Industrial networks
Industrial Communication: Serial, Fieldbus, Ethernet, Modbus, PROFINET and OPC UA
Understand the networks a PLC engineer meets, from RS-485 and Modbus to PROFINET and OPC UA, with hands-on work in TIA Portal.
Industrial Communication: Serial, Fieldbus, Ethernet, Modbus, PROFINET and OPC UA is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation. It has 18 modules and takes about 7.5 hours, with written notes, a practice task per module, a practical project and a final assessment of 15 questions (pass mark 60%). Learning costs nothing and needs only a free account. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code, is a one-off US$28.99 for you; it is not a vendor credential. Updated 1 November 2026.
- Free
- Intermediate
- 7.5 hours
- Self-paced
- Certificate optional
- Lab practice in your browser
No card, no trial. The course is free for good. Certificate US$28.99, optional.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation
- Jobs
- Roles that use this skill: network engineer, industrial network technician, systems integrator and IT and OT support engineer. No course guarantees a job.
- Tools
- TIA Portal (21-day trial from Siemens) for the hands-on modules; free Modbus simulators, Wireshark and the free UaExpert OPC UA client. Hardware: none required. Two S7-1200 or PLCSIM instances help for PLC-to-PLC.
- Updated
After this course you can
By the end you will be able to:
- Explain the OSI model, Ethernet, IP and subnets
- Set up Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP on an S7-1200
- Configure PROFINET devices with GSD files
- Connect PLCs to each other
- Explain OPC UA, industrial wireless and IIoT
Who it is for, and what you need first
Who it is for
Engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation.
Level: Intermediate. Intermediate. You should already program one PLC.
What you need
Software: TIA Portal (21-day trial from Siemens) for the hands-on modules; free Modbus simulators, Wireshark and the free UaExpert OPC UA client.
Hardware: None required. Two S7-1200 or PLCSIM instances help for PLC-to-PLC.. What to download, and how.
How this course works
Watch the lessons
Short video lessons, one module at a time, at your own pace.
Read the notes
Open the Reading tab for the written notes and diagrams of the module.
Practise in the 3D labOptional
Try the module in the free 3D lab, in your browser.
Check yourself
Answer the questions to see what stuck before you move on.
Final assessment
Pass the final once you have been through the modules.
Certificate, if you want oneOptional
Optional, with a page anyone can use to verify it.
What you learn
18 modules in order, at your own pace. 7.5 hours of video lessons, with written notes and a practice task in each module.
- 1Networks, the OSI Model, Ethernet, IP and Subnets43m
- 2Serial: RS-232, RS-485 and Modbus36m
- 3Modbus RTU and TCP in Depth, with lab practice: 19m
- 4Fieldbuses: PROFIBUS, DeviceNet, AS-i, IO-Link56m
- 5PROFIBUS Wiring and Network Health20m
- 6Industrial Ethernet: PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and Network Design52m
- 7Remote and Distributed I/O33m
- 8PROFINET in TIA Portal1h 25m
Show the other 10 modules
- 9PLC to PLC: PUT and GET41m
- 10Open User Communication: TCP1h 0m
- 11Modbus RTU on the S7-12001h 19m
- 12Modbus TCP on the S7-12001h 7m
- 13Modbus in Practice on Other PLCs52m
- 14Modbus Remote I/O and ASCII1h 50m
- 15OPC UA, with lab practice: 49m
- 16Wireless, IIoT, MQTT and Network Security, with lab practice: 1h 10m
- 17Web Server, Routing, Backup, Node-RED and Single-Pair Ethernet1h 20m
- 18Final Assessment
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
TIA Portal is for the hands-on modules. pymodbus gives you a free Modbus simulator.
Show what to download (4 tools)
Required
- 01Free trial: 21 days
SIMATIC STEP 7 Professional and WinCC (TIA Portal) V21 Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit (24H2), Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC, or Windows Server 2022/2025. Windows 11 Home is supported only for the Basic editions.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 8.1 GB for the main ISO, plus an optional 3.1 GB DVD 2 with hardware support packages
Siemens lets registered users download the V21 trial of STEP 7 (Basic and Professional), STEP 7 Safety and WinCC and test it for 21 days. The same package is used for the full product; after 21 days you need a purchased licence to keep working.
Steps
- 1.Open the Siemens trial page (entry 109989774) and sign in with your Siemens Industry Online Support account.
- 2.Download TIA_Portal_STEP7_Safety_WinCC_V21.iso (8.1 GB).
- 3.Download S7-PLCSIM_V21.iso (2.5 GB) from the same page: PLCSIM is a separate download.
- 4.Right-click each ISO, choose Mount, and run Start.exe as administrator. Install STEP 7 and WinCC first, then PLCSIM.
- 5.Follow the setup, accept the licence terms and restart the PC when asked.
- 6.Open TIA Portal V21 and create a new project to confirm it runs.
- Install from a local drive with plenty of free space; Siemens lists 20 GB free as the minimum and the ISOs alone are over 10 GB.
