KPA EtherCAT Master can configure bus on the fly without EtherCAT® configuration tools.

The Autoconfigurator module allows user to generate Master configuration file (ENI) based on scanned topology using preconfigured slave’s configuration files (uESI). uESI is a file describing custom slave`s configuration and is created in KPA EtherCAT Studio by means of the Autoconfigurator UI. It is possible to create a set of uESI-s in advance and then applied them to Master depending on the user’s needs. The module generates Master configuration file (ENI) with applied uESI. Further, this ENI will be used at Master work.

The Autoconfigurator functionality may be used at least in two ways:

  1. To switch between different configurations of the slave. For example, Servo Drive has two working modes Velocity and Position that require different slave settings.
  2. To switch between bus configurations with different number of slaves. For example, when mandatory and optional Hot-Connected slaves are on the bus. Since Hot-Connected or optional slaves can absent, the number of slaves on the bus may vary on the fly and Autoconfigurator allows to work with dynamic configuration.
Autoconfigurator
Autoconfigurator

The Autoconfigurator functionality is available in KPA EtherCAT Master v2.4 or higher and is provided as extension that should be additionally activated through license file.

Also, koenig-pa provides the KPA EtherCAT Master 2 Python Interface package. Using it together with the Autoconfigurator module allows to configure the bus on the fly with the help of Python application.