Configuring CPU 1513-1 PN with IM 155-6 PN Stations in TIA Portal

This reference walks through the engineering workflow for a SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1513-1 PN (6ES7513-1AM03-0AB0) controlling three distributed ET 200SP stations, each built on an IM 155-6 PN interface module. The same procedure applies to a PLCSIM or S7-PLCSIM Advanced instance, to a real S7-1500 rack, and to any third-party PROFINET device whose GSD file is installed. The article focuses on the device configuration in TIA Portal, the automatic I/O address layout, and the program-side options for accessing the channels.

1. System Architecture Overview

The CPU 1513-1 PN is the PROFINET IO Controller; each IM 155-6 PN is a PROFINET IO Device. The CPU exposes two PROFINET ports (X1 P1, X1 P2) on its integrated switch, so the three ET 200SP stations can be wired line, star, or ring without external switches. The reference topology places the CPU at the head, station 1 on X1 P1, and stations 2 and 3 daisy-chained from station 1's port 2 and 3 respectively.

2. Prerequisites

• Engineering software: TIA Portal V17 (or later) with STEP 7 Professional. The same procedure works in V18 and V19; the only difference is the catalog revision and any new firmware selectable for the IM. PLCSIM or S7-PLCSIM Advanced V17+ is required if you intend to simulate.
• CPU firmware: CPU 1513-1 PN ships with firmware V2.9 on the 6ES7513-1AM03-0AB0 order number. The current firmware revision is selectable from the catalog; downgrade to V2.6 is permitted by older TIA Portal versions.
• IM 155-6 PN variants: Standard 6ES7155-6AU01-0BN0, High Feature 6ES7155-6BA00-0CN0, and the High Feature with ST 6ES7155-6BA00-0CN0. The HF variant adds isochronous mode, shared device, and module-internal shared input/output on the backplane bus.
• BaseUnits: BU15-P16+A0+2B (push-in) or BU15-P16+A10+2D (screw) for the ET 200SP stations. The type of BaseUnit determines which channels carry AUX voltage.
• PROFINET cabling: Cat 5e or higher, max 100 m between devices, industrial-grade RJ45 with at least IP20 rating for cabinet mounting.
• User rights: Administrator on the engineering PC to install HSPs and GSD files; PLC password if one has been set on the controller.

3. Part Number Reference Table

4. Creating the Project and Adding the CPU

1. Open TIA Portal and choose Create new project. Enter a project name and the project path. Set the author and any comment fields.
2. In the project tree, click Add new device → SIMATIC S7-1500 → CPU → CPU 1513-1 PN → 6ES7513-1AM03-0AB0. Select the firmware version that matches the physical module or, when simulating, the highest revision supported by the active TIA Portal.
3. Open the device view. The CPU appears with its two PROFINET ports, the display, and the working memory LEDs.
4. Open the device configuration of the CPU. On the PROFINET interface [X1] properties, assign the IP address (default 192.168.0.1), the subnet mask (255.255.255.0), and the router address (if used). Tick PROFINET IO Controller; the system automatically attaches a PROFINET subnet named PN/IE_1.

5. Adding the IM 155-6 PN Stations

The three ET 200SP stations are added one by one to the PROFINET subnet of the CPU:

1. Switch to the Network view. The CPU appears at the centre with the PN/IE_1 subnet attached.
2. Open the Hardware catalog task card on the right. Navigate to Distributed I/O → ET 200SP → Interface modules → PROFINET.
3. Drag the IM 155-6 PN HF (6ES7155-6BA00-0CN0) onto the PN/IE_1 subnet. A connection line is drawn automatically between the CPU port and the IM port 1.
4. Repeat for the second and third stations. To daisy-chain a station off another station, drop the new IM on top of the existing IM and select a free port (port 2 or 3) on the source station when prompted.
5. Right-click each IM and assign a unique PROFINET device name (e.g., et200sp-1, et200sp-2, et200sp-3) and a unique IP address (e.g., 192.168.0.11, 192.168.0.12, 192.168.0.13).
6. Open the device view of the first IM. Drag the I/O modules from the catalog into the slots in the order DI, DQ, AI, AQ. The slots are auto-numbered from 1. The CPU does not constrain the order; place modules in the physical order wired into the BaseUnits.

Repeat step 6 for each station. TIA Portal automatically generates I/O addresses for every channel. To inspect the addresses, open Devices & networks → [CPU] → Device view → Properties → I/O addresses, or expand the PLC tags → Default tag table. The default starting address of station 1 is 0 (inputs) and 0 (outputs), with each station appended in the order of declaration.

6. I/O Address Mapping and Channel Layout

Addresses follow the standard SIMATIC pattern: input modules occupy the %I address space, output modules the %Q address space, and analog modules are word-aligned. The following table is an example layout generated by the configuration in section 5.

7. Accessing I/O from the PLC Program

For the IM 155-6 PN, the controller reads the process image of the inputs (PII) and writes the process image of the outputs (PIQ) once per OB1 cycle. No special function block is required to read or write the channels. The I/O can be accessed either by absolute address or, preferably, by symbolic tag.

