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Add Unsupported EtherCAT Device

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• This procedure is for advanced users only

When your project contains 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 devices that are not supported by KAS, you have to create the configuration with an external tool, and perform the following steps:

1. Get the AKD device description ESI file from the official AKD distribution
2. Ensure all the device description ESI files are available for the external tool
3. Use the external tool and do all the configuration, including the following points:
• Set the Cycle Time
• Turn on the distributed clocks option for all slave drives in order to share a global system time through EtherCAT
• Assign PDO to each drive (inputs and outputs)
• Set the mode of operation of the drives into position mode
• Insert variable names and do the mapping (see details below)
4. Use the external tool to export the ENI description file
5. In KAS, Import the ENI file describing all the EtherCAT devices included in your project

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• Importing an external ENI file overrides all EtherCAT project device information and configuration settings in the IDE"Integrated development environment" An integrated development environment is a type of computer software that assists computer programmers in developing software. IDEs normally consist of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build-automation tools, and a debugger. The following views and configurations are not applicable when using an imported ENI file:

  • Project View: All devices located under the EtherCAT node
  • EtherCAT Device View tabs:
    • General Properties
    • PDO Selection/Mapping
    • Distributed ClockClock signal
    • CoE Init-Commands
  • Slice I/O Properties
  • Mapping 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 Variables to Slice I/O or PDO objects

  Information displayed in the views may not match the imported ENI file.

How to modify the EtherCAT image in cyclic mode

In your application program, when integrating non-standard EtherCAT devices, use the following function blocks to update EtherCAT frame:

• ECATWriteData
• ECATReadData

How to configure EtherCAT device

You need to use the following Functions Blocks:

• ECATWriteSDO
• ECATReadSDO

How to map PLC variables

When you use an XML"Extensible Markup Language " XML is a general-purpose markup language. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own tags network description file generated with an external configurator, you need to add special tags to the PDO names to ensure the PLC variables can be mapped to IO channels. The tags must comply with the following convention:

@Scope.VariableName+StartBit-Size

Examples:

(Global).MachineState
(Global).bLedStatus:0-1
(Global).bLedStatus:1-1
(Global).myINT:+4
main.variable:3+4-8

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• This convention is applicable for simple variables. KAS does not yet support mapping for Structs and Arrays.

See Also

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