Device Profiles
- For many device classes, fieldbus technology already offers reliable device profiles, such as for I/O devices or drives.
- Users are familiar with these profiles and the associated parameters and tools.
- No EtherCAT-specific device profiles have been developed for these device classes.
- Simple interfaces for existing device profiles are offered.
- This greatly assists users and device manufacturers alike during the change from existing fieldbuses to EtherCAT.
CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE)
CANopen device and application profiles are available for a wide range of device classes and applications.
Devices include I/O components, drives, encoders, proportional valves and hydraulic controllers to application profiles for plastic or textile machinery.
- EtherCAT can provide the same communication mechanisms as the familiar CANopen mechanisms: object dictionary, PDO (process data objects) and SDO (service data objects), and even the network management is comparable.
- EtherCAT can be implemented with minimum effort on devices equipped with CANopen.
- Large parts of the CANopen firmware can be re-used.
- Objects can optionally be expanded in order to account for the larger bandwidth offered by EtherCAT.
