The design of the netTAP is based on the well known field bus protocol converter of the Hilscher GmbH. The aim of being able to cover as many variants as possible with one device series and at the same time to develop a space-saving and economical alternative to existing gateway solutions, led to the development of the netTAPes.

The netTAP is a modular, universal Gateway with two interfaces for connecting to field devices and field bus systems. Besides the standard field bus connections such as PROFIBUS, DeviceNet and CANopen, also RS-232 or RS-422/485 and Ethernet are available Each netTAP can additionally be equipped with an extension memory for saving and reactivating the configuration.
By means of a further independent interface, the configuration of the gateway functionality or a diagnostic during operation can be carried out either via an RS-232 connection or via Bluetooth.

Continuous communication from the command to the field level is the aim of the integration of different field bus or field device protocols in unified network structures.
With the development of the netTAP, the previously necessary gateway and communication technology is made as easy as possible for the user.

The interfaces of the netTAP are its greatest strength. Because of the different possibilities, numerous areas of application can be covered with the netTAP.
Each netTAP has a connection at the front of the device and this is equipped with a suitable plug depending on the selected protocol variant.
The second connection is directly supplied with a finished cable. This simplifies the installation effort substantially for the start up as the finished cable need only be plugged into the field device and the field connection is undertaken at the netTAP.

The protocols ware supported directly on the respective interface of the netTAP. PROFIBUS, DeviceNet, and CANopen in the variations of master of slave are available as field bus protocols for this purpose with more to come. For serial connections, use is made of 3964R, Modbus or ASCII, and for Ethernet the Open Modbus/TCP protocol is used.

Field devices with serial connections provide an economical connection to field bus networks or Ethernet via the netTAP technology. On the serial side, Modbus, 3964R or ASCII protocols are available. The connection on the field bus is carried out as slave.

Field devices with field bus slave connection are economically integrated with netTAP into an Ethernet. Open Modbus is available on the Ethernet side. Field bus protocols available are PROFIBUS-DP, DeviceNet and CANopen always as Master-Link to a single slave.

The configuration is carried out with the SYCON.net configurator and this can be connected by means of an independent serial diagnostic interface or with Bluetooth during operation and runs on any Windows PC. With netTAP 40 devices, the configuration can also be carried out via the Ethernet network.
SYCON.net supports the FDT/DTM technology for intelligent management of the field devices and thus offers the system integrator a central start-up tool with optimum access to the relevant process information of the connected field devices.