Gateways
DeviceNet is a communication protocol (based on Controller Area Network) used in the automation industry to interconnect control devices for data exchange. Typical applications are information exchange, safety devices, and large I/O control networks) into EtherCAT***EtherCAT 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 networks. Also, other EthernetEthernet is a large, diverse family of frame-based computer networking technologies that operate at many speeds for local area networks (LANs) protocols can be used in conjunction with EtherCAT: the Ethernet frames are tunneled via the EtherCAT protocol, which is the standard approach for Internet applications. The EtherCAT network is fully transparent for the Ethernet device, and the real-time characteristics are not impaired, since the master dictates exactly when the tunneled transfers are to occur and how much of the 100Mb/s media the tunneled protocols can use. Therefore, all Internet technologies can also be used in the EtherCAT environment.
