Time Synchronization Between EtherCAT Network and External Processor

Park, Sung-Mun; Kwon, Young-Woo; Choi, Joon‐Young

doi:10.1109/lcomm.2020.3027388

Cited by 14 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In an EtherCAT network, the latter is realized by use of Distributed Clock mechanisms, which can be improved by using system time drift compensation [15]. A solution, similar to those based on a Distributed Clock, has also been implemented on a Linux platform [16], which involved a time synchronization setup between Linux and the EtherCAT master [17].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of SDN Technology for Flexible EtherCAT Networks Applications

Smołka

Stój

2022

Sensors

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At the beginning of the current century, Ethernet-based communication networks began to be implemented in industrial applications. Some previously used protocols were migrated to Ethernet networks, while many others were strictly developed for this communication medium. Numerous industrial Ethernet protocols do not deliver all the capabilities provided by the Ethernet. For example, limitations may arise associated with wireless communication, use of dedicated switching devices, or operation solely for certain topologies. On the other hand, new technologies are now available, such as software defined networks (SDN), that add new features to Ethernet-based communication systems. In this paper, an EtherCAT network in combination with SDN is analyzed. EtherCAT network may only consist of devices with an implemented EtherCAT protocol stack. Therefore, regular Ethernet switches cannot typically be used in this network and, hence, special network infrastructure may be required to create topologies other than standard line topology. It is shown, however, that this limitation can be overcome by the application of SDN. In addition, a definition of datagram forwarding rules (called SDN flows here) is given, and we demonstrate that EtherCAT datagrams can be sent through routes that are required for proper EtherCAT network operation.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of SDN Technology for Flexible EtherCAT Networks Applications

Smołka

Stój

2022

Sensors

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“…The synchronization method 4 proposed by Chen realized master–slave synchronization; however, it relied on the real‐time Windows. Scholar Park 1 introduced a novel synchronization algorithm between EtherCAT master and the external processor; however, it still depended on the real‐time Linux. Scholar Park 3 proposed a novel synchronization method between master and slave; however, it still cannot function independently of the real‐time operating system (RTOS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation of EtherCAT adaptive synchronization control in embedded CNC

Cao

Wang

Jia

et al. 2023

Int J Communication

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EtherCAT is a real-time Ethernet protocol and has been widely used in the field of motion control owing to its high speed (100 or 1000 Mbps), low processor occupancy, and good synchronization performance in slaves. However, the master-slave synchronization method is blank in the EtherCAT protocol. The study proposes a novel master-slave synchronization method that relies on the stable sync0 of reference slave by adjusting the trigger moment of master interpolation period to settle packet loss caused by EtherCAT master-slave un-synchronization, adaptively and dynamically. Furthermore, the proposed method improved EtherCAT to a whole new level, indicating that the EtherCAT master no longer depended on the real-time operating system (RTOS). In addition, a synchronization predictive compensation mechanism was adopted to eliminate the compensation lag defect of existing synchronization methods. Compared with conventional studies, the synchronization method improved compensation efficiency, settled inaccurate compensation with evaluation derived from different working frequencies, and eliminated accumulative error in clock. Finally, the proposed method added almost no computation and communication load and only required eight or 16 bytes to modify the EtherCAT frame coding in the interpolation period. Experiments were carried out on machine tools to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method in improving the synchronization performance, with an average communication jitter of only 32-71 ns.

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