Configure In-Sight Vision Systems for SLMP Scanner Communications

This topic describes how to connect an In-Sight vision system using SLMP Scanner communications to a Mitsubishi MELSEC Automation Controller. SLMP Scanner allows an In-Sight vision system's inputs and outputs to be mapped into process memory in the MELSEC Automation Controller. Once these values have been established, they are synchronized at an interval defined by the update rate parameter setting of the SLMP Scanner communications.

Note:

  • The SLMP Scanner Factory Interface topic contains detailed information about mapping the In-Sight vision system's inputs and outputs into process memory, though the layout of the blocks depends on the version of In-Sight firmware running on the In-Sight vision system:

  • When SLMP Scanner is assigned to a MELSEC FX Series (1E frame) Ethernet module, the available ports and the maximum number of connections vary depending on the module’s model type (FX3U-ENET or FX3U-ENET-L). For more information, please refer to the module’s documentation.

    Model Type Available Ports Maximum Number of
    Connections
    FX3U-ENET All ports (C1 – C8) 4
    FX3U-ENET-L C3 and C4 2

Establish SLMP Scanner Communications

Before SLMP Scanner communications can be established with an In-Sight vision system, the vision system must be configured to enable SLMP Scanner, using the Network Settings dialog of the vision system. Once enabled, the SLMP Scanner Settings dialog is used to configure the connection to the MELSEC Automation Controller, and define the device addresses and sizes for the various data blocks. For more information, see Network Settings Dialog and SLMP Scanner Settings Dialog.

  1. Open In-Sight Explorer and connect to the desired In-Sight vision system.
  2. From the Sensor menu, open the Network Settings dialog. For more information, see Network Settings Dialog.
  3. In the Industrial Ethernet Protocols section of the dialog, select SLMP Scanner and press the Settings button to launch the SLMP Scanner Settings dialog. For more information, see SLMP Scanner Settings Dialog.
    • The SLMP Scanner Settings dialog's Settings tab is used to define the connection information required to establish a connection with the Mitsubishi Automation Controller.

    • The SLMP Scanner Settings dialog's Device Addressing tab is used to define the device addresses and sizes for the various data blocks to be communicated to the Automation Controller.

    Note:

    The SLMP Scanner Factory Interface topic contains detailed information about mapping the In-Sight vision system's inputs and outputs into process memory, though the layout of the blocks depends on the version of In-Sight firmware running on the In-Sight vision system:

  4. Restart the In-Sight vision system, and the SLMP Scanner service will be enabled upon completion of the power cycle.

Configure the In-Sight Vision System to Receive Image Acquisition Triggers

With the In-Sight vision system integrated with the Mitsubishi Automation Controller, it is possible to trigger the vision system to acquire images from the MELSEC Automation Controller. Setting the Trigger parameter in the AcquireImage function to Industrial Ethernet enables the Automation Controller to trigger the vision system when SLMP Scanner communication is enabled.

  1. Open the AcquireImage function's property sheet.

  2. Set the Trigger parameter to Industrial Ethernet.

  3. Place the In-Sight vision system Online.

  4. An In-Sight vision system can be triggered by directly manipulating the Trigger Enable and Trigger bits in the Vision Control Bit Block, or by monitoring the Trigger Ready, Trigger Ack and Missed Acq bits in the Vision Status Bit Block.

    Note:

    The SLMP Scanner Factory Interface topic contains detailed information about mapping the In-Sight vision system's inputs and outputs into process memory, though the layout of the blocks depends on the version of In-Sight firmware running on the In-Sight vision system:

Get Data From an In-Sight Vision System

In order to get data from the In-Sight Explorer spreadsheet to a MELSEC Automation Controller, the data must be pushed into the SLMP Scanner stack by using the WriteResultsBuffer function. This function takes a buffer of data created by the FormatOutputBuffer function and writes the data to the configured data table of the MELSEC Automation Controller. This data is then transferred during the next update cycle. For more information, see WriteResultsBuffer and FormatOutputBuffer.

  1. Right-click an empty cell and select Insert Function to open the Insert Function dialog. From the left pane, click on the Input/Output category, then double-click the FormatOutputBuffer function, from the right pane, to insert it into the spreadsheet.
  2. From the FormatOutputBuffer dialog, click on the Add button. This will initiate the cell selection mode. Select the data that will be transferred to the MELSEC Automation Controller.
  3. If there is additional data to be sent, again, from the FormatOutputBuffer dialog, click on the Add button. Once again this will initiate the cell selection mode. Select the additional data to transfer.
  4. Close the FormatOutputBuffer dialog by clicking the OK button.
  5. Right-click an empty cell and select Insert Function to open the Insert Function dialog. From the left pane, click on the Input/Output category, then double-click the WriteResultsBuffer function, from the right pane, to insert it into the spreadsheet.
  6. Set the WriteResultsBuffer function's Protocol Parameter to 2 = SLMP Protocol Scanner, and the Buffer parameter as a cell reference to the recently created FormatOutputBuffer function's Buffer data structure.
  7. Optionally, set the Result Code parameter as a cell reference to a cell in the spreadsheet to retrieve the result code with the inspection results.

Send Data to an In-Sight Vision System

In order to send data from the MELSEC Automation Controller to the In-Sight Explorer spreadsheet, the data must be pulled from the SLMP Scanner stack by using the ReadUserDataBuffer function. This function takes the data format created within the FormatInputBuffer function, reads the data received from the MELSEC Automation Controller, and formats this data into the In-Sight Explorer spreadsheet. For more information, see ReadUserDataBuffer and FormatInputBuffer.

Note: In order to trigger the In-Sight vision system to read the user data from the MELSEC Automation Controller, the Set User Data bit in the Vision Control Bit Block must be triggered from the Automation Controller.
  1. Right-click an empty cell and select Insert Function to open the Insert Function dialog. From the left pane, click on the Input/Output category, then double-click the FormatInputBuffer function, from the right pane, to insert it into the spreadsheet.
  2. From the FormatInputBuffer dialog, click on the Add button and add a 32-bit float and a 32-bit integer to the list.
  3. Close the FormatInputBuffer dialog by clicking the OK button.
  4. Right-click an empty cell and select Insert Function to open the Insert Function dialog. From the left pane, click on the Input/Output category, then double-click the ReadUserDataBuffer function, from the right pane, to insert it into the spreadsheet .
  5. Set the ReadUserDataBuffer function's Buffer parameter as a cell reference to the recently created FormatInputBuffer function's Buffer data structure.
  6. Set the ReadUserDataBuffer function's Protocol parameter to 2 = SLMP Protocol Scanner.
  7. Once the functions have been implemented, place the In-Sight vision system Online to test the configuration.

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In-Sight® Explorer Help  |  2019 May 07  |  Revision: 5.7.2.5