MOLEXDocument Edition: 1.2 Date: January 17, 2012 This document applies to the SST-PB3-VME-1 and SST-PB3-VME-2 interface cards. Copyright ©2012 Molex Inc. This document and its contents are the proprietary and confidential property of Molex Inc. and/or i

Document Edition: 1.2

Date: January 17, 2012

This document applies to the SST-PB3-VME-1 and SST-PB3-VME-2 interface cards.

Copyright ©2012 Molex Inc.

This document and its contents are the proprietary and confidential property of Molex Inc. and/or 

its related companies and may not be used or disclosed to others without the express prior written 

consent of Molex Inc. and/or its related companies.

SST is a trademark of Molex Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.

At Molex, we strive to ensure accuracy in our documentation. However, due to rapidly evolving 

products, software or hardware changes occasionally may not be reflected in our documents. If 

you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us (see Appendix A of this document).

Written and designed at:

Molex Incorporated

216 Bathurst Drive

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2V 2L7

Hardcopies are not controlled.

Purpose of this Guide

This guide contains technical and product-related information on the SST-PB3-VME-1

and SST-PB3-VME-2 network interface cards. 

The SST-PB3-VME-1 consists of a single Profibus network interface (or channel), and the 

SST-PB3-VME-2 comprises two independent interfaces, controlled by independent CPUs. 

Each CPU executes downloadable application firmware modules, which enable application-level 

product behavior. For more details, refer to relevant firmware documentation.

Note

An application running on one channel does not affect the performance 

of other channels, as it does not share memory or processor resources 

with them.

Note

In this manual, the SST-PB3-VME-1 and SST-PB3-VME-2 will be 

referred to as the card, except where product differences apply.

Conventions

This guide uses stylistic conventions, special terms, and special notation to help enhance your 

understanding.

Style

The following stylistic conventions are used throughout this guide:

Bold indicates field names, button names, tab names, and options or selections

Italics indicates keywords (indexed) or instances of new terms and/or specialized 

words that need emphasis

CAPS indicates a specific key selection, such as ENTER, TAB, CTRL, ALT, 

DELETE

Code Font indicates command line entries or text that you would type into a field

Underlining indicates a hyperlink

“>” delimiter indicates how to navigate through a hierarchy of menu selections/options

“0x” or “-H” indicates a hexadecimal value

Terminology

The following special terms are used throughout this guide:

Card the SST-PB3-VME-1 or SST-PB3-VME-2 network interface card

Channel a Profibus network interface on the card

Firmware Module the embedded software module that gets loaded to the card’s 

memory and runs on the card. This is the operating system of the 

card, enabling it to respond to commands from the host and 

manage network communications.

Host the computer system in which the card is installed

.bin an unencrypted firmware module for the card

.ss3 an encrypted firmware module for the card

Special Notation

The following special notations are used throughout this guide:

Warning

Warning messages alert the reader to situations where personal injury 

may result. Warnings are accompanied by the symbol shown, and 

precede the topic to which they refer.

Caution

Caution messages alert the reader to situations where equipment damage 

may result. Cautions are accompanied by the symbol shown, and 

precede the topic to which they refer.

Note

A note provides additional information, emphasizes a point, or gives a 

tip for easier operation. Notes are accompanied by the symbol shown, 

and follow the text to which they refer.

Warnings and Cautions

The card is an electrical component and must be treated with the following precautions:

Warning

Only qualified electrical personnel familiar with the construction/

operation of this equipment and the hazards involved should install, 

adjust, operate, and/or service this equipment. Read and understand this 

guide in its entirety before proceeding. Failure to observe this precaution 

could result in severe bodily injury or, in extreme cases, loss of life.

Warning

You must provide an external, hand-wired emergency stop circuit 

outside the programmable controller circuitry. This circuit must disable 

the system in case of improper operation. Uncontrolled machine motion 

may result if this procedure is not followed. Failure to observe this 

precaution could result in bodily injury.

Caution

The card contains static-sensitive components. Careless handling may 

severely damage the card. Do not touch any of the connectors or pins on 

the card. When not in use, the card should be stored in an anti-static bag. 

Failure to observe this precaution could result in damage to or 

destruction of the equipment.

1.2 Card Features

The card is a VME interface for communication with Profibus networks. Each channel can:

• Act as a DP master

• Act as a DP slave 

• Send and receive FDL (layer 2) messages

• Support Master Class 1 and Master Class 2 messaging

• Support simultaneous operation in all of the above modes

• Support the standard Profibus baud rates of 9.6K, 19.2K, 93.75K, 187.5K, 500K, 1.5M, 

3M, 6M and 12M baud

• Support 16-bit transfers (VME D16) with both VME A24 (standard) and A16 (short I/O) 

address transfers

Note

For A16 short I/O cycles, registers are located on the odd byte addresses 

(0x01, 0x03, and so on) and are 8 bits wide.

Note

Applications running on one channel do not affect the performance of 

other channels and do not share memory or processor resources with 

other channels.

1.3 Byte Ordering

The card uses Intel-style (little endian) byte ordering for multi-byte entities LSB-low address and 

MSB-high address. If your host system uses Motorola (big endian) byte ordering (MSB-low 

address and LSB-high address), you must compensate for byte ordering in software.

The following language macro will compensate for byte ordering in a 16-bit data entity:

#define SWAP_WORD (WordData) ((WordData<<8) | (WordData>>8))

Hardware Description

The main features of the card are described in more detail in the following sections.

Figure 1: The SST-PB3-VME-1 and SST-PB3-VME-2 Interface Card

1.4.2 Profibus Connector

The card has one standard Profibus DB9 female connector per channel. Pin numbers are 

identified in the following figure.

Figure 3: The Profibus DB9 Female Connector

5 4 3 2 1

9 8 7 6

Note

The recommended male connector is the Brad Harrison PA9D01-42 

Diagnostic D-Sub Connector.

The recommended cable is Belden 3079A. Examples include:

• Brad Harrison 85-0001 PVR 2 conductor with shield, UL-listed Profibus cable

• Bosch Comnet DP #913 548 Flexible Profibus Cable

• Bosch Comnet DP #917 201 Trailing Profibus Cable

• Bosch Comnet DP #917 202 Massive Profibus Cable

1.4.3 DIP Switch (S1)

The card has a 10-position DIP switch that must be set before the card is installed. 

The DIP switch is used to set the base I/O address used to configure the card.

Figure 4: DIP Switch (Shown in Off Position)

2.1 System Requirements

To install and operate the card, the following system requirements must be met:

• A controller that conforms to VMEbus spec VME64 (VITA 1.1 1997)

• Minimum 256K window in host memory map

• The ability to generate and accept 16-bit data transfers (VME D16) with both VME A24 

standard address and VME A16 short I/O address transfers

• If interrupts are required, you will need a physical interrupt. On the 2-channel card, this 

will be shared between channels.

2.2 Handling Precautions

The card contains components that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD). 

Do not touch the card without following these precautions:

Caution

• Always follow correct ESD procedures before handling the card. 

We strongly recommend the use of a grounding wrist strap.

• Never touch any of the card’s connectors or pins. Handle the card by 

its edges or bracket.

• When the card isn’t in your computer, always store it in its protective 

anti-static bag