ABB Powerlink

Description of ABB Powerlink protocol implementation in the Typhoon HIL toolchain.

Powerlink is an ABB proprietary communication protocol allowing real time deterministic communication between various ABB controllers. The Typhoon HIL implementation of the ABB Powerlink protocol works over GPIO pins on the HIL device. The number of channels is configurable, up to a maximum of four channels per device.

Table 1. Powerlink setup
Component Dialog window
Table 2. Powerlink port description
Port Description
Tx ch data 16 bit data to be transmitted.
Rx ch data 16 bit data to be received.
Rx status word Each channel has two status bits:
  • Bit 0 → Frame error indication.
  • Bit 1 → Watchdog timeout indication.
Possible status values:
  • 0 → No status flags active.
  • 1 → Frame error flag active, watchdog flag inactive.
  • 2 → Watchdog flag active, frame error flag inactive.
  • 3 → Both flags active.
    Note: If multiple channels are used, status output becomes a vector with a status value for every channel.
Reset Resets the component when set to 1.
Table 3. Powerlink parameters description
Parameter Description
Execution rate Signal processing execution rate.
Mode Choice between Master and Slave mode.
Module number Number of Powerlink channels.
TX/RX GPIO pins Configure which GPIO pins map to Powerlink TX and RX.
Channel types Data type choice for every TX and RX data value.

Connectivity

In order to connect the HIL device to the Powerlink network, optical converters are used. Converters are connected to the HIL GPIO, converting HIL input and output signals to optical signals, as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

Figure 1. Four channel Powerlink Master component configuration example
Figure 2. Connecting two-channel converters to a HIL device using a single harness

The order of hardware connections inside the converter GPIO connector shown in Figure 2 is as follows:

  • GPIO 1 → RX0
  • GPIO 2 → TX0
  • GPIO 3 → RX1
  • GPIO 4 → TX1
  • GPIO 5 → RX2
  • GPIO 6 → TX2
  • GPIO 7 → RX3
  • GPIO 8 → TX3