Ethercat¶

Key Features¶

• Ethercat test-harness to run on XC-2
• Ethercat slave to run on XC-3
• Low latency MII Rx and Tx
• Rudimentary EtherCAT protocol handler
• Current latency of 800ns, but memory access has not been implemented yet (PHY latency adds 400 ns). Return path latency approximately 640 ns (preamble) + 400 ns (PHY) + 160 ns (processing)

To Do¶

• Mailbox protocol
• Network variable protocol
• Memory interface.

Firmware Overview¶

The module and applicatons in this repo are a feasibility study on coding an EtherCAT slave on an XS1 device. The target is either an L2 or a G4, depending on whether fast threads are required (> 100 MIPS requires an L2) and on whether a fast switch is required (the G4 switch is very low latency).

Known Issues¶

• app_ethercat_test won’t build (and is deprecated)

Required Repositories¶

• sc_ethernet git@github.com:xcore/sc_ethernet.git (SMI module)
• xcommon git@github.com:xcore/xcommon.git (build system)
• xdoc git@github.com:xcore/xdoc.git (documentation)

Support¶

<Description of support model>