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CAN, CIP, DEVICENET, ETHERNET/IP, INDUSTRIAL NETWORKING, RTA'S BLOG

EtherNet/IP and TCP/IP

POSTED ON OCTOBER 19, 2016 BY JOHN S RINALDI

19
Oct

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I have a friend, Emily, who

knows
MENU 
all about muscles. More than that she knows how to gure out which
muscles in your body are sloughing off and “not pulling their weight!” And what’s more, she can than
magically tweak them to wake them from their slumber and start working again. I call Emily the
“Muscle Magician” because of that special expertise.

What’s interesting to me about this is that she doesn’t think she has special knowledge. Because she
lives muscle-mania all day long, she assumes that everyone knows what she knows. I remind her that
she’s the Muscle Magician because what she does is magic to the rest of us.

I think we are all like that. We all have very special expertise but believe that our special expertise isn’t
so special and wouldn’t be valuable to someone else. I know that I am like that. I think that the stuff I
know (Ethernet networks, enterprise communication, factory oor protocols, and the rest) is simple,
straightforward, and not especially valuable.

I realized again that this wasn’t true when I was asked again about the difference between
EtherNet/IP, CIP, and TCP/IP. I think of that as just basic knowledge. Similar to me asking Emily what a
bicep does. It’s self-evident to both of us in our chosen elds but we have to remember that not
everyone lives in those domains and they are as foreign as they could be to many people.

So today I am going to address what to some is a confusing question: “Just what is the difference
between TCP/IP, CIP, and EtherNet/IP?” Let’s look at them individually.

TCP/IP – A TCP/IP protocol suite is the collection of communication protocols needed to communicate
over Ethernet. The three most important components of the TCP/IP protocol suite are IP, TCP, and
UDP.
IP – IP is the Internet protocol. It is responsible for moving a packet from point A to point B. IP knows
nothing about TCP, CIP, or EtherNet/IP. It simply moves the data packets provided to it by TCP, UDP,
and other protocols in a TCP/IP suite.

TCP – TCP is an acronym for Transmission Control Protocol. It is a connection oriented protocol that is
responsible for managing the connection between a client and a server (Scanner and Adapter for
EtherNet/IP fans). Among its many duties is fragmenting data packets that don’t meet size constraints
and validating that messages reach their destination.

UDP – UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a connectionless protocol used for “send and forget”
messages. Where TCP ensures that messages reach their destination, UDP just res them off with no
concern that they arrive at their destination.

Neither IP, TCP, nor UDP knows anything about EtherNet/IP or CIP.

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CIP – The Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) is a mechanism for organizing and sharing data in
 core
industrial devices. CIP is the MENU
technology behind CompoNet, EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet and 
ControlNet. CIP organizes data as objects with data elements called attributes. CIP de nes two
classes of objects: required objects and application objects. Required objects are present in every CIP
device. The Identity Object, for example, organizes identity data (vendor, catalog #, revision number,
etc.) as attributes that can be accessed by the external world using a CIP Read Attribute message. CIP
organizes application data into objects that re ect how the device vendor wants to expose the
application data. CIP speci es both the object structure of a device and the messaging used to access
that device. CIP de nes two message types: asynchronous messages (Explicit) and synchronous
messages (Implicit).

EtherNet/IP – EtherNet/IP is the implementation of CIP over Ethernet just as DeviceNet is the
implementation of CIP over CAN (Controller Area Network). In EtherNet/IP, CIP objects are accessed
using Explicit messaging over a TCP connection and Implicit messaging over a UDP connection.

Explicit messages which read and write attributes of objects are transferred over a TCP connection to
ensure that these types of messages arrive at their destination. Changing operational setpoints
requires a connection where the sender is certain that the new data arrived. Implicit messages, which
transfer I/O data between a Scanner and an Adapter, are transferred over a UDP connection. These
messages are cyclic and if one fails to arrive, another will be transmitted on the next cycle (usually 10
ms).

No one has ever called me the “Protocol Magician”, but I hope this description of the relationship
between these three important entities provides a clear picture of EtherNet/IP and its component
parts in the TCP/IP software suite.

     

This entry was posted in CAN, CIP, DeviceNet, EtherNEt/IP, Industrial Networking, RTA's Blog and tagged CAN, CIP,
communication protocols, Controller Area Network, DeviceNet, Ethernet, EtherNet/IP, Explicit messages, Implicit Messages, IP,
TCP, TCP/IP, Transmission Control Protocol, UDP, User Datagram Protocol.

JOHN S RINALDI
John Rinaldi is Chief Strategist, Business Development Manager and CEO of Real
Time Automation (RTA). After escaping from Marquette University with a degree in
Electrical Engineering, John worked in various jobs in the Automation Industry
before once again eeing back into the comfortable halls of academia. At the
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University of Connecticut, he once again talked his way into a degree, this time in
Science
Computer MENU (MS CS). John is a recognized expert in industrial networks and 
the author of Four books: The Industrial Ethernet Book, OPC UA: The Basics,
Modbus: The Everyman’s Guide to Modbus, and his latest, OPC UA - Uni ed
Architecture: The Everyman's Guide to OPC UA.

 OPC – Are its days numbered? Bluetooth 101



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