Assign a device name with Profinet

Question

How can I assign a device name to a Gocator through my Siemens PLC? 

Answer

With the Profinet communication protocol requires the Gocator be assigned a device name through the PLC. This article will outline the way to go about this process in a Siemens PLC. 

If you want more information on how to set up the PLC to establish Profinet communication please see the Profinet documentation and youtube webinar below: 

https://d3ejaiy6gq5z4s.cloudfront.net/manuals/gocator/gocator-6.1/G2/Default.htm#Protocols/PROFINETProtocol/PROFINETProtocol.htm?Highlight=profinet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkI4rgp_r-U

When trying to establish Profinet communication please first check if the Gocator has a device name. This can be seen in the output page under the Profinet protocol. The below screenshot is what it looks like when a device has no device name present. When a Gocator has no name communication is NOT POSSINBLE until the device has a name assigned to it.  

At this point in the PLC you should have everything ready to establish communication, we just need to name the device to establish connection. This should be the last step for setting things up. This is what it looks like on the PLC side when trying to communicate with an unnamed device. 

In order to name the device, double click on this icon located to the right of the Gocator in the Devices list. 

This will bring you to the following screen. 

In the dropdown menu please expand “Functions” then select “Assign PROFINET Device Name”.

Scroll down in the menu until you see “Update List”. This will poll for online devices on the network. 

The Gocator should automatically populate in this list if you have the correct IP configured and it is online. From here you can assign the proper name to the device. The default name that will be assigned is gocator-lmi.

Once your device name has been assigned to the Gocator then you can go online and successfully establish communication. To check if the name assignment was successful go to the output page of the Gocator. The sensor will automatically restart for the name change to take effect. 

Some things to be aware of is assigning a device name can take up to several minutes to complete. Furthermore, if your job was not saved with the Profinet protocol selected then after the device name is assigned then the protocol output will be set to the Gocator Protocol. 

Ensure we have the correct output selected in the Gocator and attempt to go online in the PLC. If everything works we should see plenty of green check marks.