DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) is a communications protocol primarily used for communications between a client application such as HMI, SCADA, or Historian and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) or Intelligent Electrical Devices (IEDs). Originally designed for power distribution and transmission, the DNP3 protocol has also found a home in water/wastewater, oil & gas, and transportation thanks to its robust error checking and if applied properly, efficient bandwidth usage.
If you're reading this, you may be a part of one of these industries and might have a DNP3 RTU being used and need to integrate data from that process. If so, we can certainly help with that. A newer application of DNP3 is in the Emerson FB-3000 RTU's used in oil & gas. Our FB-3000 EFM Exporter leverages the TOP Server DNP3 driver to generate FlowCal CFX export files.
The TOP Server DNP3 Client Suite supports data access from any device supporting the DNP3 protocol that acts as a server, over serial or Ethernet connections, wired or wireless/radio.
Our DNP3 drivers also boast deep functionality advantages including things like:
- Automatic Tag Generation support for Channel and Device Configuration, Authentication Statistics, Data Set, Device Attribute, and File Control
- Support for Integrity & Event polls across multiple classes that users define in the RTU to provide different frequency of retrieval for different points
- Unsolicited messaging from the devices on conditions defined in the RTU
- Analog deadband configuration
- Secure DNP3 Support (Configurable User Authentication, Aggressive Mode support, User Key Management, Auto-generated internal Authentication Statistics tags)
- Preservation of timestamps set in the device
- WITS Phase 1, 2, and 3 support for the water industry
- File transfer support (critical for Emerson FB-3000 devices, and used by some devices for remote configuration file upload and activation)
In this video blog, we'll show you how to get started using our TOP Server DNP3 Client Ethernet driver to connect and gather process data from a DNP3 device for HMI, SCADA, Historian, MES, and other client applications. For a deep dive into how DNP3 polling works and is different, for good reasons, than many protocols, read our DNP3 Polling Behavior technical blog.
To summarize, in this video, we've shown you:
- TOP Server best practices when working with DNP3 Ethernet.
- How to configure a TOP Server channel using the DNP3 Ethernet driver.
- How to configure a TOP Server DNP3 Ethernet device, including Time Synchronizations and Class Polling.
- How to configure tags for a TOP Server DNP3 Ethernet device with consideration of your required Object Groups.
Now that you have a basic understanding of how to use the TOP Server DNP3 Client Ethernet driver, if you want to learn more, we highly suggest that you access these resources:
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Tech Support Corner blog on Understanding DNP3 Polling Behaviors
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TOP Server DNP3 Suite Background and Best Practices Guide for more detailed information regarding the DNP3 protocol and the TOP Server DNP3 drivers.
- TOP Server Learning Resources for more information and tutorial videos to learn how to connect TOP Server to your client application, use other drivers, troubleshooting best practices and more.
As always, please contact our support team with any questions and don't forget to subscribe to our blog to find out about the latest updates to TOP Server.
Ready to try the DNP3 Client Ethernet driver for yourself? Download the fully-functional free trial.
