The Triple Port FO-CP128 Co-Processor, available from Lamonde Automation, can be used with the DirectLogic 05 and 06 Micro PLC systems. The 3 communication ports - 2 RS232 and 1 RS485 - allow connection to a variety of external devices with serial connections such as bar code readers, board level controllers, serial printers and intelligent sensors.
The module, programmed in BASIC, can be used to format data being sent out of the serial ports and to interpret data being received. It can also share information with the PLC's main processor without the need for any supporting ladder logic. Floating Point maths allows complex calculations to be executed in parallel with the ladder logic CPU.
The Co-Processor module has independently configured serial ports, a 100 MHz clock and 128 kbytes battery-backed memory (64 kbytes data; 64kbytes program). A CD is supplied with a Windows-based programming environment allowing program development and editing features such as block copy, block move, search and replace.
The CD also includes code for example applications including Modbus master and slave communications. The addition of this module to these low cost PLCs provides an extremely powerful and flexible control solution for small or distributed control applications.