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PBMaster - Profibus protocol compatible Master

The project is published mostly as inspiration and study material, implementation has never been certified and cannot be probably certified on GNU/Linux or other similar systems without reimplementation of low lever part in ASIC or FPGA. But code has been successfully tested to be compatible with other IEC 61158 (open) standard implementation in past.

PBMaster is a software implementation of Profibus. The objective is to spread the use of the standard also in low-cost applications by using common hardware and open-source software.

Although the Profibus was initially standardized in the late 1980s it is not easy to find any material to help design and system engineers develop new products. Nowadays Profibus still seems to be a domain of professional applications and commercial solutions. The main reason is probably based on the high price of all Profibus products, whether hardware or software solutions.

The PBMaster project comes with its solution in the field of this popular industrial bus. The key to achieving these objectives is in using common inexpensive hardware and open source software. Presently, the software runs on several operating systems (Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD) and sys-less embedded hardware based on the ARM architecture. The objectives are to offer multi-platform drivers, libraries and applications capable of carrying out the master, slave and analyzer functions of the Profibus DP. In the future the project will try to offer a complex and inexpensive solution with open code for applications using Profibus DP. The project's components are released under the GNU General Public License v.2 or later version.

Next sources of the information and code has been used during development:
* uLAN project -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ulan (open multimaster protocol for RS-485 communication)
* ProfiM http://sourceforge.net/projects/profim (preceeding open source Profibus implementation for Windows)
* Petr Smolik and Pavel Pisa, authors of uLAN project and leaders of ProfiM and PBMaster project at the Czech Technical University

Publications:
* RTLWS11 Paper PBMaster - An Open Implementation of Profibus DP

FAQ
Supported Hardware
Linux - 16PCI950
Hradware - Embedded Boards
Hradware - Simple Converter
PBMaster Use Example
Performance Measurement
Repository
Structure
Targets
Profibus introduction
Profibus FDL

PBMaster Bit Analyzer

PBMaster FDL/DP Analyzer

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Project Members:

• Pavel Pisa (admin)
• Petr Smolik (admin)
• Tran Duy Khanh (admin)