Not long time ago, serial-based communication was the standard in the networking industry. Hence, serial or CAN-based equipment, machinery, robots and PLCs that were manufactured more than a decade ago still can be found nowadays in many industrial sectors. In the Industry 4.0 era, technologies are rapidly evolving and modern industries keep looking for the faster networking solutions to transfer and process a larger amount of data because the outdated equipment cannot simply manage it. Upgrading perfectly running networking system is, However, a painful process both financially and effort-wise. Furthermore, changing sensitive utility infrastructure is always risky. Readapting existing equipment into a new layout can be just too overwhelming.
Mencom Protocol Gateway series can provide an efficient and economical solution for the cumbersome network update by seamlessly integrating new protocols into the existing layout and connecting them to outdated protocols. The supported protocols are Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, Profinet RT/IRT, DNP3.0 Ethernet, DNP3.0 Serial, IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-103, IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850 devices, and PLCs. 80 different protocol combinations can be selected in the firmware and integrated with 10 different hardware platforms based on the network/application requirements, which gives hundreds of flexible options to choose for end-users.