EtherCAT EL7201

Hi
My system consists of a NI cRIO – 9082 which is acting as the EtherCAT Master. The cRIO is then connected to a BeckHoff EtherCAT coupler EK1100. Off this EK1100 I have multiple EtherCAT slaves which I can communicate to without problems (EL1008. EL2008, EL3008 and EL4008). However the EL7201 module fails to enter the ‘safe operational’ state. I believe the issue is related to distributed clocks on the EtherCAT slave. I have enabled the distributed clock (DE) on the module however I am unable to enable the enable the distributed clock on the Ethercat coupler (the option is greyed out).
I would be regretful is anyone can spot what I am doing wrong? or could give some advice on how to interface with a EL7201 module via LabVIEW?
Thanks
Dave B

Hi Dave,
Interfacing with Third party hardware often involves some extra configuration time. I found a forum which might help you out -http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/cRIO-9067-and-Bernecker-Rainer-EtherCAT-slave/m-p/3038835#M866641 . For instance do you have your cRIO scan mode set to configuration mode ?
Here is a white paper on Adding Third-Party EtherCAT® Slaves in LabVIEW - http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/FDA1318A8909D02C862574510060DB62?OpenDocument
I will continue to look into your problem but wanted to send your some resources for you to look at in the mean time.
Kind Regards,
Lucas
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

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No SDO Communication Using CAN over EtherCAT (CoE) with 3rd Party Slave

Dear all
We are trying to establish an EtherCAT communication between a cRIO 9024 as EtherCAT master with a 3rd party frequency comverter (bmaxx 4432) as EtherCAT slave. CanOPEN over EtherCAT is industry standard.
The slave device has a CAN in Automation (CiA) configuration 402, i.e. motion and drives. Thus it has a well configured address range, input/output parameters and the like. The frequency converter remains in INIT mode and waits for a PDO definition, sent via an SDO communication.
In LabView, adding an EtherCAT master in the cRIO system works fine. Adding targets and devices on the configured EtherCAT master also works fine after we imported an XML description of our third party EtherCAT slave. LabView detects the slave type and the version correctly. Thus, there must already be a rudimentary EtherCAT communication working between LabView and our 3rd party slave.
The problem is that we cannot establish a first SDO communication.
Every description I found was about using CANopen on a CAN bus hardware (e.g. NI 9861) plugged into the cRIO. Descriptions concerning EtherCAT are usually concerning an NI cRIO 9144 extension as slave, which is not what we have.
The NI CANopen library seems to definitely require the NI 9861.
Is this correct?
1)
Either it should be possible to define a kind of virtual CAN port based on the EtherCAT port, on which we can write to and read from with the NI CANopen library. This would be the preferred solution so we can use the CANopen VIs.
Is there a way to do this?
2)
Otherwise, there should be a possibility to establish a more basic SDO/PDO communication directly based on the EtherCAT interface.
Are there any NMT/SDO/PDO VIs available to do the programming?
Is there a manual document which would describe how to start the first communication setup via EtherCAT (CoE)?
My sincere thanks for any advice you can give.
Many cheers
Markus

Dear all,
I'm trying to establish a connection between a cRIO9068 and a BM 3300 via CoE.
I already had a hard time establishing a normal EtherCAT-connection.
Finally I could set the Scan engine to active, and I was able to get from "ini" and "pre operational" into "Safe operational" and "operational".
As I can see, you had similar problems as I do.
When I add my cRIO to my project (with the EterCAT-master) I can look for the slave device, and add it to my project.
Within this slave device, I can add two mods, as seen in the attachment.
These slots should include all the parameters, the drive provides, but actually I only end up with some "position mode" -parameters, I think those are the SDO's.
If I add these to a VI, the cRIO scan engine switches to configuration mode, but can't switch back to active mode.
Actually, the Baumüller slave device should be able to provide multiple parameters for read and write.
I can see them, wehn I go to "online device state" in the rightklick menu of the slave device (Parameter.png), but there's no way I can actually use them.
I can't add these "slots" on every computer.
On some computers it's possible, on some it isn't.
Thanks for any advice, you can give.
Yours sincerely
Karl
Attachments:
slot 1.PNG ‏6 KB
slot 2.PNG ‏9 KB
Parameter.PNG ‏46 KB

Is it possible to simulate EtherCAT devices in a project?

