GE Multilin N60 Network Stability and Synchrophasor Measurement System B-1APPENDIX B B.1 MODBUS RTU PROTOCOLBAPPENDIX B MODBUS COMMUNICATIONSB.1MODBUS RTU PROTOCOL B.1.1 INTRODUCTIONThe UR-series relays support a number of communications protocols to allow connection to equipment such as personalcomputers, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), SCADA masters, and programmable logic controllers. The Modicon Modbusprotocol is the most basic protocol supported by the UR. Modbus RTU is available via the RS232 and RS485 serial links,and Modbus TCP/IP is available over Ethernet. The following description is intended primarily for users who want todevelop their own master communication drivers. Note that:• The UR always acts as a slave device, meaning that it never initiates communications; it only listens and responds torequests issued by a master computer.• A subset of the Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP/IP protocol format is supported that allows extensive monitoring, pro-gramming, and control functions using read and write register commands.B.1.2 PHYSICAL LAYERThe Modbus RTU protocol is hardware-independent so that the physical layer can be any of a variety of standard hardwareconfigurations including RS232 and RS485. The relay includes a faceplate (front panel) RS232 port and rear terminalRS485 port. Data flow is half-duplex in all configurations. See chapter 3 for details on communications wiring.Each data byte is transmitted in an asynchronous format consisting of 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and possibly 1 paritybit. This produces a 10 or 11 bit data frame. This can be important for transmission through modems at high bit rates (11 bitdata frames are not supported by many modems at baud rates greater than 300).The faceplate RS232 port is for local use and is fixed at 19200 bit/s baud and even parity. The rear terminal RS485 port canbe set for baud rates of 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 14400, 19200, 28800, 33600, 38400, 57600, or 115200 bps, andeven, odd, and no parity options are available. See the Communications section of chapter 5 for further details.The Modbus TCP/IP protocol is available on each of the rear Ethernet ports. Depending on the relay's order code, theseports can be 10/100Base-TX or 100Base-FX.B.1.3 DATA LINK LAYERModbus RTU communications takes place in packets which are groups of asynchronously framed byte data. The mastertransmits a packet to the slave and the slave responds with a packet. The following describes general format for both trans-mit and receive packets. For exact details on packet formatting, refer to subsequent sections describing each functioncode.• SLAVE ADDRESS: This is the address of the slave device that is intended to receive the packet sent by the masterand to perform the desired action. Each slave device on a communications bus must have a unique address to preventbus contention. All of the relay’s ports have the same address which is programmable from 1 to 254; see chapter 5 fordetails. Only the addressed slave will respond to a packet that starts with its address. Note that the faceplate port is anexception to this rule; it will act on a message containing any slave address.A master transmit packet with slave address 0 indicates a broadcast command. All slaves on the communication linktake action based on the packet, but none respond to the master.• FUNCTION CODE: This is one of the supported functions codes of the unit which tells the slave what action to per-form. See the Supported Function Codes section for complete details. An exception response from the slave is indi-cated by setting the high order bit of the function code in the response packet. See the Exception Responses sectionfor further details.Table B–1: MODBUS RTU PACKET FORMATDESCRIPTION SIZESLAVE ADDRESS 1 byteFUNCTION CODE 1 byteDATA N bytesCRC 2 bytesDEAD TIME 3.5 bytes transmission time