7.1 Direct absolute access

In an SCL block:

// Read digital input 0.0 from station 1 and set digital output 0.0
IF "%I0.0" THEN
    "%Q0.0" := TRUE;
ELSE
    "%Q0.0" := FALSE;
END_IF;

// Read analog input channel 0 (word at %IW4) and write to analog output
"%QW4" := "%IW4";

The same logic in LADDER (KOP):

Network 1:
  |--[ %I0.0 ]--------------------( %Q0.0 )--|
Network 2:
  |--[ MOVE ]                            |--|
  |   EN  := TRUE                        |
  |   IN  := %IW4                        |
  |   OUT := %QW4                        |

7.2 Symbolic access (recommended)

Open the default tag table of the CPU and add tags that point to the I/O addresses. For example:

Once the tags exist, the program can use the names directly:

IF "i_StartButton" THEN
    "o_RunContactor" := TRUE;
END_IF;

// analog scaling (0-27648 corresponds to 0-10 V on the AI module)
"o_ValveAO1" := REAL_TO_INT("i_PressureAI1" * 27648.0 / 27648.0);

7.3 Program blocks that are typically used with PROFINET IO

For an S7-1500 with PROFINET, consistent I/O read/write is normally not required because the process image handles consistency for word- and double-word-aligned analog channels. The SFC14/SFC15 path is only needed when accessing a submodule directly by its hardware identifier (HW ID) and the data length exceeds 4 bytes.

8. PROFINET Device Names and IP Assignment

The PROFINET IO Controller and the three IM 155-6 PN stations must each have a unique device name on the subnet. The controller issues a DCP Identify broadcast and the stations respond. The device name is stored in the IM and survives power-off. There are three ways to assign it:

1. From the topology editor in TIA Portal. Right-click the IM and select Assign PROFINET device name. This pushes the name to the IM via DCP. Requires the engineering PC to be on the same subnet.
2. From the PRONETA tool. PRONETA scans the subnet, lets you see and edit the names, and verifies that each IM carries the configured name.
3. From the SIMATIC Automation Tool. Useful for large commissioning campaigns; reads a CSV list of (name, IP) pairs and pushes them to many devices.

9. Diagnostic and Commissioning Workflow

The recommended commissioning sequence is:

1. Power the CPU and the three IMs in any order. The CPU starts up with the configured project (after download) and tries to establish AR (Application Relationship) with each station.
2. Open Online → Online & diagnostics, select the CPU, and click Accessible nodes. Verify that et200sp-1, et200sp-2, and et200sp-3 appear with their configured IP addresses.
3. Click on each IM and look at Diagnostic buffer. The most recent entries should be Station OK. Any AR negotiation failed or Device name mismatch points to a DCP issue.
4. Use Online → Monitor & force on the I/O tags. Toggle a digital input on the field side and watch the corresponding %I bit go high in the table.
5. Force a digital output on station 1 and confirm the contactor pulls in. Remove the force before leaving commissioning.

10. LED Behaviour and Error Codes

Each IM 155-6 PN has four LEDs on the front: PWR, RN (RUN), ER (ERROR), and MT (MAINT). The CPU 1513-1 PN has RUN/STOP, ERROR, MAINT, and the link/speed LEDs on each port.

11. Simulation with PLCSIM and S7-PLCSIM Advanced

For virtual commissioning, the IM 155-6 PN is not directly simulated by PLCSIM; PLCSIM emulates the CPU only. To exercise the I/O from a PC, you have two options:

1. Use ET 200SP with a real IM connected to the PLCSIM instance via PROFINET. PLCSIM Advanced supports the simulation of PROFINET IO devices attached to a simulated CPU. The I/O is then read and written against the real device, which keeps the analog/digital modules in the loop.
2. Use the PLCSIM internal I/O tables. For digital channels, the watch table in TIA Portal can Force values into the simulated PII. For analog, you can use a separate instance of S7-PLCSIM Advanced with a virtual analog module registered in the GSD catalog.

12. Verification Checklist

Before releasing the project, confirm the following items:

• All three IMs are reachable via Accessible nodes with their configured names and IPs.
• The diagnostic buffer of each IM shows Station OK as the latest entry.
• One input on station 1 toggles i_StartButton in the PLC tag table; one output on station 1 follows o_RunContactor when forced.
• One analog input on station 1 produces a value in the configured 0-27648 range at 0-10 V applied; one analog output drives the expected 0-10 V when the PLC writes a corresponding value.
• The watchdog times on the IM 155-6 PN are at the default (1 ms for IRT, 3 ms for RT). The PROFINET update time is 1 ms for isochronous and 1-512 ms for non-isochronous, set under PROFINET interface → Real-time settings.
• Port statistics for the CPU and the IMs show zero CRC errors after 1 hour of operation with cyclic traffic.

13. Frequently Asked Questions