Introducing Diagnostics in the Control Expert DTM

Introduction

The Control Expert provides diagnostics information that is collected at configured polling intervals. Use this information to diagnose the operation of your communications module.

Connect the DTM

Before you can open the diagnostics page, make the connection between the for the target communication module:

Step	Action
1	Open a Control Expert project that includes the Ethernet communications module.
2	Open the Control Expert DTM Browser (Tools → DTM Browser).
3	Find the name that is assigned to your Ethernet communications module in the DTM Browser.
4	Right-click on the module name.
5	Scroll to Connect.

Open the Page

Access the Diagnosis information:

Step	Action
1	Right-click the name that is assigned to your Ethernet communications module in the DTM Browser.
2	Scroll to Device Menu → Diagnosis to view the available diagnostics pages.

Diagnostics Information

The diagnostics window has two distinct areas:

left pane: LED icons indicate the operating status of modules, devices, and connections.
right pane: These pages show diagnostics data for these items:
- Ethernet communications module
- local slave nodes that are activated for the communication module
- EtherNet/IP connections between the communication module and a remote EtherNet/IP device

When the appropriate is connected to the physical communication module, Control Expert sends an explicit message request once per second to detect the state of the communication module and of all the remote devices and connections linked to that module.

Control Expert places one of these status icons over the module, device, or connection in the left pane of the Diagnostic window to indicate its current status:

Icon	Communication module	Connection to a remote device
	Run state is indicated.	The health bit for every EtherNet/IP connection and Modbus TCP request (to a remote device, sub-device, or module) is set to active (1).
	One of these states is indicated: unknown stopped not connected	The health bit for at least one EtherNet/IP connection or Modbus TCP request (to a remote device, sub-device, or module) is set to inactive (0).

Ethernet

A 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, or 1 Gb/s, CSMA/CD, frame-based LAN that can run over copper twisted pair or fiber optic cable, or wireless. The IEEE standard 802.3 defines the rules for configuring a wired Ethernet network; the IEEE standard 802.11 defines the rules for configuring a wireless Ethernet network. Common forms include 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T, which can utilize category 5e copper twisted pair cables and RJ45 modular connectors.

DTM

(device type manager) A DTM is a device driver running on the host PC. It provides a unified structure for accessing device parameters, configuring and operating the devices, and troubleshooting devices. DTMs can range from a simple graphical user interface (GUI) for setting device parameters to a highly sophisticated application capable of performing complex real-time calculations for diagnosis and maintenance purposes. In the context of a DTM, a device can be a communications module or a remote device on the network.

See FDT.