Unpacking Bits from a 16bit Register in a FieldServer Configuration

Introduction

What happens if you want to serve some/all of the bits that form a 16 bit register. ie. Your client reads a 16bit register but you want to serve those bits as separate binary objects.

Here is an example

Lets say the client reads 40001 data into DA_REG[0] (Data Array = DA_REG Offset=0)

The 1^st Move copies 1x 16 bit number from DA_REG[0] to DA_PACKED[0].

DA_Packed’s offsets can be interpreted in two ways:

A series of 16 bit numbers
A series of bits

It depends on what kind of operation access the Data Array. If it’s a 16 bit or analog number type operation then it addesses 16 bit numbers. If the operation is a bit operation like for a binary data point then the operation addresses each bit.

Therefore DA_PACKED[0] is ambiguous.

If you connected a server Map Descriptor to that point and the type is an Analog In/output then it means the 16bit number found at DA_PACKED[0].

If you connected a server Map Descriptor to that point and the type is an Binary In/output then it means the bit number found at DA_PACKED[0] and DA_PACKED[15] is the 16^th bit. DA_PACKED[16] is the 1^st bit of the next 16 bit number…

If that seems to complicated then add one more move:

Data_Arrays

Move_Only

DA_PACKED

DA_BIT

This move moves the 16 bits for DA_PACKED[0] to 16 separate bits with unambiguous offsets and you can use those in the server map descriptors.

Heads Up

Some Modbus server devices number the bits in reverse order. You can only be sure when you test.

Data_Arrays

Data_Array_Name	Data_Format	Data_Array_Length
DA_REG	UINT16	20
DA_PACKED	Packed_Bit	100
DA_BIT	BIT	1200

Preloads

Data_Array_Name	Preload_Data_Index	Preload_Data_Value
DA_REG	0	33

Moves

Function	Source_Data_Array	Source_Offset	Target_Data_Array	Target_Offset	Length
Move_Only	DA_REG	0	DA_PACKED	0	1
Move_Only	DA_PACKED	0	DA_BIT	0	16

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