Funktionen gemäß ETG.1500 EtherCAT Master Classes

Die ETG (EtherCAT Technology Group) hat zwei Master Klassen mit einem bestimmten Funktionsumfang im Dokument "ETG.1500 EtherCAT Master Classes" definiert:
Class A: Standard EtherCAT Master Device
Class B: Minimum EtherCAT Master Device
Zusätzliche, optionale Funktionen werden in sogenannten "Feature Packs (FP)" definiert.

Basic Features

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Service Commands Support of all commands X X
IRQ field in datagram Use IRQ information from Slave in datagram header X X
Slaves with Device Emulation Support Slaves with and without application controller X X
EtherCAT State Machine Support of ESM special behavior X X
Error Handling Checking of network or slave errors, e.g. Working Counter X X
VLAN Support VLAN Tagging X   -- (*2)  
EtherCAT Frame Types Support EtherCAT Frames X X
UDP Frame Types Support UDP Frames -- (*1) -- (*2)
Multiple Instances One control system operating multiple networks X X

Process Data Exchange

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Cyclic PDO Cyclic process data exchange X X
Multiple Tasks Different cycle tasks
Multiple update rates for PDO
X X
Frame repetition Send cyclic frames multiple times to increase immunity -- (*1) -- (*2)

Network Configuration

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Online scanning Network configuration functionality included in EtherCAT Master X X
Reading ENI Network Configuration taken from ENI file X X
Compare Network configuration Compare configured and existing network configuration during boot-up X X
Explicit Device identification Identification used for Hot Connect and prevention against cable swapping X X
Station Alias Addressing Support configured station alias in slave,
i.e. enable 2nd Address and use it
X X
Access to EEPROM Support routines to access EEPROM via ESC register X X

Mailbox Support

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Support Mailbox Main functionality for mailbox transfer X X
Mailbox Resilient Layer Support underlying resilient layer X X
Multiple Mailbox channels   X X
Mailbox polling Polling Mailbox state in slaves   X X

CAN application layer over EtherCAT (CoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
SDO Up/Download Normal and expedited transfer X X
Segmented Transfer Segmented transfer X X
Complete Access Transfer the entire object (with all sub-indices) at once X X
SDO Info service Services to read object dictionary X X
Emergency Message Receive Emergency messages X X

Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
EoE protocol Services for tunneling Ethernet frames. includes all specified EoE services X X
Virtual Switch Virtual Switch functionality X X
EoE Endpoint to Operation Systems Interface to the Operation System on top of the EoE layer FP (*1) FP (*2)

File access over EtherCAT (FoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
FoE protocol Support FoE Protocol X X
Firmware Up-/Download Password, FileName should be given by the application X X
Boot State Support Boot-State for Firmware Up/Download X X

Servodrive-Profile over EtherCAT (SoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
SoE Services Support SoE Services X X

ADS over EtherCAT (AoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
AoE Protocol Support AoE Protocol X X

Vendor over EtherCAT (VoE)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
VoE Protocol External Connectivity supported X X

Synchronization with Distributed Clock (DC)

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
DC support Support of Distributed Clock X -- (*2)
Continuous Propagation Delay compensation Continuous Calculation of the propagation delay X -- (*2)
Sync window monitoring Continuous monitoring of the Synchronization difference in the slaves X -- (*2)

Slave-to-Slave Communication

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
via Master Information is given in ENI file or can be part of any other network configuration. Copying of the data can be handled by master stack or master’s application. Required to support FSoE Safety slaves. X X

Master information

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Master Object Dictionary Support of Master Object Dictionary (ETG.5001 MDP sub profile 1100) FP (*1) FP (*2)

Feature Packs

Feature name Short description Class A Class B
Cable Redundancy Stay operational in case of cable break between two slaves FP FP
Hot Connect Add or remove additional slave devices during bus communication is in progress. Newly added slaves are automatically transferred into the OPERATIONAL state. FP FP
TCP-Server and Remote API The TCP-Server together with the Remote API Context.Scope.Library allows accessing EC-Master from a remote system FP FP
EoE Endpoint The interface allows sending and receiving Ethernet frames to/from the EtherCAT network FP FP

Feature ID: Unique identification used in ETG.1500 EtherCAT Master Classes
FP: Available as Feature Pack
*1: According to ETG.1500 Master Classes not mandatory for Class A
*2: According to ETG.1500 Master Classes not mandatory for Class B