Siemens TIA Portal & s7-1200 PLC & GSDML file [7]

In this tutorial, you will learn how to download and install a GSDML file. If you missed it, check out the last post where we explain how to protect your code and PLC hardware against unwanted people Protection.

Parts Required

Software:

• Siemens TIA Portal

Hardware:

• s7-1200 1214 DC/DC/DC PLC

What is GSD

A GSD ( General Station Description ) file is a description of an IO device provided by the device manufacturer. All information about the device, such as configuration information, parameters, modules, diagnostic and alarms, vendor and device identification are in the GSD file.

This file is a device description technology for PROFIBUS and PROFINET.

• The PROFIBUS GSD uses GSDL ( General Station Description Language) and it is keyword-based;
• The PROFINET GSD uses GSDML (General Station Description Markup Language) and it is XML-based;

Download GSD

To download the GSD file you should go to the manufacture site. To exemplify, I will use the FESTO servo drive. This servo drive could be used with PROFINET Protocol therefore I will search for the GSDML file and download it as you can see in Figure [1].

TIA Portal

Now that you have the GSDML file, save it in the project path because you will need to add it to TIA Portal. To do that you should open the Options and then click on “Manage general station description files (GSD)” as you can see in Figure[2].

To successfully install the GSDML file, ensure the files are not zip. You must unzip it before trying to add it to TIA Portal.

Now you have to select the path to the GSDML file, then select the file and click on install, as shown in Figure [3].

After that, the installation will start and could take some time.

When all files are installed, will appear a message as shown in Figure [4] and it means that you now can use this hardware in your TIA Portal project.

Now, you can search on the hardware catalog by the GSDML file you install, drag and drop it into your project, and start using it as shown in Figure [5].

If you like this kind of post, if you want to know more about Siemens TIA Portal, or if you have doubts about the Industrial Automation area don’t forget to leave a comment. You can also send me a message on LinkedIn