EtherCAT as a Master Machine Control Tool

Photo courtesy of Beckhoff Automation LLC

EtherCAT is well known around the world as a high performance industrial Ethernet system and I/O platform, serving as the bus for many areas of automation and control, including controls, safety, motion and robotics. Master machine controllers equipped with EtherCAT have numerous compelling advantages that engineers should know about. This educational webinar will give an overview of the EtherCAT ecosystem in a general automation industry context and the practical implications for EtherCAT-enabled machine controllers specifically. Attendees will “get a look under the hood” of EtherCAT and learn useful technical considerations, how-to’s and best practices for controls engineers.

Topics covered:

• How to utilize EtherCAT masters for high-performance machine control, while covering all areas of automation, motion control, safety and measurement
• Best practices on how to specify and implement the best possible control platform and communications architecture using EtherCAT
• How logical addressing in EtherCAT unlocks significant benefits for control systems
• Other special EtherCAT functionality such as built-in diagnostics, distributed clocks, time stamps, functional safety and more