Given a project topology like this:
Windows PC Host <-> cRIO-9024 <-> NI-9114 backplane <-> NI-9144 EtherCAT #1 <-> NI-9144 EtherCAT #2 run in hybrid scan mode
During development is it possible to tell the project to run without EtherCAT #2 being physically connected, using virtual/simulated IO in place of it?
Just trying it, when I try to switch from Configuration to Active mode, I get an error saying that "the slave device cannot be found".
I often find myself thinking that the project explorer needs a good way to "comment out" various pieces of the project without having to resort to "Remove From Project".

Hi WNM,
Unfortunately, it is not possible to run the project without the ethercat slave device connected. That does sound like a very useful suggestion though! I recommend that you post to the NI Idea Exchange with your ideas for this. http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-Idea-Exchange/ct-p/ideas
Regards,
Dayna P.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

EtherCAT Error -2147138468 switching third party device to Safe Operational State

I have been successful in importing and detecting/adding a Lenord + Bauer Ethercat Encoder (GEL235).
Attached you will find the Device Profile.
But when I try to switch the Scan Engine to "Active", I eventually receive this error message: "An error occured while attempting to switch the I/O scan mode. LabVIEW: (Hex 0x80DF0019) The deployment connection timed out."
Trying to set the device EtherCAT Online State to "Safe Operational" on the slave device eventually returns "Error -2147138468 occurred at an unidentified location Possible reason(s): CoE operation fails because the CoE service is timeout. Ensure that each device in the EtherCAT network is powered on and properly connected."
I can confirm that the device is properly powered and connected. The EtherCAT ethernet port on the cRIO has a solid, green link indicator and all status indicators on the encoder are in their normal operational state except for the "Run" led which is flashing evenly, meaning the current state is "PRE-OPERATIONAL".
I can read the encoder position without any issues using "TwinCAT System Manager" from Beckhoff.
Any idea/tips on how I should proceed from this point to troubleshooting/fix the issue?
Regards,
Danny Lepage
CEL Aerospace Test Equipment LTD
Attachments:
ni_support.zip ‏90 KB

You might want to share this information with the developers at Happauge

LabVIEW Interface for third party EtherCAT slaves

I have a third party EtherCAT hardware (slave) and software. I am using and industrial PC with Intel PRO network card as the EtherCAT master. This setup works fine, and I can talk to the EtherCAT modules using the thirdparty software.
Now, I would like to develop a LabVIEW interface to talk to the EtherCAT slaves for testing purposes, since most of my test programs are written in LabVIEW.
Is it possible to write EtherCAT software in standard LabVIEW 2013 using an inustrial PC as Master?
If I use the DLL of the third party software, do I need LabVIEW Real Time module for etherCAT communication?
-Thanks

Hi rosh,
I think it will depend on how the DLLs are designed. If you call the DLL at the right rates, you may be able to avoid using LabVIEW Real-Time. If you want to run LabVIEW Real-Time on your PC, you would need to replace the existing OS with LabVIEW Real-Time. Once you do that, you may be able to run your existing DLLs but compatibility is not guaranteed. This KnowledgeBase article describes the process of determining if your DLL is compatible with LabVIEW Real-Time (NI PharLap ETS is what installs when you replace the OS). For our other Real-Time operating systems on different targets, you would need access to the original source code so you could recompile for the new target.
Best Regards,
Matthew B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Setting the PDOs in an EtherCAT Slave

In Labview RT using EtherCAT, how do you change the PDO settings of a slave device (i.e. Beckhoff EL5101). To do this within TwinCAT is pretty straightforward, but is ther a pathway to do this in Labview?

Ryan,
You are actually incorrect on how to change the PDOs of an EtherCAT bus terminal. You do not do this by changing or modifying the XML file. If fact, the file should never be changed.
In TwinCAT, you can change the PDO selection with a few mouse clicks and this does not change the XML file whatsoever. All it does is establish the PDO mappings for the EtherCAT master, which is a master within Labview. If you will provide me with your email address, I'll be glad to forward you a document on how TwinCAT changes the PDOs without modifying the XML file. In order to reach the full features of a bus terminal, you must be able to change the PDOs. Otherwise, the end customer will not be able to use all of the features of EtherCAT.
Thanks,
Jack Plyler, PE

