PROFIsafe Driver

PROFINET is a communication protocol for transmitting data between controllers and devices fast and safe via ethernet. As an application profile of PROFINET, PROFIsafe is responsible for the communication between safety devices (F-Device) and safety controllers (F-Host). It has no influence on the network topology since it is a separate layer on top of PROFINET and allows a failsafe communication on the basis of standard network components (no additional wiring is necessary). This means that safety-relevant and standard data can be transferred via the same line.

The WinCC OA PROFIsafe-over-PROFINET driver (in short PROFIsafe driver) is used to connect a WinCC OA host to a PROFINET network and allows the communication with F-Devices and F-Hosts. If the driver is operated as PROFINET-only driver, all PROFIsafe specific configuration steps can be omitted.

For the use of the WinCC OA PROFIsafe driver in a WinCC OA Safety project, the basic and operating conditions of the WinCC OA version used, must be followed according to the "WinCC OA basic and operating conditions" document. A version of the document matching the WinCC OA version used in the project is available in the download section of the ETM portal.

Configuration

F-Device configuration

The WinCC OA host on which the driver is running must be configured as F-Device and must be connected to a PROFINET network with at least one safety controller (F-Host). A WinCC OA host which is configured as F-Device can be connected to the F-Host and the exchange of data and status information is possible. Refer to TIA Portal hardware configuration for further information on configuring a F-Device.

WinCC OA configuration

According to the configuration in the TIA Portal, corresponding transfer areas must be defined for the PROFIsafe driver.

Notes and Restrictions

The PROFIsafe Driver is currently not available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Chapter Description
Requirements and installation Requirements and installation of the PROFIsafe driver.
TIA Portal hardware configuration Information on the set-up of the WinCC OA host as a F-device.
Configuration of the PROFIsafe driver Description of the configuration of a PROFIsafe driver.
Configuration - Tabs
Module (Host 1) Description of the "Module (Host1)" tab which allows the definition of transfer areas.
PROFIsafe - Advanced settings Description of the "Advanced" tab which is used to define timeouts, switch-over criteria etc.
PROFIsafe - State details Description of the "State details" tab which provides information on the connection state.
PROFIsafe - Statistics Description of the "Statistics" tab which displays statistical data on received and sent data.
Defining the peripheral address for the PROFIsafe driver Information for defining a peripheral address for the PROFIsafe driver.
Possible config entries [profisafe] List of all config entries available for the PROFIsafe driver.
Redundancy Information on the redundancy behavior.
Internal data points of the PROFIsafe driver Description of the internal data points of the PROFIsafe driver.
Details on the PROFIsafe driver Description of debug flags and limitations.