- You only need DVD 2 if you want extra hardware support packages.
- If you cannot install locally, Siemens also offers a 21-day TIA Portal Cloud trial in the browser (one-hour sessions, not in every country).
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.comAlternatives
- TIA Portal Cloud trial: 21 days free in a cloud virtual machine, no install. Sessions are limited to one hour and it is not available in every country.
- 02Free trial: 21 days
S7-PLCSIM V21 (TIA Portal) Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit (24H2), Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC, or Windows Server 2022/2025. Windows 11 Home is supported only for the Basic editions.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 2.5 GB (ISO)
S7-PLCSIM V21 is offered as a 21-day trial on the same Siemens page as the STEP 7 and WinCC V21 trial. It needs STEP 7 V21 installed on the same PC.
Steps
- 1.Open the Siemens STEP 7 and WinCC V21 trial page (entry 109989774) and sign in.
- 2.Install STEP 7 V21 from the main TIA Portal ISO first.
- 3.Download S7-PLCSIM_V21.iso (2.5 GB) from the section Download S7-PLCSIM Standard V21.
- 4.Mount the ISO, run Start.exe as administrator and follow the setup.
- 5.In TIA Portal, select your CPU and click Start simulation to open PLCSIM.
- Siemens notes that the PLCSIM Standard V21 installation also includes S7-PLCSIM Advanced V8.0.
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.com - 03Free
Wireshark
Wireshark Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 11 or 10 64-bit (x64 or Arm64), Windows Server 2016 or later, macOS (Universal disk image), Linux
- Account
- None needed
Free, open source software. No licence fee for any use.
Steps
- 1.Open wireshark.org/download.html.
- 2.Download the Windows x64 Installer (or Arm64, or the macOS Universal Disk Image).
- 3.Run the installer and keep the Npcap option ticked on Windows.
- 4.Open Wireshark, pick your network interface and click the blue fin to start capturing.
- Npcap is needed for live capture on Windows. The Windows installer includes it.
- Only capture traffic on networks you own or have written permission to monitor.
Official download pagewireshark.org
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 04Free
PyModbus
pymodbus-dev (open source project), a Python or npm package
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS and Linux with Python 3.10 or later
- Account
- None needed
Free, open source under the BSD 3-Clause licence.
Steps
- 1.Install Python 3.10 or later and create a virtual environment.
- 2.Run: pip install "pymodbus==3.8.6" (the version the course code is written and tested for; 3.10 renamed slave= to device_id=)
- 3.For serial (RS-485) devices, run: pip install "pymodbus[serial]==3.8.6"
- 4.Follow the client examples in the documentation to read holding registers from a device or the built-in simulator.
- PyModbus includes a server simulator with a web interface, so you can practise without real hardware.
- Only write registers on lab equipment. Writes can move real machines.
Official download pagegithub.com
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Practise in the 3D lab
Practise the data half of the course in the lab: decode Modbus registers, pick OPC UA nodes and publish them to an MQTT broker, then prove it with a numbered test.
- Plant data to the dashboard: Modbus, OPC UA and MQTTProcess lab, about 60 minOpen in the lab (opens in a new tab): Plant data to the dashboard: Modbus, OPC UA and MQTT
Optional. Skip it whenever you like: it never blocks your progress or your certificate.
Course project, about 14 hours
Nine devices, three protocols, one SCADA: Modbus RTU meters, Modbus TCP drives and an S7-1200 at a moulding plant
Design, document and commission the network that brings six Modbus RTU energy meters, two Modbus TCP drives and a PROFINET S7-1200 into one SCADA at a plastics moulder. Use modules CM1 to CM13 and CM17 before you start. This covers the RS-485 bus and its gateway, the IP plan, and the register maps with function codes, data types, scaling and byte order. It also covers the MB_SERVER block on the PLC and a commissioning report with real poll timing and error counters. You deliver your own device list, register map and test report, plus the TIA Portal project. The sample pack shows what an integrator hands over.
- 7documents in the pack
- 8steps to follow
- Laboptional: in the 3D lab
- 6things to hand in
- 14 hof work, at your pace
- Network designNetwork Design: Moulding Hall 1 Energy and Utility Integration
- IP planDevice List and IP Plan: Moulding Hall 1
- RegisterModbus Register Map: PM2120 Meters, ACS580 Drives and S7-1200 Server
- Network architectureNetwork Architecture: Moulding Hall 1 to Plant SCADA
- BOMBill of Materials: Comms Panel CP-MH1 and Network Materials
- Test reportCommissioning Test Report: Modbus Integration, Moulding Hall 1
Do it in the lab: 5 steps.
The project is optional practice. The certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
After the course, your next step
Show what you can do, then keep going in the same field.
A certificate you can verify
Finish the modules and pass the final assessment (15 questions, pass mark 60%) and you can add a certificate with a public verification page. One-off, US$28.99 for you. It is not a vendor credential.
Want a free certificate? Do the matching Free internship: 4 weeks, nothing to buy, with a free certificate of completion.
