KPA EtherCAT Studio

KPA EtherCAT Studio is a software tool for EtherCAT network engineering, development and diagnostics. This powerful tool allows one to configure and control EtherCAT master and all slave devices connected to the network. KPA EtherCAT Studio works with a Windows based master or a remote master that run on a real-time operating system. Using Studio development framework, KPA studio may be customized and integrated in OEM’s own windows based software to provide a common development and monitoring environment.

Operating Systems

Windows^® 10
(Also works on Win-XP, Win-7 and Win-8, however, these are no longer supported by Microsoft)

Summary of Features

Supporting multiple local or remote EtherCAT masters
All parameters of the masters and connected slaves are configurable
(i.e. object dictionaries, process images, EtherCAT registers, device firmware, …)
Supporting multi-language user interface (English, Chinese, German, others on request)
Compatible with any EtherCAT master that conforms to the ETG specifications
Could be integrated with a host application using .NET Remoting

KPA EtherCAT Studio Flyer (370.7 KB)

Master Configuration

Project file handling and comparing
Topology creation via bus scan, read from file or drag-and-drop
Comparison between configured and real networks
Process Image with scaling
S2S Editor
Handling for FSoE Master and Slaves
Various Sample Rates
Distributed Clocks (DC) settings
Import signal names from CoDeSys
Export network configuration files
- ETG.2100 with extensions of koenig-pa GmbH, ETG.2100
- IEC 61131-3 Standard, Export of “C” header files

EtherCAT master network configuration

Upon attaching to Master, the Studio acquires Master configuration (if the Master is running) or scans the network to detect the real hardware configuration, and then compares a Master side configuration against the one available in the Studio. If configurations do not match, there are several possibilities to manipulate the differences, such as simple replacement of master or studio side configuration with its counterpart or advanced interactive merge of configurations.

EtherCAT Topology

Topology window displays structure and state of EtherCAT network. When there is a loss of communication between segments, you will see the wire highlighted with red color. If a cable breakdown occurs with redundancy check enabled, the system will indicate the place of breakdown.

EtherCAT Cable Redundancy

Nowadays redundancy has become a must in most applications due to increased requirements to sustainability and reliability of the systems employed in process automation. Cable redundancy makes possible several things that used to be bottle-necks of conventional field bus systems built up on closed ring principles, such as cable feedback for problem finding and system availability in case of cable break. If a line break occurs in the network, it is detected and the topology will display the event (red wire). Due to redundancy in wiring and network cards all slaves remain connected to EtherCAT Master.

Process Image viewer

Process Image viewer shows allocation of inputs/outputs in memory.

Slave-to-Slave communication

Slave-to-Slave (S2S) communication allows logical communication of slaves in input-output matrix of the Process Image without direct physical wiring.

By means of Slave-to-Slave communication is performed the management of safety system. Safety uses so called black channel approach, where FailSafety over EtherCAT (FSoE) is sitting on top of EtherCAT slave stack in slave device. Here safety and usual process are mixed in one media. EtherCAT Master has to route safety message(s) from safety slaves to safety masters using Slave-to-Slave communication. In case of safety situation, the Slave-to-Slave is unable to send data and in connections, crc and status will be zeros instead of valid data. In this case safety logic starts according to defined behavior.

EhterCAT Projects Comparing Tool

ECAT Projects Comparing Tool allows comparison of a project available in the Studio against another project from a file.

Differences are highlighted with customizable colors, property values are available.

Slave Configuration

Main Functions

Creation of distributable Master Configuration files according to ETG standards
Free declaration of I/O signal names and addresses
Variable declarations exchange with software development tools in:- IEC 61131-3 (PLC configurations or in XML-format)- “C” / C++ (*.h files)
Transparent handling of MDP (Modular Device Profile) Slaves like CAN- and Profibus-Master Gateways
Supporting of the Memory and EEPROM editor

Attributes

Parametrization

Extendable Slave Library

KPA EtherCAT Studio 2 gives an opportunity to work with Slaves Library collections. It is easy to create a new collection, modify and save it, load the collection created before or from other sources, create different descriptions of the same slaves, apply uESI attributes, and edit separate slave in the collection: clone, import, remove and change slave’s properties.

