KPA EtherCAT Master is a comprehensive product for industrial automation specialists who intend to add high-speed communication capabilities to their applications and solutions. It is a second generation of EtherCAT Master by koenig-pa, implementing a new advanced architecture and several unique features that facilitate better integration and performance increase. Also, it supports a various range of operating systems.
KPA EtherCAT Master is a software stack, which corresponds to all EtherCAT Technology Group stan-dards and has numerous features, which can be used for developing of cost-optimized and powerful PLC on almost any platform (such as arm/arm64 or x86/x64) to control EtherCAT I/O produced by any vendor.
Benefits and key features
- Meets EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) standards
KPA EtherCAT Master can be delivered as standard or customized feature packages. Two standard packages are available according ETG.1500 standard: Class A (Standard package) and Class B (Basic package). Moreover, koenig-pa GmbH introduces Premium package, which integrates various additional features for creating innovative applications. - Available for numerous operating systems, as well as OS-less systems
KPA EtherCAT Master is available for numerous operating systems, including Windows, INtime, RTX/RTX64, Linux, Linux+Xenomai, FreeRTOS, Nucleus, QNX, VxWorks, ReWorks, Integrity, as well as OS-less systems. Upon request, koenig-pa GmbH experts can adjust support for any operating system. - Hardware extensions for Xilinx/Intel FPGA (Altera) and Texas Instruments PRUSS Sitara CPU
Availability of IP Cores for Xilinx and for Intel FPGA (Altera) FPGAs, PRUss co-program for Texas Instrument Sitara CPUs (AM47x and AM57x) increases productivity and data processing efficiency. Implementation for AM6x is available upon request. - Auto Configurator for online configuration
KPA EtherCAT Master can configure bus on the fly without EtherCAT configuration tools. The Auto Configurator module allows a user application to select slave’s configuration and to switch between different configurations of the slave, for example, between position control of a drive and velocity control, or between bus configurations with a different number of slaves. - Process image logging for data transferring into analytic tools
Process image (PI) logger allows to collect real-time data for transferring to other levels without influence on real-time behavior of the control system. Data can be transferred to MATLAB, LabView (TDMS format), and any other analytic tools. Moreover, koenig-pa GmbH has designed a special Python extension, which allows to aggregate data into a file of any format, for example a CSV-file, for its further processing.
KPA EtherCAT Master Stack Architecture
EtherCAT master stack has a modular structure to respond to a challenge of each particular implementation. It makes the master scalable to fit the size of application, portable to different operating systems, adaptable to various hardware platforms and allows developing or customizing each module separately while keeping the functionality of the others intact.
Master’s modules are grouped in the following layers, thereby all functions are clearly separated:
Application layer
Application layer is responsible for interaction with various programming or/and configuration environments and other applications or devices. It encapsulates and
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ensures access to master’s functions from the side of applications or process tasks
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allows interaction with the master by means of Remote Procedure Calls service and provides TCP/IP or/and UDP connections, for example, for mailbox communication with slaves via UDP
KPA EtherCAT Master Stack Core
Mailbox module
KPA Master Core mailbox module deploys protocols to handle service data objects (SDP), data transfer and data exchange. The following protocols – according to the EtherCAT standard – are already supported:
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CAN application protocol over EtherCAT (CoE)
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Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
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Servo Profile over EtherCAT (SoE)
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File Access over EtherCAT (FoE)
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Vendor specific Profile over EtherCAT (VoE)
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ADS over EtherCAT (AoE)
Process Image Module
Process Image addresses are provided by EtherCAT network information (ENI) file, generated by a configuration tool. Access to the process image from control/process tasks is carried out through the master interface.
Distributed Clocks Module
KPA EtherCAT Master Synchronization Flyer (173.5 KB, 1,378 hits)
Frame Scheduler Module – Different Scan Rates for PDO
In the configuration tool the user defines scan rates for each slave individually. Frame Scheduler module manages velocity of EtherCAT frames by forwarding them to EtherCAT network driver.
KPA EtherCAT Master Stack OSAL
Operating System abstraction layer (OSAL)
Master Stack OSAL allows making the master portable to any operating system with less effort.
The layer consists of two modules:
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OS functions module contains wrappers for OS-dependent functions that deal with threads, timers, mutexes, etc.
