Fieldbus - EtherCAT

Name	Description
DriveParamRead	Reads a drive parameter by sending an ASCII command to a drive.
DriveParamStrRead	Reads a single drive parameter by sending an ASCII command to a drive.
DriveParamWrite	Writes a drive parameter by sending an ASCII command to a drive.
ECATCommErrors	Returns a list of bad 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 connections.
ECATDeviceAction	Performs an action on an EtherCAT device.
ECATDeviceStatus	Provides the EtherCAT state and the port link status information for the EtherCAT device.
ECATDevReadParam	Returns the EtherCAT device-specific information.
ECATGetObjVal	Deprecated.
ECATMasterStatus	Reads the EtherCAT master state and the lost frame counter to determine if EtherCAT is running normally.
ECATReadData	Reads cyclic parameter (byte offset format).
ECATReadSDO	Reads a 32-bit word from I/O nodes using a CANopen SDO read command.
ECATWCStatus	Returns the current number of working counter errors for the Sync unit.
ECATWriteData	Writes cyclic parameter (byte offset format).
ECATWriteSDO	Writes a 32-bit word to I/O nodes using a CANopen SDO write command.
FSoEParamsInit	Transfers safety parameters from the safety master to safety slave devices to initialize the safety network.

Remarks

The EtherCAT SDO function blocks are activated by the CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE) protocol in a client/server mode.

• The client (aka EtherCAT master) is the KAS Runtime In computer science, runtime (or run-time) describes the operation of a computer program, the duration of its execution, from beginning to termination (compare compile time). Within KAS, runtime also refers to the virtual machine that manage the program written in a computer language while it is running application.
• The servers (aka EtherCAT slaves) are the drives and I/O nodes where data can be retrieved.
• The SDO function blocks only support the reading and writing of 32-bit values.
  • It is the fundamental size of CANopen SDO calls.

Why use ECATReadSdo and ECATWriteSdo FBs?

The ECATReadSDO and ECATWriteSDO response time is faster.

They are preferred over DriveParamRead and DriveParamWrite.

Why use the DriveParam FBs?

Reasons to prefer the DriveParam FBs are:

• They allow direct use of the parameter name.
  • Example: IL.LIMITP instead of the SDO index: 356Eh
• They can be used to setup a drive terminal in the HMI "Human-machine interfaces " Also known as computer-human interfaces (CHI), and formerly known as man-machine interfaces, they are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response application.
  • This is similar to the Terminal view available in the AKD widget embedded in the KAS-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.

See Also