Deploy project with Ethercat

Hi All!
I need some help. I created a project which is made of two parts. The host run on a Standard PC (display HMI...) , the second part works on a PXI controller (RT) linked to a 9144 Ethercat. I debugg my project and everything works perfectly, I am able to read Ethercat variables from the host, send data to the RT using shared variables ....
To finalize my project i wanted to create an exe for the RT. That's the begining of my problems. I built the executable, Set it as startup, and deploy the exe to the target. After rebotting the target i started the host application... Now it's impossible to read Ethercat variables, and shared variable. If i try to deploy the shared variable or the Ethercat from the the project, it stop the executable which runs on the target...
I didn't found any document wich describe how to deploy Ethercat variable in an executable... Does someone have any idea about this problem ? any suggestion is welcome ....
Solved!
Go to Solution.

When running from a windows project RT SV libraries are usually set to deploy automatically when the RT application is deployed. Also you can manually deploy SV libraries yourself from the project.
Once a SV llibrary is deployed onto a RT target it will stay there until removed. You can check your deployment with the Distributed System Manager (DSM) if you can see it there then you are good.
Your RT exe cannot deploy its own libraries, they must be deployed beforehand. Also, you should be able to use the DSM to see scan engine IOV's on the 9144 chassis even if your RT app is not running. Check this first. Also check the .alias file on your RT target to make sure that it has the correct IP addresses to resolve any NSV URL's.

EtherCAT slave detection using PCIe-8231 on a RealTime LabView PC Target

Hi,
I'm trying to get a Copley controls Xenus Plus (XEl230-40) motor driver to work with a LabView RealTime PC target, using a PCIe-8231 in EtherCAT module. I've uploaded the ESI files for the driver to the host as well as the target, however, the target does not detect the drive. The host-target communication is done over a i1000e onboard NIC (eth0), and the PCIe-8231 is eth1.
Further, I've tried manually adding a Xenus slave, but when I deploy the configuration, I see an error saying the EtherCAT telegram timed out.
Any ideas on what could I be missing?

I trust that you're working with the RT PC set to be in Configuration Mode rather than Active?
It sounds like you're only using the PCIe-8231 to act as a NIC. Are you using it for anything other than transferring the network communication? If not, have you tried reversing the cables to see if you're still able to communicate with the RT PC if you are only connected to the PCIe-8231?
Jeff B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Ethercat won't boot on PXI chassis

I have a PXI chassis successfully running Industrial EtherCAT 2.0. I've retrieved the image using RTAD and imaged a new PXI chassis. Afterwards I went into MAX and verified that my primary ethernet and Master EtherCAT NICs were set correctly. Regardless, when I boot my newly imaged PXI the phase "NI-Industrial COmmunications for EtherCAT 2.0 started successfully" is never shown on the console out and my PXI returns ZERO discovered EtherCAT chasiss/channels. Why is this not booting??
Thanks,
Craig

Hi Craige,
I think this is the KB you are talking about.
Cheers,
Ryan
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

AKD Drive Ethercat Torque Mode

I know that similar questions have been asked before without a satisfactory answer (thread), but we are trying to operate an AKD drive in torque mode over an EtherCat interface using a cRIO-9022. I have located and been testing PaulRB's workaround (link), but we seem to have a problem.
When attempting to use "Test App.vi" to run my drive, I receive the error "Error -70228 occured at Axis when executing 'Power' on Axis 1 at Invoke Node in Test App.vi". Labview seems to think that the drive is not enabled, but I have checked that the hardware enable is active (works in Kollmorgen Workbench). Additionally, I can get the drive to move using the Interactive Test Panel in Labview using the built-in AKD axis binding. I am using:
LabVIEW 2012
LabVIEW Real-Time 2012
NI SoftMotion Standard 2012
NI RIO 12.0.1
NI Industrial Communication for EtherCAT 2.4
It is unclear to me if this problem is related to the fact that we are using Softmotion Standard 2012 instead of Softmotion Premium 2012, or is something else entirely. Our group is currently on a tight budget and I would hate to advise them to upgrade the Softmotion module only to have this problem persist (or discover some other issue).
Assuming that the Softmotion module is the problem, is there a way for us to evaluate the Softmotion Premium module before I recommend an upgrade?

