EtherCAT

Real-time distributed control with EtherCAT^® protocol

Ethernet for Control Automation (EtherCAT) is an open Ethernet network protocol for real-time distributed control. See www.ethercat.org.

To begin, configure the network by using an EtherCAT network configurator, and then load the configuration into the EtherCAT protocol blocks. The blocks connect to Intel^® Ethernet boards that support the EtherCAT protocol and are compatible with PCI-standard bus architectures, such as PCI, PCI Express^®, and PXI^®.

Simulink^® Real-Time™ supports the Beckhoff^® TwinCAT^® configurator and the Acontis EC-Engineer configurator.

For detailed information about the configurators, see the manufacturer documentation (www.beckhoff.com and www.acontis.com/en/). For detailed information about EtherCAT boards, see the manufacturer documentation.

See Modeling EtherCAT Networks.

Functions

`slrealtime.EtherCAT.filterNotifications`	Display EtherCAT notifications in human-readable format
`slrealtime.EtherCAT.getSignalNames`	Display EtherCAT notifications in human-readable format

Blocks

EtherCAT Init	Initialize EtherCAT Master node with data in the EtherCAT Network Information (ENI) file
EtherCAT Get Notifications	Collect notifications from the EtherCAT bus
EtherCAT PDO Receive	Receive data from slave device represented by process data object
EtherCAT PDO Transmit	Send data to slave device represented by process data object
EtherCAT Sync SDO Upload	Read data synchronously from slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Sync SDO Download	Transmit data synchronously to slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Async SDO Upload	Read data asynchronously from slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Async SDO Download	Transmit data asynchronously to slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Sync SSC/SoE Upload	Read data synchronously from slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Sync SSC/SoE Download	Transmit data synchronously to slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Async SSC/SoE Upload	Read data asynchronously from slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Async SSC/SoE Download	Transmit data asynchronously to slave device represented by service data object
EtherCAT Get State	Get state of EtherCAT network
EtherCAT Set State	Set state of EtherCAT network
EtherCAT Get Device State	Get state of EtherCAT network
EtherCAT Set Device State	Set state of EtherCAT network

Topics

EtherCAT Protocol Models

Modeling EtherCAT Networks

Learn about Simulink Real-Time support for real-time distributed control with the EtherCAT protocol.
- STEP 1: Hardware Setup Requirements for TwinCAT 3
- STEP 2: Install EtherCAT Network Tools TwinCAT or EC-Engineer
- STEP 3: Configure EtherCAT Network by Using TwinCAT 3
- STEP 4: Install EtherCAT Network for Execution
- STEP 5: Configure EtherCAT Master Node Model

Reference

EtherCAT Distributed Clock Algorithm
Learn about the EtherCAT master shift and bus shift modes.
Fixed-Step Size Derivation
Determine the fixed step size for the EtherCAT model and the sample times for key blocks.
EtherCAT Protocol Mapping
Learn about the relationship between the third-party configurator capabilities and Simulink Real-Time capabilities.
EtherCAT Configurator Component Mapping
Learn about the relationship between the third-party configurator components and Simulink Real-Time blocks and block attributes.
EtherCAT Data Types
Learn about the relationship between EtherCAT data types and Simulink Real-Time data types.
EtherCAT Init Block DC Error Values
Learn about the EtherCAT distributed clock error values that the EtherCAT Init block returns.
EtherCAT Error Codes
The Error output for EtherCAT blocks returns an EtherCAT error code.
EtherCAT Init