The CIF WinAC driver permits the utilization of the Hilscher CIF fieldbus interface cards with the Siemens SIMATIC WinAC software. The fieldbus interface cards are supplied in all current form factors. With the driver, access is possible to all fieldbuses such as InterBus, CANopen, DeviceNet or PROFIBUS.

The CIF WinAC driver functions are accessed from the STEP7 function blocks via two SFBs. One SFB intializes the CIF WinAC driver and the second is utilized for user data exchange and further functions. In the WinAC versions, the interfaces are based on so-called COM interfaces whereas WinAC RTX uses direct function calls. Within the programmable controller cycles, two functions are needed in order to exchange the I/O data with the CIF hardware. Here, the user data of the CIF hardware are mapped transparently in data block of the STEP7 program (1DB inputs, 1 DB outputs). The programming of the CIF WinAC driver takes place via a central configuration module (DB_CONFIG). No specific fieldbus configuration is required for the CIF WinAC driver, as the fieldbus system is configured via SyCon.

When starting up, the CIF WinAC driver determines from the configuration of the interface cardsrcuit board where the individual Slaves are arranged in the process image and uses the information for the mapping in the data blocks system of the STEP7 program.