EtherCAT Master Stack demo on TI AM263Px (Demo on LP-AM263P board)
Architecture and platform integration
This diagram illustrates the integration of the icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack on the TI AM263Px as supported by the demo software.
The icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack runs on an R5F core based on FreeRTOS.
It interfaces with the TI Enet LLD via the icNET Optimized Link Layer driver.
Ethernet communication is supported at the port of the CPSW Ethernet switch.
The ENI (EtherCAT Network Information) is stored in XML format on the SD card and parsed at runtime.
The icECAT Master Monitor is linked to the MainDevice application and accessible via UART over a serial terminal.
The MainDevice application is built on the TI MCU+ SDK. The board boots with help of the SBL bootloader.
Additional features in the release version:
ENI can be linked static to the MainDevice application.
EtherCAT features, disabled for the demo:
Hot-Connect
EoE
FoE
Cable Redundancy
SDO Info Service
Support for read and write of Explicit Device Identification
Mailbox Gateway and Master object dictionary
Prerequisites
To run the icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack demo, you will need:
A Texas Instruments LaunchPad for TI Sitara AM263Px (LP-AM263P) with a power supply.
An installed TI MCU+ SDK for AM263Px, v10.02.00.15.
An installed Python version 3.x
A micro SD card
A micro USB cable
An Ethernet cable
One or more EtherCAT SubDevices, optionally with ESI files
icECAT EtherCAT Master demo software for TI Sitara AM263Px on LP-AM263P
Demo setup
Hardware setup
The following figure illustrates the hardware setup:
Follow these steps for the hardware setup:
Prepare the board to use SD card boot mode.
Power off the LaunchPad.
Change the boot mode switches (SW1) to UART BOOTMODE:
SW1
BOOTMODE [1:4]
0111
Connect J34 (USB UART0) to your PC using a micro USB cable for the serial terminal.
On your PC, two serial COM ports will appear. To find the correct COM port on Windows:
Open the Windows Device Manager and check for two USB Serial Port devices.
Use the first detected port (XDS110 Class Application/User UART) for the UART terminal connection.
For more details, see [AM263PXMCU+SDK] Setup the UART terminal
Connect the 5V power supply to the LaunchPad.
Power on the LaunchPad.
Flash the SBL SD using the default_sbl_sd configuration file provided in
mcu_plus_sdk_am263px_10_02_00_15\tools\boot\sbl_prebuilt\am263px-lp\C:\ti\mcu_plus_sdk_am263px_10_02_00_15\tools\boot> python .\uart_uniflash.py -p COM<n> --cfg=sbl_prebuilt\am263px-lp\default_sbl_sd.cfgPower off the LaunchPad.
Change BOOTMODE to OSPI BOOTMODE:
SW1
BOOTMODE [1:4]
0011
Connect the J7 (CPSW_RGMII1) network port to your EtherCAT network.
Software setup
Ensure the SD card is bootable. The first partition must therefore be FAT-formatted and marked as ACTIVE. Detailed guide: Booting the EVM from SD card
Copy the following binaries from the icECAT Master Demo software package (
sdcardfolder) to the FAT partition of the SD card:appOptional: If you already have an ENI file for your EtherCAT network, copy it to the SD card named as
eni.xml.
Insert the SD card into the LaunchPad.
Starting the demo
Open a serial terminal (e.g. PuTTY or the terminal view in TI CCS) on the UART COM port with the settings:
115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bitPower on the LaunchPad. The terminal should display:
Starting SD Bootloader ...
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] CPU Clock : 400.000 MHz
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Media : SD Card
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Boot Image Size : 459 KB
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] Cores present :
r5f0-0
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] System_init : 492us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Drivers_open : 167662us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] LoadHsmRtFw : 8675us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] Board_driversOpen : 2853us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] File read from SD card : 79490us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] CPU load : 43us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER PROFILE] SBL End : 57708us
KPI_DATA: [BOOTLOADER_PROFILE] SBL Total Time Taken : 316925us
Image loading done, switching to application ...
Starting EtherCAT MainDevice Demo Application ...
EnetAppUtils_reduceCoreMacAllocation: Reduced Mac Address Allocation for CoreId:0 From 4 To 3
Open MAC port 1
EnetPhy_bindDriver:1873
PHY 3 is alive
PHY 12 is alive
__ ________ ______ ______ ________
....... <<<<<<< / | / | / \ / \ / |
: ------- <<<<< ##/ _______ ########/ /###### |/###### |########/
: / ....... <<< / | / |## |__ ## | ##/ ## |__## | ## |
: / :....... <<<<< ## |/#######/ ## | ## | ## ## | ## |
: | :: <<<<<<< ## |## | #####/ ## | __ ######## | ## |
: | :: :: | : ## |## \_____ ## |_____ ## \__/ |## | ## | ## | __
: \ ::......:: / : ## |## |## |## ##/ ## | ## | ## | / |
: \ :......: / : ##/ #######/ ########/ ######/ ##/ ##/ ##/ ##/
: -------- :
........ EtherCAT Master Stack for Embedded Systems
Limited Demo Version >...<
Copyright (c) by IBV - Echtzeit- und Embedded GmbH & Co. KG
https://www.ibv-augsburg.de/icecat
This is a demo application for the
icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack for Embedded Systems
The EtherCAT MainDevice software is designed for use on
microcontrollers, microprocessors and PC systems
> Optimal performance
> Small footprint
> Project based source code license, royalty free
> Press ENTER to continue...
