Terminology and abbreviations

Abstract syntax

Describes the parts (and their subparts) of different messages. See also “Transfer syntax”.

Configuration

IO-device and IO-controller definition in an engineering tool.

Commissioning

Device initialization (Configuration is downloaded to IO-controller).

Engineering tool

A desktop program for configuring PLC. For example Siemens TIA portal.

Parameterization

Write parameter values to all submodules

Transfer syntax

Coding of the different fields in a message. See also “Abstract syntax”.

Abbreviations

ACK

Positively acknowledge

AKA

Also Known As

ALPMI

Alarm Protocol Machine Initiator. Trigger alarms.

ALPMR

Alarm Protocol Machine Responder. Responds to incoming alarms.

ALPMX

General term for ALPMI and ALPMR

AMR

Asset Management Record

AP

Application Process

APDU

Application (layer) Protocol Data Unit

API

Application Process Identifier (uint32). Used to differentiate between for example user profiles. Sometimes named “Profile ID”.

API

Application Programming Interface. Application implementers use the API of the p-net Profinet stack.

APMR

Acyclic Protocol Machine Receiver. Receives incoming alarm frames.

APMS

Acyclic Protocol Machine Sender. Sends alarm frames.

APMX

General term for APMR and APMS

APO

Application Process Object

AR

Application Relation. Consists of several communication relations (CR). Typically an IO AR, which is a connection to a PLC, but can also be an Supervisor AR.

ARP

Address Resolution Protocol, used to translate from an IP address to a MAC address.

AREP

Application Relationship End Point (uint32), pretty much an index into an array of AR.

ASDU

Application Service Data Unit

ASE

Application Service Element. For example logbook, time and diagnosis.

CBA

Component Based Automation, for the legacy Profinet CBA system. It used communication profile CP 3/3.

CC

Conformance Class (Performance level A to D)

CE

A marking for European Union declaration of conformity

CIDR

Classless Inter-Domain Routing. The CIDR notation /24 tells how many bits of the netmask that should be enabled.

CIM

Communication Interface Management

CiR

Configuration in Run

CM

Context Management

CMDEV

Context Management Protocol Machine Device

CMI

CM Initiator

CMINA

Context Management Ip and Name Assignment protocol machine

CMIO

Context Management Input Output protocol machine

CMPBE

Context Management Parameter Begin End protocol machine

CMRDR

Context Management Read Record Responder protocol machine, responds to parameter read from the IO-controller.

CMRPC

Context Management RPC protocol machine

CMWRR

Context Management Write Record Responder protocol machine, responds to parameter write from the IO-controller.

CMSM

Context Management Surveillance protocol Machine, monitors the establishment of a connection. Also written as CM Server Protocol machine.

CP

Communication Profile. For example Profinet conformance class B is also known as CP 3/5.

CPF

Communication Profile Family. Profinet and Profibus is CPF = 3, Ethercat is CPF = 12.

CPM

Consumer Protocol Machine, for receiving cyclic data.

CPU

Central Processing Unit

CR

Communication Relation (Part of AR).

CREP

Communication Relationship EndPoint (uint32), pretty much an index into an array of input and output CR.

DA

Destination Address. It is the MAC address of the receiver.

DAP

Device Access Point

DCE

Distributed Computing Environment. Used with RPC.

DCP

Discovery and basic Configuration Protocol. Runs over Ethernet layer 2 (not IP or UDP).

DFP

Dynamic Frame Packing. Used with IRT protocol.

DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, for allocating IP addresses to devices.

DHT

Data Hold Timer

DLL

Data Link Layer

DLPDU

?

DNS

Domain Name System, for converting from host name to IP address.

DT

Device Tool

DUT

Device Under Test

EMC

ElectroMagnetic Compatibility

EPM

EndPoint Mapper

ES

Engineering System

FACK

Fragment acknowledge

FAL

Fieldbus Application Layer

FO:

Fiber Optics

FSPM

FAL Service Protocol Machines

FSU

Fast Start Up (Store communication parameters in IO devices)

GAP

?

GSD

General Station Description. An XML file describing an IO-Device.

GSDML

GSD Markup Language

GUI

Graphical User Interface

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

I&M

Identification & Maintenance. Has different blocks; IM0 to IM??.

ICMP

Internet Control Message Protocol. (Sent in an IP packet)

IDNA

Internationalized Domain Names for Applications

IE

Industrial Ethernet

IGMP

Internet Group Management Protocol. For multicast groups. Used in IPv4.

IO

Input Output

IOC

IO Controller. Typically a PLC.

IOD

IO Device. An input-output device controlled by a PLC via Profinet communication.

IOCS

IO Consumer Status. Reported by IO-device (for output data) and IO-controller (for input data), per subslot. (uint8)

IOCR

IO Communication Relation

IOPS

IO Provider Status. Describes validity of IO data per subslot. Sent by IO-device (for input data) or IO-controller (for output data) together with data. (uint8)

IOxS

General term for IOCS and IOPS.

