1. Samir Menon Avatar Samir Menon
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Installing the EtherCAT Master Application

Overview

The EtherCAT Master Application is generic background process run on the master computer that establishes the protocol to communicate with the robotic nodes. The EtherCAT communication protocol functions over a set of nodes that are "daisy-chained" together, or connected sequentially from the master computer. This animated image depicts the EtherCAT communication system very well.

Download

The IgH EtherCAT Master Website contains all relevant download links and documentation. We used version 1.5.1 with NeuroArm.

Installation

Follow the instructions in the INSTALL file within the downloaded folder. Move the downloaded folder to a permanent location on the filesystem, as once the it is configured, you will not want to move this folder around. Basically, the configuration involves running the following commands:

  • ./configure
    • If the configure command does not recognize a driver, run it with the --disable-DRIVER option. Substituting the name of the unavailable driver for DRIVER (8139too is built by default and may have to be disabled)
  • make all modules
  • sudo make modules_install install
  • sudo depmod
  • sudo ln -s //PATH//TO//ETHERCAT/ethercat-1.X.X/script/init.d/ethercat /etc/init.d/ethercat
  • sudo mkdir /etc/sysconfig
    • Only run this command if the sysconfig folder does not already exist in /etc
  • sudo cp //PATH//TO//ETHERCAT/ethercat-1.X.X/script/sysconfig/ethercat /etc/sysconfig/ethercat
  • sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/ethercat
    • Use your editor of choice. You need to update two values in this configuration file:
      1. MASTER0_DEVICE="" (you can find the hexadecimal mac address of your ethernet port by running the ifconfig -a command and plug it in between the quotes)
      2. DEVICE_MODULES="" (most likely you should enter "generic" between the quotes, unless you specifically installed another ethernet driver)

Usage

  • Run: sudo /etc/init.d/ethercat start to start the daemon.
  • You can replace start with stop, restart, or status

Status tool

  • There is a user space tool for configuring ethercat in the tools dir:
    • sudo ln -s //PATH//TO//ETHERCAT/ethercat-1.X.X/tool/ethercat /usr/bin/ethercat
    • sudo chmod a+rwx /dev/EtherCAT0 All ethercat ops take place on this file

Updated