SCADA and HMI
Eight short weeks of tags, screens, alarms and trends: notes, diagrams, a few videos and practice in LADX Mini and free web SCADA tools. Finish weeks 1 to 4 and the final, then claim a free Internship Completion Certificate with your real dates and study hours, and a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Training, not employment.
See the internshipPart of a learning path
Courses in a planned order, so each one builds on the last.
More free courses
Roles that use this skill
- Network engineer
- Industrial network technician
- Systems integrator
- IT and OT support engineer
These are the kinds of roles where the skill is used. We make no promise of a job or an interview.
Plain notes
- Free: the whole course, the notes, the practice tasks, the final assessment and support from practising engineers.
- Paid, and optional: the course certificate, and the Engineer-verified internship (the Free internship costs nothing).
- No job promise: the course teaches a skill. It does not place you in a job.
- Lessons by: RealPars, Hegamurl, iipd Global, ACC Automation, ProSoft, a Belden brand, RealTimeAutomation, Instrumentation Tools, AMCI : Advanced Micro Controls Inc., AutomationDirect.com, LEARNACON, IT and Automation Academy. Independent creators; the lessons stream from their own channels. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, practice tasks and assessments.
RealPars · Hegamurl · iipd Global · ACC Automation · ProSoft, a Belden brand · RealTimeAutomation · Instrumentation Tools · AMCI : Advanced Micro Controls Inc. · AutomationDirect.com · LEARNACON · IT and Automation Academy. If you are one of these creators and want a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@edwartens.com.
Practise what you learn in the free 3D lab
Technical work is judged on what you can do: wiring, commissioning, finding a fault. Doing a task yourself teaches more than watching it a second time, and a lab lets you try it safely before you meet real equipment. It does not replace working on real hardware.
- Practise safely, so a mistake costs nothing.
- The lab checks your work like a site test, so you know when it is right.
- Free, in your browser, with nothing to install.
Why learn with EDWartens
What you get with this course, and what comes after it.
- Free from the first lesson to the final assessment.
- Practice in a free 3D lab in your browser, with nothing to install.
- Video lessons with written notes and a project.
- An optional certificate that anyone can verify online.
- Free internships to keep practising afterwards.
Common questions
Is this a Siemens course?
The hands-on modules use TIA Portal because two of the source series do, but the protocols, Modbus map design and network principles apply to every brand. One module shows Modbus on AutomationDirect PLCs for contrast.
Do I need hardware?
No. The concept modules need nothing; the TIA modules can be followed with the trial and PLCSIM, and Modbus can be tested against a free simulator on your PC.
Do I need to know a PLC already?
Yes, at least one. This course teaches how PLCs talk, not how to program them. Any of the free PLC courses on this site is enough.
What is covered in the wireless and IIoT modules?
Industrial wireless, modulation, Wi-Fi versus industrial wireless, ISA100, IIoT, edge computing, OPC UA and its security, MQTT, Node-RED, network segmentation into zones, and single-pair Ethernet.
What computer do I need for the Industrial Communication course?
A 64-bit Windows 10 machine with 8 GB of RAM if you install TIA Portal; any machine for the rest.
Is the Industrial Communication course really free?
Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate do I get, and is it a Siemens or any vendor qualification?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a Siemens or any vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons in the Industrial Communication course?
The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
Do I have to use the lab?
No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.
Is the lab free?
Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.
What topics does the Industrial Communication course cover, module by module?
The Industrial Communication course has 18 modules. It opens with "Networks, the OSI Model, Ethernet, IP and Subnets", goes through "Serial: RS-232, RS-485 and Modbus", "Remote and Distributed I/O", "Modbus TCP on the S7-1200" and "Web Server, Routing, Backup, Node-RED and Single-Pair Ethernet" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.
What can I do after the Industrial Communication course?
After the Industrial Communication course: Explain the OSI model, Ethernet, IP addressing and subnets; Wire RS-485 and read a Modbus frame, function code and address; Place PROFIBUS DP and PA, DeviceNet, AS-i and IO-Link. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.
What software and hardware do I need for the Industrial Communication course, and does it cost anything?
For the Industrial Communication course, software: TIA Portal (21-day trial from Siemens) for the hands-on modules; free Modbus simulators, Wireshark and the free UaExpert OPC UA client. Hardware: none required. Two S7-1200 or PLCSIM instances help for PLC-to-PLC. The course itself is free.
Is the Industrial Communication course suitable for me, and what level is it?
Industrial Communication is rated intermediate. Intermediate. You should already program one PLC. It is written for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation, and takes about 7.5 hours at your own pace.
Which jobs use the skills from the Industrial Communication course?
Skills from the Industrial Communication course (for example: explain the OSI model, Ethernet, IP addressing and subnets) are used in roles such as network engineer, industrial network technician, systems integrator and IT and OT support engineer, and in automation engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.
Start free today
Industrial Communication: Serial, Fieldbus, Ethernet, Modbus, PROFINET and OPC UA, at your own pace. Add the certificate only if you want one.