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EtherCAT Master Settings

This tab includes configurations for the EtherCATEtherCAT is an open, high-performance Ethernet-based fieldbus system. The development goal of EtherCAT was to apply Ethernet to automation applications which require short data update times (also called cycle times) with low communication jitter (for synchronization purposes) and low hardware costs bus master.

Item	Description
Cycle Time	Duration of one cycle in microseconds (time = 250, 500, 1000 µs) to define the time base period for scheduling the motion and the PLC"Programmable Logic Controller" A Programmable Logic Controller, PLC, or Programmable Controller is a digital computer used for automation of industrial processes, such as control of machinery on factory assembly lines. Used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events programs (for more details on scheduling, Tasking Model / Scheduling)
Frame Size	It is the total size (in bytes) of the EtherCAT frame which is sent cyclically. The size is proportional to the number of EtherCAT slaves (and consequently the PDO data) on the network. The EtherCAT frame size may be between 84 to 1500 bytes.
Transmit Time	It is the time (in microseconds) that it takes to send a frame
Bandwidth Usage	It is an estimation of the percentage of the cycle time used to transmit a frame of data. BandwidthIn computer networking, bandwidth often refers to a data rate measured in bits/s, for example, network throughput. The reason for the connection of data rate with the term bandwidth is that the limit to the data rate of a physical communication link is related to its bandwidth in hertz value goes up when cycle time decreases (see calculation below)

Table 4-25: EtherCAT Cycle Settings - Form Description

The three read-only fields display (unknown) when the Use imported file option is selected (see ENI File tab tab). Otherwise, they are recalculated and refreshed each time that: