EtherCAT bus module ibaBM-eCAT

The device ibaBM-eCAT can be used for recording of net data transmitted over an EtherCAT® line. The device should be connected directly to the EtherCAT wire, positioned in line right next to the EtherCAT master.

Generally, the configuration of the device can be performed in the I/O Manager of the software application ibaPDA-V6. For this purpose a bidirectional fiber optic connection to a PC is required, which is provided by a fiber optic card of the ibaFOB-D familiy (e. g. ibaFOB-io-D).

The setup of the signals can be retrieved from the EtherCAT project file provided that the ENI export file of the EtherCAT configuration is imported in ibaPDA. Hence, the signal selection and configuration can easily be done by mouse click in ibaPDA.

The following adjustments are possible:

• Specification of up to 512 analog signals in each direction (input and output) by means of a symbolic name. The address is mapped by ibaPDA to a logical 32 bit address or a physical address, consisting of a 16 bit device address and a 16 bit internal address. The data formats BYTE, SINT, WORD, INT, DWORD, DINT, REAL and FLOAT are supported.
• Specification of up to 512 digital signals in each direction (input and output) by means of a symbolic name. The address is mapped by ibaPDA to a logical 32 bit address or a physical address, consisting of a 16 bit device address and a 16 bit internal address, and the bit number 0 to 7.

Moreover, you can configure ibaBM-eCAT as active slave on the EtherCAT-bus. Hence, it can be addressed by the EtherCAT-master. This way, the EtherCAT-master can address exactly the user data that is needed for recording on the ibaPDA. Those signals are regarded as outputs from the EtherCAT bus’ view. (Please observe additional notes in the appendix, “Restrictions of EtherCAT configuration”.)

For ibaBM-eCAT as sniffer and/or active slave applies: ibaPDA can acquire up to a total of 512 analog and 512 digital values in each signal direction according to the sampling rate configured on the EtherCAT bus*.

A brief overview:

• Bus monitor for EtherCAT lines
• To be connected directly with the EtherCAT wire next to the master, no further adapters needed
• Configuration as active EtherCAT-slave
• 2 Ethernet interfaces (to the master and to the slave)
• Configuration with ibaPDA
• Signal configuration can be retrieved from the EtherCAT project file of the auto¬mation system
• Transmission of up to 512 digital and 512 analog signals in each direction to ibaPDA according to the bus cycle time*
• Supported data types: Byte, SINT, WORD, INT, DWORD, DINT, REAL and FLOAT
• Rugged housing, easy mounting

* If the cycle time is below 500 µs, there are restrictions on the number of values.