As the industrial network market shares rapidly grow, support for industrial network protocols is perceived as an indispensable capability for industrial automation products, and among the protocols in this field, EtherNet/IP is in the lead. Observing this trend, Weintek has added support for EtherNet/IP protocol to its remote I/O module, iR-ETN, to fulfill the market demand for remote I/O modules that support EtherNet/IP.

EtherNet/IP Communication Modes

EtherNet/IP provides two communication modes to address different types of demands.

iR-ETN not only supports the two EtherNet/IP modes mentioned above, but at the same time retains its original Modbus-TCP support, as shown in the following figure.

Dual Ethernet Port

iR-ETN is equipped with two Ethernet ports that not only support Star network topology but also can directly connect multiple iR-ETN modules to form an EtherNet/IP Line network topology, eliminating the need for switches or hubs and providing maximum economic benefit.

EasyRemote IO - EDS Builder

Every EtherNet/IP device needs a standardized device description file (EDS), and iR-ETN’s EDS file can be exported by executing “Export EtherNet/IP EDS” in EasyRemote IO software to generate the file according to the current module configuration. EtherNet/IP Scanner can then import the EDS file for users to easily and quickly complete network configuration.

Version Information

Current iR-ETN users can simply update the software and firmware version to the following versions to make iR-ETN support both Modbus TCP and EtherNet/IP communication protocols.

Eligible product: iR-ETN V1.0.3.0

Applicable software: EasyRemoteIO V1.3.2.0 or later