Required Objects; Application Objects - FLIR AX8 User Manual

FLIR Systems Object Model version 1.22
CIP – The Core of EtherNet/IP
The Communications and Information Protocol (CIP) is a communications protocol for transferring automation data between two devices. In
the CIP Protocol, every network device represents itself as a series of objects. Each object is simply a grouping of the related data values in a
device. For example, every CIP device is required to make an Identity object available to the network. The identity object contains related
identity data values called attributes. Attributes for the identity object include the vendor ID, date of manufacture, device serial number, and
other identity data. CIP does not specify at all how this object data is implemented, only what data values or attributes must be supported and
that these attributes must be available to other CIP devices.
The Identity object is an example of a required object. There are three types of objects defined by the CIP protocol; Required Object,
Application Objects and Vendor Specific Objects. The collection of specific object for a particular device is known as the device's Object
Model.

REQUIRED OBJECTS

Required objects are required by the specification to be included in every CIP device. These objects include the Identity object, a Message
Router object and a Network object.
The identity object contains related identity data values called attributes. Attributes for the identity object include the vendor ID, date of
manufacturer, device serial number, and other identity data.
The Message Router object is an object which routes explicit request messages from object to object in a device.
A Network object contains the physical connection data for the object. For a CIP device on DeviceNet, the network object contains the
MacID and other data describing the interface to the CAN network. For EIP devices, the network object contains the IP address and other data
describing the interface to the Ethernet port on the device.

APPLICATION OBJECTS

Application objects are the objects that define the data encapsulated by the device. These objects are specific to the device type and function.
For example, a Motor object on a Drive System has attributes describing the frequency, current rating and motor size. An Analog Input object
on an I/O device has attributes that define the type, resolution and current value for the analog input.
These application layer objects are predefined for a large number of common device types. All CIP devices with the same device type (Drive
Systems, Motion Control, Valve Transducer...etc) must contain the identical series of application objects. The series of application objects
for a particular device type is known as the device profile. A large number of profiles for many device types have been defined. Supporting a
device profile allows a user to easily understand and switch from a vendor of one device type to another vendor with that same device type.
A device vendor can also group Application Layer Objects into assembly objects. These super objects contain attributes of one or more
Application Layer Objects. Assembly objects form a convenient package for transporting data between devices. For example, a vendor of a
©Real Time Automation, Inc. 09/15/2009