Performance of an industrial data communication protocol on ethernet network

One of the well known industrial data communication protocols is Modbus which is widely used in industrial automation due to its availability. Modbus protocol can be implemented in many ways according to its network. Performance metrics and tests for IT infrastructure equipment have been used for many years, but now with real-time communication being used more, users are asking whether their desktop, laptop, or palm computer can handle the performance requirements of these network intensive applications. In this paper, Ethernet communication called Modbus TCP/IP will be tested. An extension of the Ethernet network with serial RS485 network will also be considered in relation with two different network topologies.