Version:1.

0
Datum:24.11.2008

IOLinkspecificationinbrief

1 Tableofcontents
IO-Link specification in brief................................................................................................................1
1 Table of contents..........................................................................................................................1
2 IO-Link system overview.............................................................................................................2
2.1 After power up.......................................................................................................................2
3 IO-Link protocol.............................................................................................................................4
3.1 Process data (PD)................................................................................................................4
3.2 Service data (SD).................................................................................................................4
3.3 Events.....................................................................................................................................5
3.4 Transmission quality, retries, QoS.....................................................................................5
3.5 Transmission speed and synchronism..............................................................................5
3.6 Telegram types and their structure....................................................................................5
4 Parameter data exchange...........................................................................................................7
5 IO-Link system structure............................................................................................................10
5.1 The IO-Link device.............................................................................................................10
5.2 IODD and the interpreter tool............................................................................................10
5.3 IO-Link master.....................................................................................................................11
Port type A...................................................................................................................................11
Port type B...................................................................................................................................12
6 List of figures...............................................................................................................................13
7 List of tables................................................................................................................................13
8 Index.............................................................................................................................................13

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2 IOLinksystemoverview
AnIOLinksystemconsistsofIOLinkdevicesoftensensors,actuatorsorcombinationsthereofa
standard3wiresensor/actuatorcableandanIOLinkmaster.Themastermaybeadevicewithany
designandanydegreeofprotection.Thesystemarchitecturemaybeasfollows:

Figure1:Systemarchitectureexample

AnIOLinkmastercanhaveoneorseveralports.OnlyoneIOLinkdevicecanbeconnectedtoeach
port.ThusIOLinkispointtopointcommunicationandnotafieldbus.

Figure2: IOLinkpointtopointconnection

2.1 Afterpowerup
AtthebeginningthedeviceisalwaysintheSIOmode(standardI/Omode).Theportsofthemaster
mayhavedifferentconfigurations.IfaportissettoSIOmode,themasteractsonthisportlikea
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normaldigitalinput.Iftheportissettocommunicationmode,themastertriestofindtheconnected
IOLinkdevice.Thisprocessiscalledwakeup.

Figure3:IOLinkSIOandCOMmode

Duringthewakeupthemastersendsadefinedsignalandwaitsfortheresponseofthedevice.The
mastertriestodothiswiththehighestdefinedbaudrate.Ifthisisunsuccessfulthemastertriesthe
nextlowerbaudrate.Witheverybaudrate,themastertriestoaddressthedevicethreetimes.Ifthe
masterreceivesaresponse(i.e.,thedevicewaswokenup)bothwillstartcommunication.Atfirst,
theyexchangethecommunicationparametersthentheystarttoexchangecyclicprocessdata.

Ifthedeviceisremovedduringoperation,themasterdetectsthecommunicationabort,reportsit,
likeitisspecifictofieldbus,tothecontrolsystemandtriescyclicallytowakeupthedevice.After
anothersuccessfulwakeupthecommunicationparameterswillbereadoutagainandvalidated,if
necessary,andcyclicdataexchangewillbestarted.

Ifthemasterterminatescommunicationboth,themasterandthedevice,returntotheoriginal
modethatistheSIOmode.

Thisiscalledfallback.

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3 IOLinkprotocol
Threetypesofdatamaybasicallybeexchanged:

Cyclicdata(alsoprocessdata)
Acyclicdataorservicedata
Events

TheIOLinkdevicesendsdataonlyafterarequestoftheIOLinkmaster.Acyclicdataandeventsare
requestedexplicitlybythemasterandcyclicdataissentaftertheIDLEtelegramofthemaster.

3.1 Processdata(PD)
Theprocessdataofthedevicesistransmittedcyclicallyinadataframe,providedthattheprocess
datawidthof2bytesisnotexceeded.Iftheprocessdatawidthisexceededtheprocessdataissplit
upandtransmittedinseveralcycles.

Therewillbeadiagnosticmessagewhentheprocessdataisinvalid.

