Design and implementation of a test bench for industrial I/O islands

This thesis presents the development of a software application designed to support the testing and validation of I/O islands used in electrical control panels for industrial automation systems. The project was carried out in collaboration with AEPI Industrie Srl and addresses the need to simplify and standardize testing procedures for systems based on Beckhoff and Siemens technologies. These systems typically use different industrial communication protocols, namely EtherCAT and Profinet. Traditionally, testing these systems requires different software tools and procedures, increasing both testing time and operator training requirements. The main objective of this work was to develop a unified application capable of interacting with both protocols through a single software platform. The application was developed using the CODESYS environment and is structured with a modular architecture consisting of a software library, a main application program, and a Human Machine Interface (HMI). The software automatically detects the connected network, reads the system topology, allows the operator to test input and output modules, and stores the results in CSV files. The results demonstrate that the developed solution simplifies the testing process, reduces commissioning time, and improves usability for operators by providing a single integrated tool for both communication systems.