In the world of industrial automation, communication between devices is of utmost importance. One of the most widely used protocols for such communication is Profibus. Profibus, short for Process Field Bus, is a standard for fieldbus communication in automation technology. It is widely used in various industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and agriculture, to name a few. The Profibus Fieldbus Data Link (FDL) is the backbone of Profibus, enabling reliable and efficient data exchange between devices on the network. In this comprehensive guide, in continuation of our earlier article, we will delve deep into the workings of Profibus FDL and unravel the features and technology behind this.
Profibus Fieldbus Data Link Layer
Layer 2 of Profibus provides a reliable channel for communication between the higher application layer to other nodes in the bus. The layer is internally organized as below:

Profibus FDL - Fieldbus Data Link Layer
Fieldbus Link Control (FLC) is responsible for receiving the data transmission services and passing them on to the MAC. Media Access Control (MAC) implements the complete bus access management according to underlying physical layer. The Fieldbus MAnagement (FMA) provides the management services to the higher application layer.
The data transmission services, as the name implies, are primarily for the communication of data between the nodes. Many services are offered such as Send Data with Acknowledge (SDA), Send Data with No Acknowledge (SDN) etc. which will be covered later. These are provided via the FLC.
The management services offered by the Fieldbus Management are for operational management of the node such as
- Initiate reset of Layers 1 and 2.
- Request for and modification of the actual operating parameters of FDL and PHY and of the counters.
- Notification of unexpected events, errors, and status changes.
- Request for identification and for the configuration of the stations.
- Request for the actual list of stations.
With these services, it is possible to implement a complete process control node.
Profibus Master and Slave
As we have seen earlier, a Profibus is a master-slave protocol where communication takes place between master device and slave devices or stations. The master device is typically the active nodes such as PLCs, PC or control systems that initiate the communication and control the data exchange process while it is holding the token. The slave devices are passive peripherals such as field devices, drives, IO controllers, transmitters etc., on the other hand, respond to the requests from the master and provide the necessary information. The slave station never owns tokens and hence cannot initiate requests on the bus.
A simple network with one master and 3 slaves will look as follows:

Profibus Example Network
While we will explore the concepts of DP-Master and DP-Slaves a little later, it is possible that there can be more than one master in the system. The masters will pass tokens between them to determine who owns the bus currently thereby forming a logical ring like structure.
Profibus Station Addressing
Each of the stations in the Profibus network must be uniquely identifiable and hence are given a 8-bit address. The addresses are preconfigured during setup phase and cannot be changed dynamically over the course of operation of the network. The addresses defined are:
Address | Usage |
---|---|
0 | Reserved for diagnostic tools |
1 to N | Master station addresses as master’s should be in the lower addresses |
N to 125 | Slave station addresses |
126 | Used to delivery dynamically set address |
127 | Broadcast address |
Thus, it is possible to connect up to 125 nodes in a Profibus network.
Profibus Telegrams - Frame Format
Now let us familiarize ourselves with the Profibus frame format. Referred to as telegrams, the frames are of pre-defined structures and are of 5 types.
- No data
- Variable length data
- Fixed length data
- Token
- Short Confirmation/Acknowledgement
The frame formats for these telegrams looks like as follows:

Profibus Telegram Frame Format
The description of the telegram fields is given below:
Field | Size | Description |
---|---|---|
SD | 1 | Start Delimiter |
DA | 1 | Destination Address |
SA | 1 | Source Address |
FC | 1 | Function code indicating the telegram type |
LE | 1 | Length of the telegram including DA, SA, FC and PDU |
LEr | 1 | Repetition of LE. For redundancy with hamming distance of 4 |
PDU | Variable | Protocol Data Unit |
FCS | 1 | Frace Checking Sequence for error check |
ED | 1 | End Delimiter |
The underlying physical layer transmits the data as per the electrical characteristics of the communication medium and ensures reliable transmission.
The data link layer handles the framing and error checking of the data packets. Each byte of the telegram is transmitted in 8E1 configuration where it has 8 data bits, one even parity bit with 1 stop bit. The integrity of the transmitted data is ensured through the FCS byte.
Profibus Telegrams – Communication Sequence
To better understand the communication of telegrams on the physical bus let us see how it works in practice.

