APL equipment for a complete "newby" for APL device development

[AlfredoAtSherpa]

Hello PROFIprocess and APL experts.

One of my field device makers customers has a lot of experience in process field devices, but so far has not developed PROFIBUS DP, PROFIBUS PA, PROFINET and let alone APL. I can't say more about this company because of obvious confidentiality considerations.

In order for this customer to be able to develop a PROFINET over APL compliant device this customer needs to start from the begining, from a, b, c., which means he does not have a PROFINET IO system, nothing, nada. I have sold this customer an APL switch already, and must help the customer setup his PROFINET IO development environment, including the PROFINET controller.

I am making the assumption (and please correct me if I am wrong in my assumption) that in order to develop PA Profile compliant device the customer will need a proper tool for testing this functionality, because only with the PLC (I am guessing here and I could be wrong) it would be necessary to develop a PLC program that implements the necessary PA Profile 4.0 function blocks in ladder, which in theory should be possible, but in practice, especially for someone with limited understanding of PA Profinet specification, such as both my customer an me, would not be easy.

So I need to provide a BOM of what the customer would need.
Is the list below incorrect, or incomplete?
1) APL switch
2) License of SIMATIC Process Control System PCS 7 SIMATIC PDM Readme V9.1
3) License if TIA Portal v19
4) An S7-1500 (which part number would he need? I want to recommend one with PROFIBUS DP interface just in case, for the future)

Thanks very much for reading.

[VoGo]

Hello PROFIprocess and APL experts.

One of my field device makers customers has a lot of experience in process field devices, but so far has not developed PROFIBUS DP, PROFIBUS PA, PROFINET and let alone APL. I can't say more about this company because of obvious confidentiality considerations.

In order for this customer to be able to develop a PROFINET over APL compliant device this customer needs to start from the begining, from a, b, c., which means he does not have a PROFINET IO system, nothing, nada. I have sold this customer an APL switch already and must help the customer setup his PROFINET IO development environment, including the PROFINET controller.

I am making the assumption (and please correct me if I am wrong in my assumption) that in order to develop PA Profile compliant device the customer will need a proper tool for testing this functionality, because only with the PLC (I am guessing here and I could be wrong) it would be necessary to develop a PLC program that implements the necessary PA Profile 4.0 function blocks in ladder, which in theory should be possible, but in practice, especially for someone with limited understanding of PA Profinet specification, such as both my customer an me, would not be easy.

So, I need to provide a BOM of what the customer would need.
Is the list below incorrect, or incomplete?
1) APL switch
2) License of SIMATIC Process Control System PCS 7 SIMATIC PDM Readme V9.1
3) License if TIA Portal v19
4) An S7-1500 (which part number would he need? I want to recommend one with PROFIBUS DP interface just in case, for the future)

Thanks very much for reading.

Hi Alfredo,

If your customer wants to develop his own APL devices, he will need a couple of things. Lets start with your list:

1) APL switch (useful for interoperability testing)
2) License of SIMATIC Process Control System PCS 7 SIMATIC PDM Readme V9.1 (ONLY IF YOU USE AN DCS)
3) License if TIA Portal v19 (for PLC)
4) An S7-1500 or a Process Automation DCS (S7-400 or third party, such as ABB or Emerson). Profibus-PA is a whole different beast, I just focus on APL.

PLUS

5. The Profinet Certification Test Bundle https://www.profibus.com/download/2-pro ... est-bundle plus required hardware (listed in the bundle documentation). As the test bundle is matter of a continues imprudent process, there is a new version available every year. There are also trail bundles covering upcoming functionalities and maintenance levels, see https://www.profibus.com/download/profi ... tsn-and-pa
6. There is the APL physical layer test, that requires some software component to run on the device. This is a separate test that covers the intrinsic safety and the physical interface only (https://www.ifak.eu/en/products/pi-testlab).
7. Your customer should contact his semiconductor provider for an APL conformant PHY and the other components required for a successful APL device implementation. The semiconductor companies can also recommend software providers with decent APL experience.

Volker