IOS

IO Supervisor. Typically an engineering tool running on a personal computer.

IP

Internet Protocol

IP

Ingress Protection. For example IP65 is a housing class suitable for outdoor installation.

iPar

Individual Parameters. Backups of these parameters are typically stored in a separate parameter server.

IRT

Isochronous Real-Time

LAN

Local Area Network

LLC

?

LLDP

Link Layer Discovery Protocol, for neighbourhood detection.

LMPM

data Link layer Mapping Protocol Machine. Receives Ethernet frames.

LT

Length and Type field in Ethernet frame. Also known as EtherType.

MAC

Media Access Control

MAU

Medium Attachment Unit. Ethernet transceiver type. 0x0 = radio, 0x10 = Media type copper 100BaseTXFD

MC

Multicast (as opposed to unicast)

MC

Multicore (Codesys runtime variant for Raspberry Pi)

MCR

Multicast Communication Relationship

MDNS

Multicast DNS. A UDS based protocol for resolving hostname to IP address. Implemented by Bonjour and Avahi.

MIB

Management Information Base. A text file format describing Object Identifiers (OID) for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) frames.

MRP

Media Redundancy Protocol

MRPD

Media Redundancy for Planned Duplication

MTU

Maximum Transfer Unit. The largest packet a network interface can handle. Typically 1500 bytes. This includes the IP header, but not the Ethernet header.

NACK

Negatively acknowledge

NDR

Network Data Representation. A header as first part of the DCE/RPC payload (sent via UDP). Contains info on how large the payload is, and how large responses that can be accepted.

NME

Network Management Engine

NVM

Non-Volatile Memory. Typically flash memory chips.

OID

Object Identifier. Describes a field in a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) frame.

OS

Operating System

OUI

Organizationally Unique Identifier. This is the three first bytes of the MAC address. The value for Profinet Multicast is 01:0E:CF.

PA

Process Automation (as opposed to production automation)

PCA

Provider, Consumer or Alarm.

PCF

Polymer Clad Fiber

PCP

Priority Code Point, for VLAN

PD

Physical Device. This is information related to an Ethernet port.

PDEV

Physical Device management. Physical interface and switch ports of a Profinet field device.

PDU

Protocol Data Unit

PI

PROFIBUS & PROFINET International. The Profinet interest group. See also PNO.

PICO

PI Certification Office

PITL

PI Test Laboratories. Performs certification testing.

PLC

Programmable Logic Controller. Often used as a Profinet IO-controller.

PN

See PROFINET

PNI

Primary Network Initialization. Siemens SinecPni is a tool for configuration of Profinet equipment.

PNIO

Profinet IO protocol

PNO

PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V, located in Germany. See also PI.

POF

Plastic Optical Fiber

PPM

Cyclic Provider Protocol Machine

PROFINET

Process Field Net

PS

?

PTCP

Precision Transparent Clock Protocol

RED

Redundancy

RPC

Remote Procedure Call. The protocol DCE/RPC runs on UDP and is used for configuration of the IO-Device during startup.

RS

Reporting system

RSI

Remote Service Interface

RTA

RealTime Acyclic protocol

RTC

Real Time Class

RTC

RealTime Cyclic protocol

RTE

Real Time Ethernet

RTOS

Real Time Operating System

SA

Source Address. It is the MAC address of the sender.

SAM

Source Address of ? Uses to restrict incoming DCP communication to a single remote MAC address (for 3 seconds).

SCL

Structured Control Language. Siemens name for the structured text (ST) programming language for PLCs.

SDU

Service Data Unit. This is the payload of a PDU.

SMA

Sample Moving Average. A smoothing function in the Wireshark Ethernet frame capture software.

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol. For network topology detection.

SOE

Sequence Of Events

ST

Structured Text. A programming language for PLCs.

STX

Structured Text. See ST.

TACK

Transport Acknowledge. Used for alarm transmission.

TED

Topology and Engineering Discovery

TIA

Totally Integrated Automation. An automation portal (engineering tool) by Siemens.

TIAP

See TIA.

TCI

Tool Calling Interface (The engineering tool can call specialized device-related tools)

TCP

Transmission Control Protocol, used on top of IP.

TLV

Type-Length-Value. A data structure in an LLDP Ethernet frame.

TPID

Tag protocol identifier, for VLAN.

TSDU

?

TSN

Time-Sensitive Networking

TTL

Time to live. A field in an LLDP Ethernet frame.

UC

Unicast (as opposed to multicast)

UDP

User Datagram Protocol, used on top of IP.

USI

User Structure Identifier (unit16) Describes alarm payloads.

UUID

Universally Unique Identifier. A 128-bit number for uniquely identifying information.

VLAN

Virtual LAN

VID

VLAN identifier

WLAN

Wireless LAN

XML

eXtended Markup Language