Ethercat Master using C-Toolkit
Hello,
We are currently prototyping a telescope control system using the comX as an Ethercat Slave and an open source Master (using standard Ethernet). For performance reasons we are considering using the Hilscher cifx50 card as hardware platform for an EtherCat master. We have already ported the C-Toolkit over to Linux and are using as a Ethercat Slave application interface over DPM with the comX.
Can anyone speak to:
1) Level of difficulty involved getting the C-Toolkit usable as a simple Ethercat Master application over Dual Port memory to a cifx50?
2) Important considerations or differences in the Master application interface. The Master application would be running under Linux and would not be using SYCON for setup / configuration.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
-Pete-
Thanks AJ,
Currently, my version of SYCON does not generate the DBM config file for the Ethercat Protocol. I am currently working with Hilscher NA to get this resolved.
However, I am intrigued by your comment about the ETG tool. Does it generate DBM files? We are ETG members but I can't find a link to this tool. Could you point me to it?
Thanks in advance,
-Pete-
Andreas Jacob
Hilscher Gesellschaft fuer Systemautomation mbH
Hi Pete,
as far as I know does the Sycon not create a dbm file for Ethercat. It will also create a xml file like the ETG tool.The DBM format comes from the Sycon tool.
I am sorry, but I do not know, the direkt link of the ETG tool but you should find it in the download section of the member area. There should also be a document available, which describes the master configuration steps (if I am not wrong).
OK Thanks AJ, and Happy New Year
Andreas Jacob
Hilscher Gesellschaft fuer Systemautomation mbH
Hi Pete,
txh. also a happy new year for you.
Here are some more details in how to configure the master:
The EtherCAT Master is configured via a XML file. As long as Hilscher SyCon is not available for
EtherCAT Master, this is the only way to configure the Master. E. g. this configuration can be created
by the “EtherCAT Configurator” available from the ETG or by “TwinCAT” from Beckhoff.
The configuration has to be downloaded onto the netX. Usually it is stored in a RAM Disk in a channel
dependent directory (“port_0” for channel 0, etc.). The filename on the netX is fixed and must be
“ethercat.xml”. Any other files are ignored.
If a configuration was created with TwinCAT or the EtherCAT Configurator the given offsets of the
Inputs and Outputs must be shifted by 10 byte to the left. E. g. if an input is configured at bit offset 312
(39 byte offset) then it can be found at bit offset 232 (29 byte offset). If an output is configured at bit
offset 208 (26 byte offset) it can be found at bit offset 128 (16 byte offset).
The Hilscher EtherCAT master will start up with a default configuration set. Tes default values are described into the EtherCAT Master API Manual.
Andreas Jacob
Hilscher Gesellschaft fuer Systemautomation mbH
Hi,
there is no difference in the C-Toolkit for a Master or a Slave application.
I think the most work is already done. You ported the C-Toolkit to Linux.
The next step would be to create your needed application.
You can configure the master from the host side (in your case the Linux machine). You must create a configuration and download the file into your device. To create the cofiguration file you can use the Sycon.NET (it is possible to use the Sycon in "offline" mode without any connectivity to the cifX card. Furthermore the configuration can be created with the ETG tool.