Communication   
3.2 Communication services 
  CPU 31xC and CPU 31x, Technical Data 
3-10  Manual, 01/2006 Edition, A5E00105475-06 
Send and receive conditions 
Conditions which should be satisfied for GD communication: 
•  For the transmitter of a GD packet: 
 Reduction ratio
transmitter
 x cycle time
transmitter
 ≥ 60 ms 
•  For the receiver of a GD packet: 
 Reduction ratio
receiver
 x cycle time
receiver
 
 < reduction ratio
transmitter
 x cycle time
transmitter
 
A GD packet may be lost if you do not adhere to these conditions. The reasons being: 
•  the performance of the "smallest" CPU in the GD circuit 
•  asynchronous transmitting / receiving of global data at the stations 
When setting in STEP 7: “Transmit after each CPU cycle“, and the CPU has a short scan 
cycle time (< 60 ms), the operating system might overwrite a GD packet of the CPU before it 
is transmitted. The loss of global data is indicated in the status box of a GD circuit, if you set 
this function in your STEP 7 configuration. 
GD resources of the CPUs 
Table 3-4  GD resources of the CPUs 
Parameters  CPU 31xC, 312, 314  CPU 315-2 DP, 315-2 PN/DP, 
317-2 DP, 317-2 PN/DP,  
319-3 PN/DP 
Number of GD circuits per CPU  Max. 4  Max. 8 
GD packets transmitted per GD circuit  Max. 1  Max. 1 
GD packets transmitted by all GD circuits  Max. 4  Max. 8 
GD packets received per GD circuit  Max. 1  Max. 1 
GD packets received by all GD circuits  Max. 4  Max. 8 
Data length per GD packet  Max. 22 bytes  Max. 22 bytes 
Consistency  Max. 22 bytes  Max. 22 bytes 
Min. reduction ratio (default)  1 (8)  1 (8)