Technical Paper Abstract
The Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) is widely used in industrial automation to enable interoperable communication between controller and field devices from multiple vendors. As the number and diversity of CIP-enabled products continue to grow, the need for standardized, machine-readable mechanisms to describe device capabilities, characteristics, and related metadata has become increasingly important. Such mechanisms can simplify integration with engineering tools, digital repositories, and emerging data-driven applications.
This paper presents the development of an API based on the OpenAPI Specification to describe products that implement CIP. The proposed approach provides a consistent and structured method for accessing product information through a standardized REST interface, enabling automated interaction with product data across tools and platforms.
The paper introduces a proposed OpenAPI definition designed to represent key product attributes, including device identity, supported features, and associated documentation. The definition is intended to promote interoperability while simplifying access to device information for system integrators, engineers, application developers, and data scientists.
Several example use cases are presented to demonstrate how the proposed OpenAPI definition can be applied in practical scenarios. These examples illustrate how standardized API access can support activities such as device discovery, feature identification, and large-scale data harvesting.
The results demonstrate how an OpenAPI-based approach can improve accessibility, automation, and interoperability in managing information related to CIP-enabled products and supporting modern industrial engineering workflows.
Keywords
Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), EtherNet/IP, OpenAPI Specification, REST API, Device Identity, Device Discovery, Interoperability, Industrial Automation, Electronic Data Sheet (EDS), Data Harvesting, Predictive Maintenance, Digital Twin
Paper and presentation from the 2026 ODVA Industry Conference & 24th Annual Meeting: to be published November 2
Greg Majcher, Principal Application Engineer, Rockwell Automation
Joakim Wiberg, Director of Technology, ODVA, Inc.