SR745-W2-P5-G5-HI-A Relay protector

When controllers are setup to communicate on a Modbus network using RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) mode, each 8-bit byte in a message contains two 4-bit hexadecimal characters. The main advantage of this mode is that its greater character density allows better data throughput than ASCII for the same baud rate. Each message must be transmitted in a continuous stream.The entire message frame must be transmitted as a continuous stream. If a silent interval of more than 1.5 character times occurs before completion of the frame, the receiving device flushes the incomplete message and assumes that the next byte will be the address field of a new message.

Modbus Message Framing 

In either of the two serial transmission modes (ASCII or RTU), a Modbus message is placed by the transmitting device into a frame that has a known beginning and ending point. This allows receiving devices to begin at the start of the message, read the address portion and determine which device is addressed (or all devices, if the message is broadcast), and to know when the message is completed. Partial messages can be detected and errors can be set as a result.

RTU Framing 

In RTU mode, messages start with a silent interval of at least 3.5 character times. This is most easily implemented as a multiple of character times at the baud rate that is being used on the network (shown as T1-T2-T3-T4 in the figure below). The first field then transmitted is the device address. The allowable characters transmitted for all fields are hexadecimal 0-9, A-F. Networked devices monitor the network bus continuously, including during the ‘silent’ intervals. When the first field (the address field) is received, each device decodes it to find out if it is the addressed device. Following the last transmitted character, a similar interval of at least 3.5 character times marks the end of the message. A new message can begin after this interval.