Born in early 2000, Ethernet/IP (Ethernet Industrial Protocol) has for many years contended with Profinet for the most widely used fieldbus with a market share of 15 to 20 percent.

EtherNet/IP is an open fieldbus standard based on CIP (Common Industrial Protocol), developed by Rockwell Automation and and certified by ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendor Association). Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) networks follow the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which defines the framework conditions for implementing network protocols in seven layers, each with strictly defined tasks.

EtherNet/IP is an industrial Ethernet communication protocol designed primarily for multi-sector automation applications.

EtherNet/IP supports Ethernet, the Internet and is compatible with TCP or UDP (User Datagram Protocol). This compatibility thus enables seamless integration of EtherNet/IP into industrial networks and allows continuity control between IT and OT.

EtherNet/IP can be made real-time compatible in combination with UDP to transfer data faster.

Architecture	Client/Server
Topology	Star, Tree,Ring, Daisy Chain
Network segmentation	Via switch
Baud Rate	100 Mbps with CAT5 4 cabling and RJ45 connections
Bandwidth	10 / 100 Mbps
Chip	Ethernet Standards
Data Transmission	Real-time, cyclic, event-driven
Real-time synchronization	IEEE 1588
Organization Support	ODVA
Compatible standards	CIP, ControlNet, DeviceNet, HTTP, FTP, SNMP, DHCP, TCP-IP, UDP
Cycle time	10..1 ms
Max. no. of nodes	Depends on IP subnetwork
Applications	Process control, motor control, production automation
Device classes	Scanner, Adapter

SENECA range

Depending on the available Ethernet form factor and ports, SENECA offers 3 Ethernet/IP gateways: Z-KEY-E, R-KEY-LT-E, Z-KEY-2ETH-E. These are gateways for Modbus RTU/ASCII/TCP and EtherNet/IP network communications. To integrate existing Modbus devices into an EtherNet/IP network, the gateway acts as a Modbus master to collect data and exchange it with EtherNet/IP devices. The gateway converts the stored Modbus data into EtherNet/IP packets so that the EtherNet/IP scanner can control or monitor Modbus devices.

Code (model)	Ethernet ports	RS232/RS485 ports	RS485 ports	Isolated serial ports
Z-KEY-E	1	1	1	Yes
R-KEY-LT-E	1	1	1	No
Z-KEY-2ETH-E	2	1	1	Yes

SENECA’s Ethernet/IP gateways, configurable via web server, operate in the adapter / ModBUS Master mode in which an Ethernet/IP scanner PLC can be connected with ModBUS RTU/ASCII Slave type I/O devices

The gateway, on the serial side, operate as ModBUS Master devices and on the Ethernet side as an Ethernet/IP Adapter.

Modbus requests (read or write commands) are configured in the device and an EDS file is automatically generated. Once this file is imported into the PLC development software (e.g., Rockwell STUDIO 5000) all configured I/O will be accessible without any other additional configuration. In addition to serial devices, it is also possible to connect up to 3 Modbus TCP-IP servers.