Matlab - Ethercat in xPC target

Author

Ethercat in xPC target

Simone Marcheschi

2006-03-22, 7:09 pm

Hi,

In our lab (PERCRO, www.percro.org) we develop haptic interfaces
(robotic devices which interact directly with human) and we use xPC
target as real-time OS for our controllers.

Now, we need to use a new communication bus (Ethercat,
www.ethercat.org) for implementing a distributed control
architecture.
This bus is a real-time extension of ethernet communication.

We would like to know if it's possible to integrate the Ethercat
master stack in the xPC real-time application.

Is this feature already supported?

Is it possible to manipulate composition of ethernet packets which
are sent/received by target?

Is it possible to have a detailed documentation about how the
ethernet (UDP) communication is implemented inside the xPC target?

Thanks
Best Regards

Simone Marcheschi

Gordon Weast

2006-03-23, 7:09 pm

Simone,

At this time, we only offer UDP support as a block in a model. While
TCP/IP is used for host-target communication, we don't have support
as a block for other communication. We have had some discussions
about adding this capability, but we haven't come to any conclusions
about how to present it or when it would be done.

The Ethernet drivers are part of the kernel and are not exposed for
use by S functions right now, except for UDP.

Gordon Weast
xPC Target Development
The Mathworks

Simone Marcheschi wrote:

> Hi,
>
> In our lab (PERCRO, www.percro.org) we develop haptic interfaces
> (robotic devices which interact directly with human) and we use xPC
> target as real-time OS for our controllers.
>
> Now, we need to use a new communication bus (Ethercat,
> www.ethercat.org) for implementing a distributed control
> architecture.
> This bus is a real-time extension of ethernet communication.
>
> We would like to know if it's possible to integrate the Ethercat
> master stack in the xPC real-time application.
>
> Is this feature already supported?
>
> Is it possible to manipulate composition of ethernet packets which
> are sent/received by target?
>
> Is it possible to have a detailed documentation about how the
> ethernet (UDP) communication is implemented inside the xPC target?
>
> Thanks
> Best Regards
>
> Simone Marcheschi

Simone Marcheschi

2006-03-23, 7:10 pm

Dear Gordon,

we would like to maintain the method of devloping our control code
using Simulink and then RTW, but is it crucial for us to manipulate
ethernet packet at a level lower than IP.

Could you please indicate another real-time OS, supported by RTW,
that allow us to integrate code for implementing Ethercat master and
that is quite similar to xPC Target?

Thanks
Best Regards

Simone Marcheschi

Gordon Weast wrote:
>
>
> Simone,
>
> At this time, we only offer UDP support as a block in a model.
> While
> TCP/IP is used for host-target communication, we don't have support
> as a block for other communication. We have had some discussions
> about adding this capability, but we haven't come to any
> conclusions
> about how to present it or when it would be done.
>
> The Ethernet drivers are part of the kernel and are not exposed for
> use by S functions right now, except for UDP.
>
> Gordon Weast
> xPC Target Development
> The Mathworks
>
> Simone Marcheschi wrote:
>
interfaces[color=darkred]
> xPC
Ethercat[color=darkred]
> which
> target?
>

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