After initialization, the system prompts for setting up the configuration:
Network setup: Choose between a physical EtherCAT network or the icECAT EtherCAT Network Simulation library.
EtherCAT network configuration: Scan the network or use the pre-configured eni.xml.
Cycle time configuration
Output options: icECAT Master Monitor, performance monitor, or extended logging
For an initial test, select 0 for all options.
The MainDevice demo then starts. The terminal should display:
=== init EtherCAT master
=== create link layer driver options ><)
-[COPYRIGHT]-------------------------------------------------------------------
(C) IBV - Echtzeit- und Embedded GmbH & Co. KG
https://www.ibv-augsburg.de/icecat
-[PRODUCT]---------------------------------------------------------------------
icECAT - EtherCAT Master Stack
Version: 1.12...
-[SYSTEM]----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating System: ...
Target Architecture: ...
Link Layer Driver[0]: ...
-[DEMO-VERSION]----------------------------------------------------------------
!! USE ONLY FOR DEMONSTRATION PURPOSES !!
!! FOR USE IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS, A COMMERCIAL LICENSE IS NECESSARY. !!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=== create linked monitor
=== create icECAT Configuration Library instance
-[COPYRIGHT]-------------------------------------------------------------------
(C) IBV - Echtzeit- und Embedded GmbH & Co. KG
https://www.ibv-augsburg.de/icecat
-[PRODUCT]---------------------------------------------------------------------
icECAT - EtherCAT Configuration Library/Tool
Version: 1.16...
-[SYSTEM]----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating System: ...
Target Architecture: ...
-[DEMO-VERSION]----------------------------------------------------------------
!! USE ONLY FOR DEMONSTRATION PURPOSES !!
!! FOR USE IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS, A COMMERCIAL LICENSE IS NECESSARY. !!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open ESI repository:/sd0/esirepo repoindex:/sd0/repoindex.ini
=== run main loop
=== activate master
=== Request startup state:8
Afterwards the MainDevice tries to setup the network to OPERATIONAL state. If successful, the ACTIVITY LED on your EtherCAT SubDevice(s) should blink and the RUN LED should be on. If the setup fails, restart the demo and enable extended logging for troubleshooting.
Furthermore, the icECAT Master monitor is shown on top of the log output in blue color. The selectable screens and their hotkeys are listed.
EtherCAT MainDevice demo application
The MainDevice demo application can be used to control the EtherCAT MainDevice stack with help of the icECAT Master Monitor tool. In the release version, a programming API is provided to control the network, access the process data, etc.
EtherCAT network configuration
If no ENI (EtherCAT Network Information) file is provided, the application automatically scans the network for connected EtherCAT SubDevices. It retrieves the ESI (EtherCAT Slave Information) data from the SII (SubDevice Information Interface) repository or, if unavailable, reads the SII data from the SubDevice’s EEPROM.
An ENI is generated using the integrated icECAT Configuration Library, stored in RAM and linked to the MainDevice stack. This configuration defines the network topology, the initialization for the process variables, and the structure of the cyclic frames.
Here is a sample of the related output:
Start network scan...
Network scan done. Found 3 devices.
List of devices found in network scan:
dev#-1 prod=0x00000000 rev=0x00000000 <icECAT EVAL Master > type=
dev#00 prod=0x044C2C52 rev=0x00120000 <EVAL Slave 01 () > type=
dev#01 prod=0x07113052 rev=0x00110000 <EVAL Slave 02 () > type=
dev#02 prod=0x0AF93052 rev=0x00120000 <EVAL Slave 03 () > type=
ESI not available for all devices => use online SII as fallback
Start SII reading ...
