EtherCAT - Printable version

Ethernet for Control Automation Technology. From EtherCAT Technology Group :

The EtherCAT technology overcomes the system limitations of other Ethernet solutions: The Ethernet packet is no longer received, then interpreted and copied as process data at every connection. Instead, the Ethernet frame is processed on the fly: the newly developed FMMU (fieldbus memory management unit) in each slave node reads the data addressed to it, while the telegram is forwarded to the next device. Similarly, input data is inserted while the telegram passes through. The telegrams are only delayed by a few nanoseconds.

As with any new control protocol, it remains to be seen whether the industry and its users will adopt or reject the technology or its implementation.

Probably not relevant to many of us in entertainment, except those propeller-heads in the automation/motion-control department.

EtherCAT Printable version