EtherCAT Master Stack for embedded (real-time) OS

EC-Master Stack is an EtherCAT master stack especially designed for embedded (real-time) operating systems. Already available are ports to Windows CE, VxWorks, On Time RTOS-32, QNX, Linux, RTX 8, RTX 2009 SMP, INtime®, Integrity, TKernel, Windows® XP/7 and for the KUKA real-time extensions CeWin and VxWin.

Due to the modular design it is quite simple to port on other operating systems as well as on systems without an OS (e.g. on microcontrollers).

Features and Functions:

• Application Interface Layer Interface between the user application and the EtherCAT master. The interface layer may be adapted for the needs of the application if necessary.
• EtherCAT Master Core The core component of the EtherCAT master stack where all EtherCAT functions like process data and mailbox communication etc. are handled.
• Configuration Layer The EtherCAT configuration will usually be handled using an XML file. EC-Master Stack is shipped with an OS-independent XML-Parser.
• Ethernet Link Layer This layer is responsible for exchanging EtherCAT network packets with the slave modules. In case of hard real-time requirements this layer may be adjusted appropriately to the Ethernet hardware. Generic solutions as well as source code for Windows CE (NDISUIO) and VxWorks (etherLib/SNARF) are available as well as high performance Ethernet drivers.
• Operating System Layer All operating system dependencies are handled in this layer. The OS-Layer is a quite small module, thus porting to other operating systems can be done within minimum effort.

The following features are supported:

• Configuration: EtherCAT Configuration Exchange Format (XML)
  • runtime footprint optimized
• Cyclic process data update
  • High performance up to 20 KHz (50 ms) cycle time
  • Operation fully controlled by application
    • application initiates master actions (e. g. send EtherCAT frames)
    • no task inside the master if link layer in polling mode
    • no locks necessary when running with one single application task
    • no network adapter interrupts are required
  • Process Data memory could be allocated inside the master (application get pointers) or application could provide the memory to the master (three buffer mode possible)
• Mailbox protocol: CAN application protocol over EtherCAT (CoE)
  • SDO Upload and Download (Expedited, Normal, Segmented)
  • SDO Information Service
  • Emergency Request
• Mailbox protocol: Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
  • Virtual Switch, API functions for raw Ethernet packet transfer
• Synchronization with Distributed Clocks (DC)
  • Slave is reference clock
  • Initial delay compensation
  • Monitoring of deviation
• EtherCAT Bus Scan
  • Slave detection without existing bus configuration
  • Slave information service (SII) E2PROM (PDI, Vendor ID, Product Code, etc. )
  • API to get slave information from XML configuration file
  • Topology detection
• Error detection and diagnosis, e.g.
  • Lost cable connection or missing EtherCAT slave response
  • Wrong EtherCAT slave reaction (not all slaves responded)
  • Slave operation monitoring
  • Ethernet link layer debug messages for run-time error diagnostics
• Feature Pack: Distributed Clocks: Master Synchronization
  • PI drift controller
  • utomatic actuator error compensation
  • Hardware interface layer for board adaptation (timer api)
  • Existing support for PIC and APIC systems (x86 PCs)
• Feature Pack: Mailbox protocol File Access over EtherCAT (FoE)
  • Download/Upload Firmware and other Files
  • Slave and Master can initiate read and write request
  • Similar to TFTP (trivial file transfer protocol)
• Feature Pack: Redundancy Support
  • Determine line break
  • Support line break between Ethernet port and first/last slave as well as between two slaves
  • Start and Stop the master operation with broken line
  • Stay operational with broken line
• Feature Pack: Multiple Master Instances
  • Fully independent configuration/operation
  • Identical or different link layers
• Feature Pack: Master Object Dictionary
  • History object (error / diagnosis information)
  • Slave Information Objects (vendor, product code, …)
  • Alternate method to get system information (SDO upload)
• Feature Pack: Remote Access
  • Identical API for remote and local operation remote access via TCP/IP
  • Access by second process via local host (e.g. for Windows CE)
  • Block access to critical function calls (optionally, configurable)
  • CoE mailbox services
  • Remote bus scan