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Network adapter driver module that abstracts the master stack core from the underlying network implementation.
KPA EtherCAT Master Operating Systems
Notes: Some OSes like Windows XP, CE6/7, OnTime RTOS-32, PikeOS, RTAI are ported, but not actively supported. Any other OS can be supported on request.
KPA EtherCAT Master Stack Benchmark
Config “Simple”:
64Bytes Frame, 1 LRD / 1 LWR, No DC, No Mailbox (EK1100 – EL1004 – EL2004)
Config “Complex”:
1 Full frame (1514Bytes frame for PDO), LRD / LWR commands, DC, Mailbox via EVENT (EK1100-EL1004-EL2004-EL1252-EL3102-EL4102-EL6751-EL6751)
Test Platform:
CPU: Intel® Core i7-3770 CPU 3.40 GHz 3.39GHz
NIC: Intel® Gigabit CT desktop adapter
RAM: 8GB
1. Comparing Master performance results running on different RTOSes but on the same target Intel Core i7 (Single CPU core for all Master threads)
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| Master cycle time, µs | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Jitter, ±µs | 5 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Slave response time (avg), µs | 43 | 32 | 43 | 33 | 22 |
| CPU load (avg), % | 16 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 13,3 |
Config “Complex”:
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| Master cycle time, µs | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| Jitter, ±µs | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Slave response time (avg), µs | 170 | 150 | 171 | 166 | 154 |
| CPU load (avg), % | 10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 3,8 |
2. Best Master performance results running on different RTOSes but on the same target (Single CPU core for all Master threads)
Config “Simple”:
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| Master cycle time, µs | 50 | 50 | 100 | 100 | 50 |
| Jitter, ±µs | 10 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Slave response time (avg), µs | 43 | 32 | 43 | 33 | 22 |
| CPU load (avg), % | 31 | 41 | 21 | 21 | 27,5 |
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| Master cycle time, µs | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| Jitter, ±µs | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Slave response time (avg), µs | 170 | 150 | 171 | 166 | 154 |
| CPU load (avg), % | 10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 3,8 |
KPA EtherCAT Master Stack Packages
Master Classes
KPA EtherCAT Master can be delivered as a standard or customized feature package subject to customer’s demands. Two standard packages are available in accordance with ETG.1500 requirements: Class A (Standard package) and Class B (Basic package). Besides, koenig-pa offers additional type package for the most demanding customers – Premium, with several advanced features already included.
To compare the features and options included in Basic (Class B) and Standard (Class A) packages, refer to the following document.
KPA EtherCAT Master Classes Flyer (370.4 KB, 1,728 hits)
Extensions
Extensions are advanced functional options (Feature Packs in terms of ETG) that can be purchased separately and added to any Class of KPA EtherCAT Master. Currently, the following extensions are available:
- Cable Redundancy (available in Premium by default)
- Hot Connect (available in Premium by default)
- TCP/UDP Mailbox Gateway (available in Premium by default)
- External DC Synchronization
- Multimaster
- CAN DBC driver
- Online configuration
- Process Image logger
- Master Redundancy
- VCOM driver
Online Configuration
KPA EtherCAT Master can detect network topology changes and automatically configure slave devices using a library of user-defined slave configuration files (uESI).
Master Redundancy
Several EtherCAT Masters can co-exist in a network segment, providing backup for seamless EtherCAT operation during possible Master failures. It significantly increases reliability and fault tolerance while reducing downtime.
WebSocket / OPC UA support
Master configuration and variables are available for external applications and services via several well-known protocols including WebSocket and OPC UA.
Process Image Logging + MATLAB / LabView integration
Process Image can be logged for further analysis. MATLAB integration and LabView-compatible (TDMS format) data logging are already implemented, with more applications and formats to come. This feature is extremely useful for throughput-sensitive data acquiring applications.
Operating Systems
We offer EtherCAT Master packages for the following general-purpose and real-time operating systems:
- Windows 7
- INtime
- Linux RT Preemt
- Xenomai
- QNX
- RTX/RTX64
- VxWorks
- Integrity
- FreeRTOS
- Nucleus
Any other operating system can be supported upon customer’s request. Additionally, we have ported KPA EtherCAT Master to Windows XP, CE6/7, OnTime RTOS-32, PikeOS, RTAI, etc. but are not actively support these operating systems.
