Ethernet Motor Mics File - Rockwell Automation MagneMotion MagneMover LITE Original Instructions Manual

Ethernet Motor MICS File

The MagneMotion Information and Configuration Service (MICS) file is used to define the
Ethernet track topology for the motors that use Ethernet for communication in a transport sys-
tem. The file also describes the interfaces and physical hardware connections to the motors.
The MICS file works with the Node Controller Configuration File, which specifies the config-
uration of components within the transport system, such as; node controllers, paths, nodes,
and motors. Each path that is defined in the Node Controller Configuration File defines the
specific motors and their relationships to the motors on that path. The MICS file then defines
the MAC address and IP address for each of those motors.
The MICS file contains the following:
• MAC address for each motor.
• IP address for each motor.
• Transport system location for each motor.
• Physical orientation of the motors.
The MICS files are written in XML, which allows the file to be backward and forward com-
patible and easily extended. A newer version of software can easily ignore older unused XML
tags. An older version of software can ignore newer, unknown XML tags. The XML file for-
mat is human readable, which allows manual editing. XML files can be viewed with browsers
or code editors in tree fashion (with the ability to expand or contract elements that contain
other elements).
The Ethernet Motor Commissioning Tool is a Windows
create and edit the MICS file without having to access the XML directly. The Commissioning
Tool provides a graphical interface to define or modify the various elements of the MICS file.
The tool has a help system that provides full instructions for creating and editing the MICS
file and an overview of all of the XML tags.
When a motor powers up, its network and topology information (from the MICS file) is pro-
vided to it dynamically by the node controller that is responsible for its path. The topology
information the motor receives includes its IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and
information about its neighboring motor connections.
The MagneMotion
valid IPv4 address scheme to operate. The motors with those addresses must be on the same
subnet as the node controller responsible for them. It is important to keep unnecessary broad-
cast traffic off the transport system network as it can impact overall system performance. For
a large transport system, it is typically useful to organize the IP structure that includes the
path/motor information in as shown in
page 90.
MagneMover LITE User Manual
®
transport systems that use Ethernet for motor communication accept any
Ethernet Motor Communication Recommendations on
Rockwell Automation Publication MMI-UM002F-EN-P - October 2022
Design Guidelines
Transport System Design
®
software application that is used to
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