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Entrytype:FAQ,EntryID:38726591,Entrydate:08/23/2010

HowdoyousimulatecommunicationbetweentwoCPUmodules?
Entry Associatedproduct(s)

Instructions:
AsfromS7PLCSIMV5.4+SP3youcanuseS7PLCSIMtosimulatemultipleCPUmodulessimultaneouslyina
STEP7projectandestablishcommunicationbetweentheCPUmodules.Thefollowingcommunicationblocksare
supportedforcommunication:
SFB8"USEND"
SFB9"URCV"
SFB12"BSEND"
SFB13"BRCV"
SFB15"PUT"
SFB14"GET"
SFB19"START"
SFB20"STOP"
SFB22"STATUS"
SFB23"USTATUS"
Duringcommunication,theremightbetimerestrictionsbecauseS7PLCSIMdoesnotsupportrealtime.
PleasealsorefertotheinformationintheS7PLCSIMreadmefile,section7.3.If,whenrunningalargenumberof
Windowsprograms,youcannotstartanymoreprogramsoryoucannotopenanymorewindows,thenyoumust
changetheoperatingsystemproperty"desktopheapmemory"ofyourPC.OneremedyisdescribedinTable02
(#Marke_1).
YoucannottestaprogramofyourSTEP7projectwitharealCPU(PLC)atthesametimeasaprogramwithS7
PLCSIM.IfyouwishtosimulateyourCPUswithS7PLCSIM,youmustfirstdisconnectallconnectionstothereal
CPU.
ProceedasdescribedinTable01belowtosimulatemultipleCPUmodulessimultaneously.

No. Procedure:
1

OpenS7PLCSIMintheSIMATICManager,eitherviathemenucommand"Options>SimulateModules"or
fromthemenubarwiththe"Simulationon/off"icon.Thedialogwiththeinstancenumber"S7PLCSIM1"with
thefirstsimulatedCPUopens.

Inthe"S7PLCSIM1"dialog,youselecttheconfiguredinterfaceparameterizationfromthedropdownlistbox
forthePG/PCinterface.TheMPIinterfaceispresetbydefault.Later,S7PLCSIMstartswiththeinterfacelast
used.However,dependingonyourhardwareconfiguration,youcanalsosetthe"PROFIBUS","TCP/IP"(via
theIPaddress),"ISO"(viatheMACaddress)or"Local"(viathevirtualbackplanebus)interface.
Note:
Youmustnotusetheaddressesmorethanonceinthesamesubnetwork.Ifyouloadallyourprogramsviathe
MPIinterface,forexample,thenthedifferentMPIaddressesmightlooklikethis:
Station1:MPIaddress:2
Station2:MPIaddress:3
etc.

IntheSIMATICManager,marktheblockfolderofyourfirstS7stationandloadyourblocksinS7PLCSIM1via
themenucommand"PLC>Upload".

Inthe"CPU"subwindowinS7PLCSIM,changetheoperatingmodefrom"STOP"to"RUNP".Viathe"Add"
menu,youcanuploadthesubwindowsfortheinputs,outputs,markers...inordertomonitorandcontrolthe
program.

TosimulateanotherCPU,youexecutethemenucommand"Simulation>NewPLC"inS7PLCSIM.The"S7
PLCSIM2"dialogopens.

(3)
Rate

ForthesecondCPUtobesimulated,youselecttheinterfaceparameterization(PG/PCinterface)configuredin
thehardwareconfiguration.Fig.01showsanexampleofcommunicationbetweentwoS7400CPUmodules.
InS7PLCSIM1(simulationforStation1),EB1controlscounterZ1andtransfersthecountervaluetotheAW1
inS7PLCSIM2(simulationforStation2).

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Fig.01
Note:
IfyouusethesameaddressofthesameinterfaceforbothCPUs,theiteminthedropdownlistisgrayed.The
S7PLCSIMinstanceisnotaccessibleviathisinterface.Selecttheinterfacefromthedropdownlistboxfor
thePG/PCinterfaceevenifitisalreadyset.ThenthecolorchangesfromgraytoblackandtheS7PLCSIM
instanceisaccessibleviathisinterface.
7

IntheSIMATICManager,marktheblockfolderofyoursecondCPUandloadalltheblocksintotheinstance
"S7PLCSIM2".Youmustselecttheinstance"S7PLCSIM2"beforeloading.Here,too,youaddthe
subwindowsrequiredfortheinputs,outputs,markers....
Note:
Executethedownloadonlywhenthecoloroftheinterfaceisblack(asdescribedinStep6above).More
informationisavailableintheS7PLCSIMreadmeinsection7.3.2.
Repeatsteps4to7foreveryotherCPUtobesimulated.
Table01
Changingtheoperatingsystemproperty"desktopheapmemory"
EvenifyouhavesufficientmainmemoryandexportmemoryinyourPC,youmightgettheerrormessage"Not
enoughmainmemory"ortheprogrammightcrashwhenrunningalargenumberofWindowsprograms.Oneremedy
isdescribedinTable02.

No. Procedure:
1

Starttheregistryeditorvia"Start>Run..."andbyentering"Regedt32.exe"inthecommandline.

Openthepath:

Rightclickon"Windows"andselectthe"Change"functioninthepopupmenu.The"EditString"dialogopens.

HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\SubSystems

The"SharedSection"parameterhasthevalues1024(maximumsizeofthesystemwideheap)and3072(size
oftheheapperdesktop).Increasethedesktopheapmemoryby512KBbyaddingthevalue512tothe
"SharedSection"parameterasshowninFig.02.Thenclick"OK"tosavethesettings.

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Fig.02
WiththeadditionalSharedSectionvalueof512KB,thesizeofthedesktopheapisdefinedforeachdesktop
thatisconnectedtoa"noninteractive"workstation.Displayoftheabovementionederrormessageor
programcrashesshouldnownolongeroccur.
5

YoumustrebootyourPCtomakethechangestothedesktopheapmemoryeffective.
Note:
MoreinformationisavailableintheInternetontheMicrosoftHelpandSupportpageunderarticleID:
KB126962.
Table02
Download:
Theattacheddownload"S7_PLCSIM_CPU_Communication"containsaSTEP7V5.4projectwiththecommunication
programdescribedabove.Copythe"S7_PLCSIM_CPU_Communication.zip"fileintoaseparatedirectoryandthen
startthefilewithadoubleclick.TheSTEP7projectisnowunpackedautomaticallywithalltheassociated
subdirectories.YoucanthenuseSTEP7toopenandprocesstheextractedproject.
S7_PLCSIM_CPU_Communication.zip(/cs/attachments/38726591/S7_PLCSIM_CPU_Communication.zip)(431
KB)
Creationenvironment
Table03liststhecomponentsthathavebeenusedtocreatethisentryandverifythefunctiondescribed.

Testenvironment

Version

PCplatform

Intel(R)Core(TM)2DuoCPUP87002.53GHz

PCoperatingsystem

MSWindowsXPSP3

STEP7

V5.4+SP5

S7PLCSIM
Table03

V5.4+SP3

Keywords:
Outofmemory,Multiinstance

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