3.2 Servicedata(SD)
ServicedataisalwaysexchangedacyclicallyandalwaysuponrequestoftheIOLinkmaster.First,the
IOLinkmastersendsarequesttothedeviceandthedeviceresponds.Thisistrueforwritingdatato
thedeviceaswellasforreadingdatafromthedevice.Servicedatacanbeusedtoreadout
parametervaluesordevicestates.Itcanalsobeusedtowriteparametervaluesortosend
commands.

SDandPDcanbetransmittedinonetelegramorinseparatetelegrams.Atypicaldataexchangemay
havethefollowingstructure.

Figure 4: IO-Link telegram structure

Foradetailedexplanationofthetelegramstructure,pleaserefertoSectionTelegramtypesand
theirstructure.

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3.3 Events
WhenaneventoccursthedevicesetstheEventFlag,whichistransmittedinbit7inthe
CHECK/STATbyteoftheprocessdatatelegram.Themasterdetectsthesetbitandreadsoutthe
reportedevent.Noservicedatacanbeexchangedwhileaneventisreadout.Thismeansthatevents
ordevicestatessuchascontamination,overheating,shortcircuit,etc.canbetransmittedviatheIO
LinkmastertothePLCorthevisualizationsoftware.

TheIOLinkmastercangenerateitsowneventsandstatesandtransmitthemovertherespective
fieldbus.Sucheventmaybe,forexample,opencircuits,communicationabort,oroverload,etc.

3.4 Transmissionquality,retries,QoS
IOLinkisaveryrobusttransmissionsystem.Itoperateswitha24Vlevel.Ifoneoftheframesfails,
themastersrequestisrepeatedtwice.Onlywhenthesecondattempttosenddatafailsagain,will
themasterdetectacommunicationabortandreportittothehigherlevelcontrolsystem.The
mastermeasuresthequalityofthetransmission(QoS=QualityofService)withthenumberof
telegramrepetitions(retries).

3.5 Transmissionspeedandsynchronism
TheIOLinkspecificationdefinesatleastthetransmissionrates(baudrates)4.8and38.4kbaud.
Normally,anIOLinkdevicesupportsoneofthedefinedbaudrates.TheIOLinkmastermustsupport
bothbaudrates.

Thecycletimeconsistsofthetelegramlengthandthedelaytimesinthemasterandthedevice.Fora
baudrateof38.4kbaud,thecycletimeistypically2ms.

Thetotaltimeresultsfromtheminimumcycletimespecifiedbythedeviceandtheagreedor
parameterizedactualcycletimespecifiedbythemasterafterwards.

Adifferenttimeresponsecanbeparameterizedforeachportofthemaster.Thedeviceapplication
canbesynchronizedwiththemastercycle.Itisalsopossibletosynchronizedeviceapplicationsat
differentportsofthesamemaster.

3.6 Telegramtypesandtheirstructure
TheIOLinkspecificationdefinesdifferenttelegramtypesthatdifferinthesizeoftheprocessinput
dataandtheprocessoutputdata.

Toestablishcommunication,themastermustdeterminethecommunicationparametersofthe
device.Onerelevantpieceofinformationistheprocessdatalength.Onthebasisofthisinformation,
theIOLinkmasterdecideswhichtelegramtypeisusedforthecyclicdataexchange.Inthe
communicationestablishmentphasethemasterusestelegramtype0.Thefollowingtelegramtypes
aredefined:

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Frametype Lengthofprocessinputdata Lengthofprocessoutputdata

0 0 0
1 Seebelow Seebelow
2.1 1 0
2.2 2 0
2.3 0 1
2.4 0 2
2.5 1 1

Table 1: Telegram types

Telegramtype1isalwaysusedwhenthesumoftheprocessinputandoutputdataofadevice
exceedstwobytes.ThenthetelegramstructureconsistsofseveralIOLinkcycles.

ThetelegramsshowninSectionServicedataaretelegramsoftype2.1.Thedevicesendsonebyte
ofprocessdata.Inthetopimagethedevicesendsonebyteofservicedatainadditiontothebyteof
processdata.Inthebottomimage,themastersendsonebyteofservicedatatothedevice.

