Kithara EtherCAT Master

Real-Time Automation Using Windows

The EtherCAT Master from the »Realtime Suite« collection from the Berlin firm Kithara Software is the optimal function tool for many types of automation solutions using Windows and makes all the required mechanisms ready in order to realize fast, cost-effective, flexible control applications using the basis of EtherCAT.

According to a study for the spread of industrial Ethernet systems on the international market in the years 2008 until 2010, EtherCAT is most frequently used when protocols with hard real-time requirements are needed. But even without a time-critical data processing, the industrial Ethernet protocol, originally developed by Beckhoff, is in great demand. EtherCAT reaches in total a market share of 10% and is on the 4th place after Ethernet/IP, Profinet and Modbus TCP. The EtherCAT Technology Group expects a value even twice as high.

EtherCAT is an efficient and modern Ethernet-based automation protocol (“Industrial Ethernet”) which is most suitable for factory automation through its high throughput and short, realizable cycle times. Automation hardware in the form of I/O clamps, servo controllers as well as safety solutions make it useful for different types of manufacturing processes. Using the control software, the so-called
EtherCAT Master, you can change between PLC-based and with it rather complex “BlackBox” orientation systems on the one hand, and open function libraries such as the Kithara EtherCAT Master, on the other. As a rule, EtherCAT Master allows for far and away fast and cost effective solutions.

The EtherCAT Master from Kithara sets up further mechanisms for the user alongside essential functions such as highly accurate timers with “hard real-time” and multitasking as well as real-time Ethernet access with 100 Mbit/s or 1 GBit/s which are required for PC-based automation and control applications. Such aspects as hardware access on PCI cards or USB devices and serial interfaces come along with this. The real-time capability of the EtherCAT Master is set up by a special Windows real-time extension from the Kithara »RealTime Suite«.

An individual overview of your EtherCAT Master can be found here.

Characteristics of the Kithara EtherCat Master

• Autonomous EtherCAT Master with highly accurate real-time timer functions for frequencies of more than 1 kHz.
• Automatic recognition of the EtherCAT topology with XML files.
• Process data communication (Cyclical I/O data exchange) in real-time.
• Short cycle times of less than 50 micro seconds.

Modular makeup of the Kithara EtherCAT Master

• Process Data Communication (PDO)
• Service Data Communication (SDO)
• Mailbox Communication
• CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE)
• Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
• File over EtherCAT (FoE)
• Distributed Clock (DC)

Further functions of the »RealTime Suite«

• Pre-emptive real-time multitasking with 255 priority levels.
• Ethernet communication in real-time over fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s) or gigabit Ethernet (1 GBit/s)
• UDP and TCP communication in real-time
• Hardware access to PCI cards of USB devices
• Sets up Windows programmer interfaces for device communication (ReadFile, WriteFile, DeviceIoControl).
• Allows you to set up your own device names, e.g. for virtual devices.
• Use of the kernel level supports C++ or Delphi (Win32 native)
• Operating systems: Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000 and NT

The advantages of using the Kithara EtherCAT Master

The EtherCAT Master is set up as a function library. A function expansion is modularly possible at any time. The developers can simply and quickly integrate the EtherCAT Master into their application. As well as this the programming languages of C++, Delphi and C# are supported and you can work in your usual, familiar environment. This prevents a time consuming training process which is the case in complex Soft-PLC-Systems such as TwinCAT from Beckhoff and others. Through using a function library, developers have more fundamentally flexible opportunities to realize their applications.

Our support team guarantees you the best possible service to help you integrate the software into your project and supports you through our developer support.

Master Monitor for EtherCAT

The Master Monitor for EtherCAT is a graphic Windows application for the visualization and management of EtherCAT topologies and is already contained in the base module of the EtherCAT Master. It can also be used as an EtherCAT configurator. The structure of the attached slave devices - the so-called topology - can be saved in a special XML file so that the topology can later be checked automatically and with a structure that will be realized later. The files can, however, also be built-up out of single building blocks manually.

Press releases on the EtherCAT Master can be found here.