EtherCAT®

Real-time industrial Ethernet Technology

EtherCAT® is a very flexible real-time Ethernet protocol for industrial applications described in the IEC 61158 standard. Data exchange is based on the 'processing on the fly' principle: This means that the telegram passes through each slave device and the corresponding device takes its data. As a result, there is only a minimal delay. The data for the master are inserted into the telegram in the same way. This makes EtherCAT an excellent solution for Ethernet-based industrial control systems with many decentralized I/Os and/or cycle times of less than 100 µs.

Development Services

esd electronics (esd) has been developing EtherCAT-Hardware and Software solutions since 2008. We offer standard products like EtherCAT Master and EtherCAT Workbench as well as customer specific solutions. As an active member of the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) (www.ethercat.org) we offer engineering services for all aspects of this technology.

Training and Workshops

Since 2008 esd has been conducting workshops on EtherCAT technology and supporting customers in the development of optimized EtherCAT hardware or software products. Training courses can be held at esd headquarters in Hanover or at the customer's site. The type, depth and duration of the measure is determined by the customer together with esd, taking into account the requirements of his project.

EtherCAT Logo

esd electronics is a member of the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG).

More questions? We are pleased to help you

EtherCAT Technology

  • Based on 100 MBit/s standard Ethernet (100BASE-TX or 100BASE-FX) without additional hubs or switches
  • Up to 65535 devices with a maximum line length of 100 m between two devices
  • Supports almost all topologies (line, tree, star, ....)
  • Hardware-based mechanisms guarantee data consistency in the slave devices
  • Hardware-based device synchronization (distributed clocks) with a jitter of less than 1 µs
  • Optional cable redundancy through a transitionless switching  in case of a single device fault or cable break enables a very cost-effective improvement of system availability.
  • Definition of higher protocols: CAN application protocol over EtherCAT (CoE), Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE), servo drive over EtherCAT (SoE) and file access over EtherCAT (FoE)
  • For improved interoperability a device profile is available

EtherCAT Implementation

  • An EtherCAT slave device requires specific hardware, which is available as stand-alone EtherCAT controller, FPGA-based IP core or microcontroller with built-in EtherCAT support.
  • An EtherCAT master does not require special interface hardware. It can be implemented based on a standard network controller.

Tutorials

esd EtherCAT Workbench Quickstart

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Video esd EtherCAT Workbench Quickstart Tutuorial

esd CAN-EtherCAT Gateway Quickstart

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Video esd CAN-EtherCAT-Gateway Quickstart Tutorial

esd EtherCAT Products

CAN-EtherCAT

Linking EtherCAT and CAN: The CAN-EtherCAT gateway can link CAN modules with CANopen (CiA DS 301) or layer-2 (ISO 11898-1) implementation to a realtime EtherCAT network. The EtherCAT slave functionality is in accordance with ETG Modular Device Profile No. 5000.

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ECS-PCIe/FPGA

The ECS-PCIe/FPGA is a PCI Express EtherCAT Slave interface board with IOs. The PCIe board provides an Ethernet Slave IP-core in an Altera FPGA.

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ECS-PMC/FPGA

Add EtherCAT Slave (ECS) functionality to your PMC equipped base board with the ECS-PMC/FPGA. Easy Configuration by esd's EtherCAT Master or other masters.

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ECX-EC

The ECX-EC offers bridging of two EtherCAT Slave segments with time synchronization (DC) between the EtherCAT masters. Process data exchange between two EtherCAT networks.

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ECX-Master-Selector

The dual Ethernet Master Selector for two redundant EtherCAT, Sercos III, PROFINET, ... -Masters. It is equipped with a LAN selector switch that is controlled by an input signal to connect an EtherCAT network to one of two different EtherCAT masters with cable redundancy.

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ECX-ETH-Selector

The ECX-ETH-Selector is designed to Build Redundant EtherCAT Master Systems. One EtherCAT-G network is connected to the primary or the secondary EtherCAT Master by a simple control signal. Flexible application range to switch one network between two Masters / PCs for all Ethernet based systems or field bus standards up to 1000BASE-T

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ECX-DIO8

The ECX-DIOI module offers 8 digital I/Os, inputs 24 V, outputs 24 V / 0.5 A , Power via InRailBus or individual power feed via COMBICON connector, 100BASE-TX EtherCAT interfaces compatible to IEEE 802.3, configuration by EtherCAT master (XML file)

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