Figure 5: Frame type 2.1

Themeaningsofthevariousbitsofthetelegramareshowninthefollowingtables.

Figure 6: Command/check sequence of the master

Table 2: R/W values

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Table 3: Data channel values

Table 4: Frame type values

Figure 7: Check/status sequence of the device

Table 5: Event bit values

FortransmissionovertheIOLinkphysics,eachindividualbyteispackedinaUARTframeand
transmittedbetweenmasteranddeviceinhalfduplexmode.

Figure 8: IO-Link UART frame

4 Parameterdataexchange
ToexchangedatabetweenanIOLinkdeviceandaPLC,theIOLinkmastermapstheIOLinkdatato
thefieldbusused.ThisisknownasanIOLinkmaptothefieldbus.IftheIOLinkmasterisdirectly
connectedwithaPLCoveraproprietarybackplanebus(seeFigure1),theIOLinkdataismappedto
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thisbusandtransmittedtothePLCorfromthePLCtotheIOLinkmasterandfurthertotheIOLink
device.IOLinkmapshavealreadybeenspecifiedforPROFIBUS,forProfinet,INTERBUS,ASiand
EtherCAT.

ProcessdatafromortotheIOLinkdeviceistransferredinthecyclicdatatrafficoverthefieldbusor
thebackplanebus.ServicedatamustbeexplicitlyrequestedbythePLCoridentifiedassuch.Thisis
whytheSPDU(ServiceProtocolDataUnit)wasdefinedintheIOLinkspecification.

Withthehelpoffunctionblocks(FB)eachPLCmanufacturerprovidesseveralcustomizedFBsfor
hissystemtheIOLinkmasterprogramsacycliccommunicationwiththeIOLinkdeviceinthe
controlprogram.TheFBdefineswithwhichIOLinkmaster(thatiswithwhichfieldbusdevice)and
overwhichofitsportsdataistobeexchanged.ArequestisalsosenttotheIOLinkdeviceatthe
sametime.

ParametervaluesandstatescanberequestedwithindicesandsubindexesinanIOLinkdevice.In
theIOLinkmaster,therequests(ReadWriteServices)arecodedtoanIOLinkspecificService
ProtocolDataUnit(SPDU)andtransferredviatheIOLinkinterfacetothedevice.

TheSPDUspecifieswhetherdataisreadorwritten.Theparameterswhosevaluesarereadorwritten
toaredefinedusingindexes.TheSPDUisstructuredasfollows:

Figure 9: Structure of an SPDU

Upto32768indexeswithasizeofupto232bytescanbeaddressedovertheIOLink.

TheIOLinkspecificationspecifiesseveralservicessuchas

D10VendorName
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D12ProductName

IOLinkdevicescanbeuniquelyidentifiedwiththeseservices.

Onthefieldbus,theIOLinkmasterisrepresentedlikeanormalfieldbusdeviceandislinkedtothe
respectivenetworkconfiguratorviathecorrespondingdevicedescription(e.g.,GSD,FDCML,GSDML,
etc.).ThesefilesdescribethecommunicationandfurtherpropertiesoftheIOLinkmaster,suchas
thenumberofports.However,whichIOLinkdevicesareconnectedcannotbereadhere.TheIOLink
DeviceDescription(IODD)wasdefinedtoshowthesystemarchitecturetransparentlyand
completelydowntotheIOLinkdevice.WiththehelpoftheIODDandtheODDInterpretertool,the
usercanconfigureatwhichportofanIOLinkmasterswhichIOLinkdeviceisconnected.

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5 IOLinksystemstructure

5.1 TheIOLinkdevice
UsingtheIOLinkprotocol,theIOLinkdeviceoffersaccesstoprocessdataandvariablesofdevice
functions.Certainvariableshavebeendefined,forinstance,foridentificationpurposes.The
manufacturermustcreatethedevicevariablesindefinedindexareas.Allthisinformationis
describedintheIODD.