Hi MrFisher,
I don't think it's likely that upgrading to Softmotion Premium will solve your issue, but if you would like to test this you can download the Softmotion evaluation. When you download the evaluation from National Instruments it should be the premium version. You can find this download here, http://www.ni.com/labview/softmotion/ .
As for this error, I've seen it pop up for two reasons. One is if the drive enable input is not connected. The second is if the emergency disable has been triggered or manually turned on. Do you think either of these could be the case in your system?
Miles G.
National Instruments
Applications Engineer

Third party ethercat motion controllers

We are looking for recommendations for 3rd party EtherCAT motion controllers to integrate with a cRIO system. I am aware of this article. We will be driving 5 rotary brushless motors (moving them a couple of "steps" movements at 400 Hz). They have high resolution encoders (something like 1.2m positions per revolution).
We have spoken to Beckhoff but they don't support the high resolution of our encoders.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Steve

Hi Steve-
I'll ask for forgiveness in advance for getting on my soapbox, and somewhat hijacking your thread. I ask the questions I ask because they are important. I come across many customers that ask for a motion controller, drive, motor, etc, and they say that want to move something from X to Y. They then don't understand why I ask all the questions that follow. There are a lot of details of how the system operates that need to be determined before components can be selected. That comes from experience. Experience of upset customers that have a system that doesn't do what they wanted it to do, because they never gave the details of what they wanted it to do.
I ask about the encoder, because certain drives can only deal with certain types of encoders. Finding an EtherCAT drive is one step, but it doesn't do you any good if it can't read your encoder. You may also want to not use the term "motion controller" when referring to the slave drive. The cRIO will be the motion controller, and the slave is just a positioning drive. I also ask about loads, speeds, etc., because there are always physical limitations to what a servo system can do. The rotary table you selected has a fair amount of inertia, and getting it to respond to 400Hz commands will be difficult. Again, this is just from experience.
I am also sure there are many smart people at Goddard, but that doesn't mean they know about such a specialized application. I have worked with 4 different groups at NASA Lewis, and they call me when there is a motion control issue. They know their applications inside and out, and what they want it to do, but then they need someone else to actually implement it.
And finally, to answer you question. I do apologize for not doing that previously. I have worked with cRIO;s, and with many servo systems, but I have never used cRIO and EtherCAT. Yaskawa Sigma-5 is an excellent drive(standard servo motor it uses has over one million counts per rev), and is available with EtherCAT. I know that some time ago, they were developing it to work with 3rd party motors. I am not sure where that is. Other drives that I have worked with that have EtherCAT are the ABB ACSM1, and the Gefran ADV200.
Regards,
Brian

PXI as EtherCAT Slave?

There is substantial information concerning operating a PXI system as an EtherCAT master, and there is documentation about how to operate a CompactRIO 9144 chassis as an EtherCAT slave with a PXI or third party master, however there is no information as to whether or not you can run a PXI system as an EtherCAT slave.
I have a distributed real-time system in which I have one entity which controls the system and acts as an EtherCAT master. I would like to use a PXI system for data acquisition and processing however, it would need to work as a slave. Is this possible? EtherCAT slave devices typically require more than a standard NIC, and that gives me pause as to whether a PXI system can operate in this mode.
I like the idea of the RIO 9144, however I don't think I can achieve all of my acquisition requirements within the capabilities of this expansion chassis.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Chandler

DirkW,
Thank you for your prompt replies to both this question, and the one I posed over on the real-time board: "High Speed CANbus on a 9144 Slave." As I am sure you concluded, the two questions are related.
I have a heterogenous distributed real time architecture with a variety of different real time systems performing various tasks (computation, actuation, data acquisition, etc.). Currently, the system incorporates a combination of deterministic shared memory and UDP for communications. For cost, scalability, and simplicity reasons we are reconfiguring the architecture to commonize on EtherCAT.
Relative to data acquisition requirements, I have a variety of configurations that are used based on overall system configuration. The lightest weight versions have a very light I/O load, on the order of 5 analog inputs, 10 digital inputs, and 1 CANbus broadcasting 10 or so messages. The heaviest configuration has significantly higher channel count: ~10 analog in, ~10 digital in, ~20 analog out, ~10 freq/PWM inputs, ~5 freq/PWM out, and 2 CANbus. Overall system communications rate, again, depends on system configuration and target performance. This could be in the range of 500Hz or considerably higher.
Again considering the 9144 slave chassis, I have a feeling that the lightweight I/O configuration should not be a problem (assuming CANbus will work vis-a-vis my other posting). The more complex configuration may be a bit much for the slave chassis to handle relying on just the FPGA. Knowing now that a PXI can only be operated as a master, it is not impossible to consider reconfiguring the system topology to operate in this manner. However, there are still compelling reasons as to why we would want to maintain our current master.
If it is capable, my preference would be to go with a 9144. However, I would also like to "commonize" to a single data acquisition platform and not split between cRIO for lightweight applications, and PXI for heavier burden ones. I suppose this raises the fundamental question, currently is the 9144 the only device in the NI lineup that can operate as an EtherCAT slave?
Again, everyone's expertise is much appreciated,
Chandler