SII read done: (4)
Generate basic ENI
lib-ecatmcfg EVENT >00h00m01.176 INFO EMCFG_EVTC_ENI_PROCESS_START: Processing ENI ... <
lib-ecatmcfg EVENT >00h00m01.184 INFO EMCFG_EVTC_ENI_PROCESS_END: Processing ENI finished. <
List of devices found in network scan:
dev#-1 prod=0x00000000 rev=0x00000000 <icECAT EVAL Master > type=
dev#00 prod=0x044C2C52 rev=0x00120000 <EVAL Slave 01 (EK1100) > type=EK1100
dev#01 prod=0x07113052 rev=0x00110000 <EVAL Slave 02 (EL1809) > type=EL1809
dev#02 prod=0x0AF93052 rev=0x00120000 <EVAL Slave 03 (EL2809) > type=EL2809
Request linking of network scan ENI
use ENI from network scan
create cyclic task (cycidx=0; prio=1; cyctime:1000us)
=== run cyclic task (cycidx=0, cyctime:1000 us)
=== activate master
=== Request startup state:8
EtherCAT Network Configuration with an external configuration tool
As an alternative to an automatic online configuration, an ENI can be generated
with an external tool and provided to the stack as XML file (eni.xml).
IBV provides the icECAT EtherCAT Configuration Library with a GUI tool for generating a network configuration. Ask IBV for an evaluation version. As alternative, you could use Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 to generate an ENI.
EtherCAT network state
Enter the EtherCAT network screen by pressing SHIFT+N in the monitor.
In this screen, the states of the MainDevice and of all SubDevices are shown. Select the device with the UP/DOWN keys and start a state transition with one of the keys i / b / p / s / o as indicated on the bottom status line.
If the SubDevice reports a problem, the AL_STATUS code is shown in column ALCODE.
Loading of an ENI file can be initiated by pressing “l” (small “L”) . By typing “scan” as ENI file name, an online network scan is triggered.
PDO access (process variables)
Enter the screen with I/O variables (PDOs) by pressing SHIFT+I in the monitor.
In this screen, select the process variables with the UP/DOWN keys. The current value is shown on the right side.
If an output value is selected, it can be modified by pressing ENTER and by
entering the new value as decimal number or as hexadecimal number with 0x
as prefix.
When working with a CiA402 drive, the CiA402 state machine can be controlled by writing the CONTROL WORD and inspecting the STATUS WORD.
SDO upload and download
A SubDevice related screen can be entered by selecting the SubDevice in the network screen and pressing ENTER. The LEFT / RIGHT keys select the previous or the next SubDevice.
If the selected SubDevice supports the CoE mailbox protocol
you can read (=upload) SDOs by pressing “u” and entering the SDO index and subindex,
e.g. 0x1008:0
If the SDO is writable, you can press “d” and enter the SDO index and subindex. Afterwards the value can be entered as hex bytes in little endian format.
ESC register access
The registers of the ESC (EtherCAT SubDevice Controller) of a SubDevice can be inspected by selecting the device the network screen and pressing SHIFT+R.
Scroll in the ESC register list with the UP/DOWN keys. By pressing ENTER, you can enter a new value to be written to the register. Example: Writing to the AL Control register (0x0120) will modify the application layer state of a SubDevice.
Diagnostic information
A screen with MainDevice related statistics and diagnostic information can be entered by pressing SHIFT+M.
In the middle, of the screen DC (Distributed Clocks) timing statistics are shown. For a reliable operation in DC mode, the counter missed shall be 0.
In the lower part, statistic counters of the Ethernet link layer driver are shown.
Performance monitor
The MainDevice demo application contains a built-in performance monitor. It can be activated when starting the demo. The performance monitor shows live values as well as min/max values of the EtherCAT timing as soon as the MainDevice enters the OPERATIONAL state:
Performance values for the platform TI Sitara AM263Px on LP-AM263P
The values in the table at the bottom of the screen are:
CRX: Time for receiving (getting and evaluating) the response frame from the last cycle
CPRC: Time for processing the data on application level (0 in demo application)
CTX: Time for transmitting (passing the frame to the Ethernet controller for transmission)
CTOT: Total operation time in cyclic task for one cycle
ATOT: Total operation time in acyclic task for one cycle
CTJ: Latency/jitter of the cyclic timer. This value is related to the hardware / RTOS performance and results in a frame jitter (CFJ) in the same range.
CFJ: Jitter of the cyclic frame measured with the clock of the DC reference slave. If this min/max value is out of the bandwidth shown in the Performance Monitor screen, then the SubDevices did not get updated information for the next cycle in time.
EtherCAT network simulation
The MainDevice demo application contains the icECAT EtherCAT Network Simulation Library. This component simulates an EtherCAT network to a certain extent that the MainDevice stack is able to setup the network. On API level, the behavior for input/output variables could be simulated in a custom application. This could be used to develop a MainDevice control application without requiring a physical network of SubDevices. The simulation of I/O values is not supported by this demo application.
The built-in icECAT EtherCAT Network Simulation Libray can be used if no physical EtherCAT SubDevices are available. This requires an ENI file to define the simulated network topology. Select the network simulation option in the setup screen when starting the demo.
Note
Not all features of the icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack are supported by the network simulation.
Full-featured software
A full-featured evaluation version of the icECAT EtherCAT Master Stack and the icECAT EtherCAT Configuration Library is available upon request.