A ModbusTCPNetwork automatically binds to the TCP/IP setup of the host JACE platform’s Ethernet adapter. Again, the JACE appears as the Modbus master on a network of Modbus TCP slave devices, however network connectivity is Ethernet/IP (see Figure 7).

In addition to specifying the TCP software port used (typically 502), there are various global properties on the network’s property sheet specific to Modbus, for example the default order for “float” and “long” numeric data (overrideable within each child device).

As shown in Figure 11, each child device is represented by a ModbusTcpDevice, and has a unique IP address, as well as other Modbus config data and starting addresses for Modbus data items (coils, inputs, input registers, holding registers). There are typically many child ModbusTcpDevices.

Modbus Tcp Network configuration is straightforward, using the property sheet of the network object.