Ethercat 3rd Party Device Profile XML File not complete

Hi all,
I'm trying to use a Schneider LXM32 servo drive coupled to a NI cRIO 9074 Ethercat master.
The problem is that my LabVIEW project is not showing me the full device profile.
There are 4 available PDO for this device :
1) Cyclic Synchronous Position
2) Cyclic Synchronous Velocity
3) Cyclic Synchronous Torque
4) Free switching beetween 1) 2) or 3)
BUT, I only see the firts PDO parameters after importing the xml file. If I open the xml file manually, I see that all the PDO are available.
The xml file is available in this post.
Of course, I need to operate in the 4) mode, not the 1)
Help me, please....
Sébastien MICHAUD
CLD
Attachments:
Schneider_Electric_LXM32M_V114.zip ‏18 KB

Hi,
Thank you for your answer.
I successfully modified the XML file of my Schneider drive :
Now I have a lot of others problems (I have made a request on NI France, I supposed you are the one who phoned me today).
1) The XML file of my LTi DRiVE (another drive of the test bench) is done like this (see attachment):
1) I can't move the Sm tag because it's already everywhere
2) I don't understand why 4 devices are exposed.
Additionnaly, see below the LabVIEW project with this device :
3) The I/O exposed for the 2 Devices (Schneider and Lti) are shared variables. But I want to poll these I/Os every 125µs. The scan engine can run at 1 ms. So, if a put a "percentage of each scan period" to 1% (the default value is 40%), will I be able to poll every 10 µs ?
In this example :
https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-11191
The scan period is 4 ms at the best, so with 40% of each scan period, it represents 1.6 ms.... am I correct ?
4) Is it necessay to use NI SoftMotion (https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-11191) to get/set data to a motor drive ? Is it much more easy with NI SoftMotion ?
Thanks,
Sébastien MICHAUD
Attachments:
LUST_22_SO.zip ‏2 KB

Could I use two regular computer to achieve realtime communication using the Ethercat and Labview Real Time Module?

Could I use two regular computers (one acts master , another one acts as slave using the Ethercat Internet Card) to achieve realtime communication using the Ethercat and Labview Real Time Module? if it could, what hardware should I purchase from the NI ?
Thank you!

Hi Xiaolin,
NI doesn't offer Windows based Ethercat master or slave software. Only LabVIEW RT can run the Ethercat driver.
However, you could use a LabVIEW RT target as an Ethercat master and use the Ethercat Internet Card with a slave PC (note: I think this will work from the Beckhoff description of the card you are describing. The card should integrate like any other non-NI slave. However I haven't tested the setup and don't advise saying it will work until you have tried).
You can use any NI RT target with two ethernet ports as the Ethercat master. This could be a cRIO, PXI or RT Desktop.
Jesse Dennis
Design Engineer
Erdos Miller

EtherCAT with single-board RIO

Hi,
I wondered whether single-board RIO in any of the configurations supports EtherCAT communication. The area of application I am looking at is mobile robotics/vehicle control. I need to run a program on a master that executes control algorithms based on data from multiple sensors in the vehicle. The needed bandwidth is quite high (min 2.4 Mbps with main control loop executing at 2 kHz) While the Master Controller can be quite bulky, the slaves (nodes) would have to placed at various locations at the vehicle and weight/space saving is crucial. I wondered if I can use Single-Board RIO for such setup. I would welcome any ideas.
Best regards,
Maciek

Hi Maciek,
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EtherCAT EL7201

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