Modifying Fieldbus GP-IO for UR-Sim

Hello Community,

I am currently looking for a means to test fieldbus controlled programs using UR-sim prior to deployment. The goal is an environment where I can run the program either in UR-sim or on the real hardware without any adjustment to the UR-script or the plc program required (aside the IP adress of the robot). From what I’ve seen so far, it is not possible to use fieldbus communication with UR-Sim. Therefore I am looking into other means to manipulating the general purpose IO address space of the fieldbus. Thus my questions are as following:

  • Is there a way to get profinet running for UR-sim that I might have missed?
  • Is there some API that allows me to read and write the GP-IO for UR-sim bypassing the actual fieldbus?
  • Is it possible to access the dedicated fieldbus IO adress space through RTDE or am I locked out through the API?
  • Is it possible to access the memory range of the fieldbus through the modbus general purpose register ports?

I am looking forward to any comments, suggestions or hints on how to approach the problem! Thank you!