What Is MAESTRO Recorder Emulator?

In industrial systems, not every piece of data can be automatically generated by a physical transmitter, measurement device, or electronic recorder. Some values may need to be entered into the system manually by an operator at specific times.

MAESTRO Recorder Emulator was developed to address this requirement. The program publishes values entered by the user as MODBUS Holding Registers when the specified time is reached. This allows the upper-level system to read the data via MODBUS.

Basic approach: Manual Data → MAESTRO Recorder Emulator → MODBUS Holding Register → SCADA / Data Acquisition System

Operating Principle

When the program is started, a total of 8 channels are displayed in the user interface. Each channel represents a recorder channel, and an instantaneous value can be entered directly for each channel.

MODBUS addresses of the channels:

  • Pen 1 → 0
  • Pen 2 → 2
  • Pen 3 → 4
  • Pen 4 → 6
  • Pen 5 → 8
  • Pen 6 → 10
  • Pen 7 → 12
  • Pen 8 → 14

These addresses represent the starting addresses of the channels. The MODBUS read settings in the upper-level system should therefore be configured accordingly.

The clock icon next to each channel opens the time schedule for that channel. For the selected channel, 24-hour data entry fields are displayed for both Today and Tomorrow.

Single-channel time table: Before opening the hourly data table of another channel, the currently open table must be closed by clicking the clock icon of the same channel.

24-Hour Data Entry

The user can predefine 24-hour values to be used for each channel for today and tomorrow. When the specified hour is reached, the entered value starts being published at the channel's MODBUS Holding Register address.

  1. Click the clock icon of the relevant channel.
  2. Open the Today and Tomorrow tables.
  3. Enter the required value for each hour.
  4. When the specified hour is reached, the value is published via MODBUS.

Bulk data entry: Select the 24-hour values from an application such as Excel and copy them to the clipboard using COPY. Then, right-click the appropriate cell in the program's Today or Tomorrow column and select PASTE from the context menu.

MODBUS Output

After starting the program, the IP address and port number to be used for MODBUS output must be selected. Then, click the STATUS OK button to start the output.

Successful output indicators:

  • The LED next to the IP address turns green.
  • The STATUS OK button turns green.

This indicates that the MODBUS output service has been started successfully.

WEB Server

When the WEB Server option in the program is enabled, data and data read addresses are published on the web server as a live table.

The web-based table is updated every 15 seconds. This feature allows channel values and MODBUS addresses being published to be monitored quickly during development, commissioning, and testing.

Program Settings

The other program settings are stored in the MAESTROrecsim.dat input file. This file can be opened with NOTEPAD or a similar text editor, and the required settings can be configured manually.

Run as Administrator: For the program to operate correctly, MAESTROrecsim.exe must be run as Administrator. The required administrator permissions should be configured in advance on Windows.

Cont and Repeat Options

Option Function
Cont Keeps the program running continuously. Even if the program is closed, it automatically restarts itself.
Repeat At the change of day, automatically copies the previous day's 24-hour data to the Tomorrow column.

Minimizing and Reopening the Program

After all operations have been completed, the program can be minimized by pressing the ESC key while the program window is active, or by double-clicking on the program window.

The program does not completely close; it continues running as a small icon in the Windows notification area (system tray). Double-clicking this icon restores the main program window.

This feature can be used to prevent the program from remaining permanently visible as an open desktop window while MODBUS data output continues in the background.

Recommended Startup and Operating Sequence

  1. Run MAESTROrecsim.exe as Administrator.
  2. Select the IP address and port number to be used for MODBUS output.
  3. Click the STATUS OK button and verify that both the LED and the button turn green.
  4. Enter instantaneous values for the channels or open the 24-hour data table using the clock icon.
  5. Enter values manually in the Today and Tomorrow tables, or use copy and paste from Excel.
  6. Read the relevant channel's MODBUS Holding Register address from the upper-level system.
  7. Enable the WEB Server, Cont, and Repeat options as required.

Download MAESTRO Recorder Emulator

MAESTRO Recorder Emulator was developed to integrate manually entered values into SCADA and data acquisition systems via MODBUS.

⬇ Download MAESTROrecsim.exe

Execution requirement: The program must be run as Administrator. The other program settings can be configured through the MAESTROrecsim.dat file.

← Back to Previous Content