Profibus Telegram Communication Sequence
The blue-colored packets represent the data originating from the master and gray-colored ones represents the data transmitted by the slave. The SYN is at least 33 bits of logical ones i.e. bus in idle condition and represents the start of a new telegram.
Profibus Token Passing Procedure
Another important aspect of the PROFIBUS Medium Access Protocol is the token passing procedure. The token represents the right to transmit data on the network. In a token passing system, only the device holding the token has the authority to send data.
The token passing procedure ensures fair and efficient access to the network. It prevents collisions and ensures that each device gets an equal opportunity to transmit its data. When a master wants to transmit data, it waits for the token to be passed to it. Once it receives the token, it can transmit its data and then passes the token to the next master in the network. The bus configuration dictates a Token Rotation time, by which the token must have completed one rotation of the logical ring. Generally, if any master receives a token, it checks if there is some time left. Only so the data is transmitted otherwise it will be passed on to the next master hoping to transfer in the next rotation.
Profibus DP Communication Profiles
Profibus DP (Decentralized Periphery) is a variant of PROFIBUS that is widely used in distributed control systems. It allows for the connection of multiple devices in a decentralized manner, improving the flexibility and scalability of the network. Based on the need, there are 3 communication profiles specified, each offering a variable level of performance.

Profibus Performance Levels
DP-V0is the lowest performance level that offers basic DP functionality such as cyclic data exchange, station, module, and channel diagnostics.
DP-V1,optimized for process automation, also offers acyclic data exchange and alarm features.
DP-V2is primary optimized for drive technology and offers slave to slave communication.
The higher profiles offer rich configuration features with support for IEC 61131-3 PLC blocks, GSD based configuration etc.
Profibus Device Classes
Profibus DP supports 3 classes of devices.
PROFIBUS DP master (class 1):It uses cyclical communication to exchange process data with its associated slaves. Typically, available in a memory programmable controller or an automation station of the process control system.
PROFIBUS DP master (class 2):It can be used to set device parameters via acyclical communication. Typically they are part of an engineering stations used for device configuration.
PROFIBUS slave:Passive communication devices that respond to requests from the masters. Some devices that implement includes I/O controllers, drives, valves, transducers, analyzers.
Profibus Slave Setup Procedure
The Profibus slave needs to be configured before starting the operation. The below state diagram captures the states of a slave on starting up.

Profibus Slave Setup Procedure
Post power on, the devices wait for Parameter data to be received from the master. After that it moves to a Wait for Configuration state where it receives the configuration data from the master. On successful reception and configuration of the same, it moves on to the data exchange state.
Profibus Cyclic and Acyclic Data
As discussed earlier, Profibus primarily works in a cyclic mode of operation. Called as the MS0, in this mode the masters poll the slaves cyclically one after another. Once the cycle is over, it restarts the polling from the first slave again.
Sometimes there is a need for acyclic communication. It can be achieved using MS1 or MS2 links. MS1 link can be set up by a DPM1 master as a connection-oriented after configuration of the slave. Each slave can have only one MS1 link active at a time. The MS2 link is set up by a DPM2 master with the slave where a slave can have more than 1 active MS2 links with different masters. Each of the MS2 link is governed by its own timing parameters and mechanisms.
Profibus Data Transmission Services
With a god understanding of the Profibus FDL, now let us have a brief look at the data transmission services offered by Profibus. The services offered are listed below:
Service | Function | DP-V0 | DP-V1 | DP-V2 | FMS | Usage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SDN | Send Data with No acknowledge | X | X | X | X | Primarily for broadcast purposes |
SDA | Send Data with Acknowledge | X | X | Point to point communication with no data and the slave acknowledges | ||
SRD | Send and Request Data | X | X | X | X | To read data from passive node where the recipient may or may not respond with data based on availability |
CSRD | Cyclic Send and Request Data | X | To transfer data cyclically to remote stations | |||
MSRD | Send and Request Data with Multicast Reply | X | Like SRD, here the response is consumed more than one recipient. | |||
CS | Clock Synchronization | X | X | Used for clock synchronization services by the DP-V2 master |
It is essential for the Profibus device to support one or more of these services.
Conclusion
This article introduces the concepts of PROFIBUS Fieldbus Data Link (FDL) layer in detail covering various aspects of the station addressing, telegram format, its communication sequence and token passing procedures. It also touched on different communication profiles and device classes. Finaly the cyclic and acyclic data are discussed along with the data transmission services offered to the higher layers.
The Profibus FDL enables reliable and efficient data exchange between devices, enabling seamless communication in various industries. In the upcoming article, we will discuss the application layer of the Profibus industrial protocol.