EC-Inspector V4: New Features

The version 4 of the EC-Inspector received a significant rework and update of the user interface, which combines several benefits for users and operators:

• Improved usability by enabling a better focus on the most relevant features in any view or tab of the EC-Inspector – e.g. highlighting active buttons, using high-contrast colors for key user elements, removing ornaments which did not prove useful.
• Updated icons and button styles for immediate information on status of the tool, connected MainDevice as well as SubDevices – even when used on modern tablet-style computers with reduced screen size.
• Keep compatibility with modern tools and Windows-software – a similar look and feel helps users to complete tasks faster.
• Apart from the immediately recognizable new look, there are many optimizations done to improve handling and speed up many work-steps – including automatic wizards to help with the generation of output files for Data Acquisition and more.
• We also increased the information shown in many screens – providing relevant information on EC-Inspector functions or EtherCAT data in sight when working with the EC-Inspector, eliminating the need to check the manual or online-help in many cases.

The built-in snapshot function is now much more powerful, as you can get automatic generated snapshots based on trigger conditions. Any trigger can compare any variable (input or output) with either a fixed value or with another variable. Various comparison operators are available for the trigger conditions. When using the new Automatic Snapshot Mode, a snapshot will be triggered automatically, but you can continuously monitor the network – and can use the automatically generated snapshots to deep dive into key situations afterwards without the need to load in a long PCAP recording or similar.

The new performance measurement function is a great tool to quickly get an overview on the systems as well the EtherCAT MainDevice performance: You can verify CPU load respectively CPU-time to identify if the control system can handle the selected EtherCAT cycle time. In addition you can monitor the busload to avoid any lost cycles or data-communication issues due to network overload.

The Inspection Report which is generated automatically during each diagnosis session has been improved and extended – providing a lot of highly usefull data which can either be used for qualification reports as well as to identify system changes or possible root causes for any EtherCAT-based issues.

The EC-Inspector supports a range of different TAP-devices – either using autodetect or by manual selection of the used TAP type.
This selection is now also available when using Pcap files.