Modbus is a widely used communication protocol designed to allow electronic devices to exchange data easily. It’s commonly used in industrial and IoT environments to connect sensors, controllers, and gateways for monitoring and control.
Modbus follows a master - slave architecture. One device (the master) requests information, while others (the slaves) respond with data such as temperature readings, energy readings, or other parameters.
It operates mainly in three ways:
- Modbus RTU
- Modbus TCP
- Modbus RTU over TCP
Modbus RTU
Modbus RTU uses serial communication over RS485 to connect multiple devices within a single network. The devices are arranged in a daisy chain configuration, where each device connects to the next one using a twisted pair cable.
All Modbus devices in the network must share the same serial communication settings, including baud rate, parity, data bits, and stop bits. These parameters ensure that data is transmitted and received correctly across all nodes.
Each Modbus device must also have a unique slave ID so the master can identify and communicate with it without conflict. Duplicate IDs can cause communication errors or data collisions on the network.
Modbus TCP
Modbus TCP works over Ethernet. Each device connects directly to the network using anEthernet cable and communicates viaIP addresses. The devices are typically connected through a switch or router.
Modbus RTU over TCP
RTU over TCP is a hybrid approach that has RTU frames inside TCP packets. It allows traditional RTU devices to be accessed over Ethernet without changing their serial settings. An RS485 modbus network or an individual modbus device is connected to the ethernet port using an adaptor.
Remote Peripheral Mapping
Zoho IoT applications allow you to remotely configure
parameters based on the device type and send them to the gateway. This makes it easy to set up the connection between the gateway (master) and the peripheral sensor (slave), provided the gateway is running Edge Lite.
Follow the corresponding guide to learn more:
- Modbus RTU
- Modbus TCP
- Modbus RTU over TCP