To connect the ibaPDA system to the most common communication standards and most PLC systems there are different types of interfaces. These interfaces support both standard protocols as well as selected system interfaces with special components.

For all interfaces, one or more modules are available for further configuration, which make it possible to customize the measured data acquisition and in which the actual measuring signals are configured.

Interfaces to standard field-bus technology, such as PROFINET, PROFIBUS and CAN-bus, are generally implemented with corresponding devices in combination with ibaFOB input boards.

The data interfaces form the trunk of the interface tree in the left field of the I/O Manager.

In the following context, the interfaces are grouped together.

  • Default interfaces These interfaces are always available in the I/O Manager regardless of licenses. These include, for example, ibaCapture, Playback and Virtual. See Standard interfaces (always available).

  • ibaNet interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if the corresponding board (ibaFOB-card) is inserted into the computer. All iba devices with ibaNet fiber-optic interfaces can be connected to these interfaces. These include, for example, ibaFOB-io-D, incl. all board versions (-io, -2io, -4i, -4o) and ibaFOB-io-ExpressCard (-34, -54). See ibaNet data interfaces (for iba devices).

  • Ethernet-based interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if the appropriate interface license is enabled in the dongle. On the hardware side, the network interface of the computer or an additional network card is used. These include, for example, EGD, ibaLogic TCP and MQTT. See Ethernet-based interfaces.

  • PLC-Xplorer interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if you have purchased the ibaPDA-PLC-Xplorer product or licensed the appropriate Xplorer interface in your ibaPDA system. With the exception of S7-Xplorer, these interfaces only use the network interface of the computer. These include, for example, ABB-Xplorer, S7-Xplorer and TwinCat-Xplorer. See PLC-Xplorer interfaces and the corresponding manual for the each interface.

  • Drive-Xplorer interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if you have purchased the ibaPDA-Drive-Xplorer product or licensed the appropriate Xplorer interface in your ibaPDA system. These include, for example, SIMOTION-Xplorer and SINAMICS-Xplorer.See PLC-Xplorer interfaces and the corresponding manual for the each interface.

  • Special Siemens interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if the corresponding board is inserted and/or the corresponding interface license has been acquired. These include, for example, ibaFOB-SD/-SDexp, CP1616/CP1626 and MMC Request. See Siemens-specific interfaces and the corresponding manual for the each interface.

  • Other interfaces These interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if the corresponding board is inserted and/or the corresponding interface license has been acquired. These include, for example, HPCi Request, ibaInSpectra and PC Link. See Other manufacturer-specific interfaces, Other interfaces and ibaPDA add-ons and the corresponding manual for the each interface.

  • SQL database interfacesThese interfaces are available in the I/O Manager if a license for at least one interface out of this group has been acquired. They can be used to retrieve data from or write data to a database by means of SQL statements. These include, for example, MySQL/MariaDB, Oracle and SQL-Server.See Cloud, database and message broker interfaces and the corresponding manual for the each interface.

In addition to acquire measured data, some interfaces also offer the option to output data (values, texts). The configuration of these interfaces and output modules is described in chapter Outputs.