Moxa, Inc., a global provider of communications infrastructure products for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), has unveiled the new MGate MB3660 series of redundant Modbus gateways to address the management of multiple devices in control rooms and data centers. Available in 8 and 16 port models, the MGate MB3660 allows administrators to establish communications with large numbers of new or existing RTU and ASCII serial devices across an Ethernet network, resulting in the optimization of production, efficiency and operational costs by enabling the devices to communicate between protocols.
"MGate MB3660 gateways offer a standalone solution for deployments such as power monitoring, environmental monitoring, and data center infrastructure management that need to integrate large numbers of devices," said Paul Wacker, Product Marketing Manager at Moxa Americas, Inc. "Importantly, our gateways are designed for high-availability operation with the inclusion of dual Ethernet ports, single or dual IP addresses, and dual power inputs, along with rapid configuration backup/restore via a memory card."
CONNECT UP TO 496 DEVICES
Even by Moxa's high standards, the MGate MB3660's connectivity is impressive. A single gateway can physically manage up to 248 serial slave nodes for 8-port models or 496 serial slave nodes for 16-port models. This high-density porting eliminates the need for large numbers of low-port-density Modbus gateways, which come with the added burden of extra wiring and installing hardware and software one gateway at a time. Each RS-232/422/485 serial port can be configured individually for Modbus RTU or Modbus ASCII operation, as well as for different baudrates, allowing both types of networks to be integrated with Modbus TCP through one Modbus gateway. Up to 31 serial devices can be connected per port.
SIMPLE SET-UP & INTEGRATION
For all its advanced capabilities, the MGate MB3660 is remarkably simple to integrate. It is compatible with almost any Modbus network, and requires only a few minutes to install. An AutoScan function enables it to automatically detect devices with just one click, while the AutoCalibration function can be used to easily configure response timeout settings. In addition, a QuickLink function allows gateways to automatically detect parameters, and map them into a format suitable for use by PLCs. Administrators can also take advantage of a web-based monitoring tool to monitor I/O data and log recordings from field devices. In addition, the MGate MB3660 provides an Event Log to record important events such as network problems and protocol issues.
Another key to the success of the MGate MB3660 is that it actively and continuously retrieves data from multiple serial devices simultaneously -- rather than individually -- to achieve a dramatic reduction in the amount of time a device needs to wait to be accessed. It achieves this through Moxa's "Intelligent Mode" technology that greatly reduces polling cycle times by caching requests to automatically poll individual serial ports. Intelligent Mode represents a major advancement over standard gateways that can execute only one Modbus protocol request-response action at any given time, so that each Modbus device has to wait its turn, resulting in poorer performance.
Moxa MGate MB3660 gateways feature dual AC or DC power inputs to connect to a redundant power source and ensure reliable system performance, as well as dual IP addresses for hardware-based redundancy. 2 kV isolation protection is available as an option for additional protection against voltage spikes and electrical noisy environments, such as found in power substation applications.
For more information about Moxa, please click here.