Figure 10: IO-Link device structure

5.2 IODDandtheinterpretertool
TheIODDcontainsinformationoncommunicationproperties,deviceparameters,identification,
processanddiagnosticdata.Italsoincludesanimageofthedeviceandthemanufacturerslogo.The
IODDstructureisthesameforalldevicesofallmanufacturersandisalwaysrepresentedinthesame
waybytheIODDinterpretertools.Therefore,thesamehandlingofallIOLinkdevicesisguaranteed
independentofthemanufacturer.

TheIODDisdeliveredasapackageandconsistsofoneorseveralxmlfilesdescribingthedeviceand
imagefilesinthepngformat.TheIODDStandardDefinitions1.0.xmlfiledescribesalluniversaland
mandatorypropertiesofthedevice.Thisfilemustbestoredonceineverysupportedlanguageinthe
IODDdirectory.Furtherxmlfilesdescribethemanufacturerspecificpropertiesofadevice.

AninterpretertoolcanreadinanIODDandshowthedescribeddeviceinagraphicalform(toa
limitedextentonly).ItcanbeusedtoparameterizeandtodiagnoseIOLinkdevicesofall
manufacturers.Atthesametimeaninterpretertoolpermitsatransparentrepresentationofthe
systemarchitecturedowntothefieldlevel.

TheIODDcheckerwasdevelopedtovalidateIODDs.AllIODDsmustbetestedwiththeIODDchecker.
ThecheckerentersachecksumintheIODD.InterpretertoolsthatreadinanIODDalsocreatea
checksumwhichmustbeidenticalwiththechecksumthathasbeenenteredintheIODD.

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Figure 11: IODD structure

5.3 IOLinkmaster
TheIOLinkmastercanbelinkedtothePLCindifferentways(seeFigure1)andmayhaveoneor
severalports.

TheIOLinkspecificationdistinguishesbetweentwotypesofports.PorttypeAwherethefunctionof
pin2isnotdescribedindetailandcanbefreelydefinedbythemanufacturer,andporttypeBfor
devicesrequiringaspecialpowersupply.

Port type A
Forthisporttype,pin4canbeconfiguredasadigitalinput(DI)oranIOLink.Themanufacturerscan
alsodesignpin4asadigitaloutput(DO)withalimitedoutputcurrent.Pin2canalsobeusedas
desired.Themanufacturerscandesignthepin,forexample,asaDIorDO.

Figure 12: IO-Link master, port type A

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Port type B
PorttypeBwasdesigned,forinstance,forsensorsoractuatorswithelectricallyisolatedpower
supply.Here,pins2and5areprovidedforadditionalpowersupply.

Figure 13: IO-Link master, port type B

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6 Listoffigures
Figure 2: System architecture example .................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 4: IO-Link point-to-point connection .............................................. Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 6: IO-Link SIO and COM mode ...................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 8: IO-Link telegram structure .......................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 10: Frame type 2.1 ........................................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 12: Command/check sequence of the master ............................. Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 14: Check/status sequence of the device..................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 16: IO-Link UART frame ................................................................. Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 18: Structure of an SPDU ............................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 20: IO-Link device structure............................................................ Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 22: IODD structure ........................................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 24: IO-Link master, port type A ...................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Figure 26: IO-Link master, port type B ...................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.

7 Listoftables
Table 2: Telegram types ................................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Table 4: R/W values ......................................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Table 6: Data channel values ........................................................... Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Table 8: Frame type values .............................................................. Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.
Table 10: Event bit values ................................................................ Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.

8 Index
AS-i ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Baud rates ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
CHECK/STAT ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Communication Mode .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Device
Devices................................................................................................................................................................ 2
EtherCAT ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Fall Back ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Frames ................................................................................................................................................................... 5
INTERBUS ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
IODD .................................................................................................................................................................9, 10
IODD checker ..................................................................................................................................................... 10
IODD interpreter tool .......................................................................................................................................... 10
IO-Link map to the fieldbus ................................................................................................................................. 7
Master ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Port Typ A............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Port type B ............................................................................................................................................................ 12
PROFIBUS ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
Profinet ................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SIO mode............................................................................................................................................................... 3
SPDU ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Telegram type ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
UART frame .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Wake-up................................................................................................................................................................. 3

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