Modbus Explorer App Overview

The Modbus Explorer App lets you read and write data to any Modbus^® device without writing MATLAB^® code. With this app you can configure Modbus communication, read and write to Modbus registers, view live plots of register data, and automatically generate a MATLAB live script. The app supports communication over Modbus TCP/IP and Modbus Serial (RTU). Using interactive panels, you can set the baud rate of the communication, define the word and byte order, and set the timeout. You can add coils, input registers, and holding registers. You can save your configuration for future use, eliminating the need to set up the device each time you open MATLAB. The app automatically reads the register data and provides live plots. You can also interactively write data to registers from the app.

We'll demonstrate how to use the app to set up Modbus communication with a Click Koyo Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The controller is programmed with two holding registers and 3 coils/switches. The holding registers are set up as counters. We'll show how to use the app to change the switch values, which will turn the counters on and off. The effect of our changes can be easily viewed in the live plots, which display the values stored in the counter registers.

At the end of the demonstration, we'll show how to automatically generate a MATLAB live script, which can be used as reference for building test programs that require Modbus connectivity.