A new generation of the Master core brings exceptional possibilities of the automation control over EtherCAT network. Master 1.6 has many limitations due to its inflexible and monolithic architecture. In the version 2.x we revised Master architecture and do our best to avoid all limitations of previous versions and improve and extend Master functionality. Full description of KPA EtherCAT Master 2 advantages.
| Feature | Master 1.x | Master 2.x |
|---|---|---|
| Support for Xenomai 3.2 | 1.8.1405 | — |
| Support for RTX64 4.5 | 1.8.802 | 2.6.3502 |
| Support for QNX 7.1 | 1.6.55118 | 2.5.27405 |
| Support for Zynq Xenomai | 1.6.33918 | 2.5.24642 |
| Support for RTX64 4.4 | 1.6.56308 | 2.5.22913 |
| Support for INtime 7 | — | 2.5.22913 |
| MIP Framework extension | — | 2.4.56905 |
| Support for RTX64 4.3 | 1.6.55704 | 2.4.56905 |
| Timed send emulation with RTX64 NAL | — | 2.4.56013 |
| Reference design for Xilinx ZCU104 Support for Xilinx Vivado 2021.1 |
— | 2.4.55606 |
| KPA Sentinel dongle for Linux-based OS | 1.6.55503 | 2.4.55504 |
| Support for RTX64 4.2 | 1.6.55305 | 2.4.54209 |
| Support for RTX64 NAL | — | 2.4.54209 |
| FSOE for Autoconfigurator Autoconfigurator samples improvement Post validation for Autoconfigurator export |
— | 2.4.51918 |
| Restriction of background frames size | 1.6.55118 | — |
| Support for VxWorks SDK 6.9.4.12 | 1.6.54901 | — |
Support for RTX64 4.4
From now on Master supports RTX64 4.4 – the latest version of RTX64.
Support for INtime 7
From now on Master supports INtime 7 – the latest version of INtime.
DIP AM572x for Linux
A new Driver Integration Package has been included into the MDK for Linux to support the Texas Instruments AM572x Industrial Development Kit for Linux.
MIP Framework extension
A possibility to create executors in different threads automatically has been added into MIP Framework as the Threads Processor template.
Support for RTX64 4.3
From now on Master supports RTX64 4.3 – the latest version of RTX64.
Timed send emulation with RTX64 NAL
Added Timed send emulation support for RTX64 NAL driver.
With the emulation of timed sending enabled, the Master prepares the frames before the cycle starts and passes them to a separate thread (instead of the HW module in case of Hardware timed send). It sends the frames as soon as the cycle begins.
Reference design for Xilinx ZCU104
New reference design for Xilinx ZCU104 Evaluation Kit has been released.
Support for Xilinx Vivado 2021.1
From now on Master supports version 2021.1 of Xilinx Vivado.
KPA Sentinel dongle for Linux-based OS
From now on Master licensing can be bound to Sentinel dongle on Linux-based OS (Linux Rt-Preempt).
Support for RTX64 4.2
From now on Master supports RTX64 4.2 – the latest version of RTX64.
Support for RTX64 NAL
From now on Master supports RTX64 Network Abstraction Layer (NAL).
Unlike the TCP/IP stack interface, the NAL makes modern Ethernet adapter features available for engineers. The NAL offers a stable, reliable deterministic network interface, which is very important at building and connecting machines.
FSoE for Autoconfigurator
Parsing of safety connections and their verification have been added to Autoconfigurator.
If configured connections are not detected, Autoconfigurator generates ECAT_AC_EVENT_UNLINKED_SAFETY_CONNECTION and returns ECAT_E_AC_SAFETY_CONNECTIONS on export call.
To configure Autoconfigurator with FSoE, create the configuration in KPA EtherCAT Studio, set S2S connections between safety PDOs/PDO Entries and save it to uESI and then apply it to Autoconfigurator.
Autoconfigurator samples improvement
A new Autoconfigurator export template has been added to the samples. All Autoconfigurator samples now use this template to configure KPA EtherCAT Master.
Post validation for Autoconfigurator export
Post validation has been added to Autoconfigurator export. This allows different modules to check configuration consistency before export.
Restriction of background frames size
A possibility to limit a maximal size of background frames has been added.
Background frames are all non cyclic frames. In some cases when bus load is near 100%, sending background frames can exceed the Cycle time.
Using the bus load restrictions allows to guarantee sending frames during one cycle.
Support for VxWorks SDK 6.9.4.12
Implementation of support for VxWorks SDK 6.9.4.12.
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