 - Analog R/W
MW Internal Memory MW31 - Analog R/W
SMW Special Memory SMW85 - Analog R/W
VW Variable Memory VW4095 - Analog R/W
TW Timer SV TW127 - Analog R
CW Counter SV CW127 - Analog R

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5. Communication Cable Wiring

1 SDA 3 +
2 SDB 8 -
4 RDA
5 RDB
3 GND 5 GND

1 5
Pin assignment of XPanel PPI Port (DB9)
(RS422/485, 5 pin terminal) SIEMENS S7-200

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6. Support Function Table

Following table shows the list of functions that are supported by ‘SIEMENS S7-200 PPI
Direct’ communication driver.

Function Support Remark

Block Data Read O

Block Data Write O
String real Tag O
Word Swap O
Dword Swap O

 Block Data Read

This function makes it possible that is bulk data reading at a time. It will be applied
when you use recipe, data bridge and trends at the Xpanel.
 Block Data Write
This function makes it possible that is bulk data writing at a time. It will be applied
when you use recipe, data bridge and trends at the Xpanel.
 String real Tag
It makes the device as the serialized memory so you can communicate string data
of Xpanel with PLC.
 Word Swap
This function swaps bytes of all word or double word sized data. It depends upon
16Bit Data Swap configuration.
 Dword Swap
This function swaps words of all double word sized data. It depends upon 32Bit
Data Swap configuration.

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