Working with the Slaves Library collections also gives an opportunity to search the Slave. It could be done by Slave’s name or part of it. Also, it is possible to call up the history of searches, will be displayed last 9 queries.

ESI and EEPROM Comparing Tool

The tool gives an opportunity to compare the previous expected configuration of the slave (given in the EEPROM) with the existing to understand weather it is possible to replace the slave, or it should be reconfigured. Categories with differences, different values, absence of items and coincidence are displayed in various colors, which can be adjusted by the user.

The configuration may be kept not only from EEPROM, but also from ESI files.

It is possible to generate ESI files from EEPROM and vice versa by using EEPROM Editor.

Modular Device Profile

Modular Device Profile (MDP) defines a modeling of structures within a device. Mainly it deals with the object dictionary structure and corresponding behavior of the entries. Customer can change the appearance of the product (icons, name, splash screen, etc.).

EtherCAT Diagnostics

An important distinctive feature of the technology is high availability of EtherCAT based solutions and systems. Availability implies two key factors: reliability of solution or system and reduction of downtime. Since reliability is mostly related to the technology itself and quality assurance, the greatest concern in reduction of downtime is to react to malfunction correctly and in proper time. For these purposes the diagnostic capabilities play a significant role. In order to utilize them to full extent and provide personnel with explanations and remedies of well-known cases KPA EtherCAT Studio has an alarm system with a troubleshooting guide.

Main Diagnostic Functions

Data- and Frame- Logger
Diagnostic Scanner
Categorized Messages
Causes & Remedies
Connection Quality

Alarms List

Alarms List displays alarms, events, and emergencies that have been registered during the Studio being attached to master, in order of their appearance. Each message is provided with ID for better recognition, a time stamp to show when it happened, and a brief explanation of the problem or event. You can sort out the messages according to their severities and source.

Faults and Emergency massages

Alarm system registers all alarms and events that may occur while the Studio is online (attached to master) and reports them in several ways. Severity of events stipulates the type of notification accordingly. Critical alarms are followed by a notification window in order not to miss such events and immediately take measures required to clear the problem. Descriptions of possible causes and remedies for the most common problems that may appear during commissioning or finding a bottle neck are presented in the Troubleshooting Guide – knowledge database collected by our commissioning and support team during the years of working with the technology. Descriptions are made in a comprehensive form and available online in context of event or problem that has emerged.

Online Chart Viewer

Online Chart Viewer is an important diagnostic function of KPA EtherCAT Studio. The Viewer allows to monitor multiple channels from one or several slaves simultaneously. It gets an opportunity to visualize the variables which are selected in the online mode.

Snapshot Viewer

The Snapshot Viewer window serves to display a chart created out of snapshots taken from a value (Channel or Signal). Taking snapshots is configurable. The user can define the following parameters:

Total number of snapshots taken
Time frame to take snapshots
Repetition of snapshotting
Time frame for repetition

Signal values are gathered during operation and stored to make a snapshot. The viewer then displays the snapshot. On the screenshot presented the monitoring of the signal’s value with the specified interval.

Taking snapshots reduces overall load on the system in order not to affect hard real-time performance.

Statistics

The Studio collects various statistical data:

Network activity acquired from the NIC
EtherCAT activity acquired from the master
CPU and bus loads

Ethernet (eth0 for Linux) statistics – statistics of the certain network card. It displays how many frames were sent, how many errors were fixed, how many packages were sent and received, etc.

Ethernet 2 it is NIC. Here is displayed how many frames the master sent and how many frames did not pass, etc.

Default task statistics displays the divergence of the set periodicity values of the device with the real.

Log File and Frame Logger

Collected data are very helpful in analyzing performance of the entire system and finding bottle-necks if any occur. Frame logger viewer shows statistical information about all frames received and sent by Master and saved in a log file.

Power

The system of power tracing allows to monitor the power supply and consumption of LVDS slaves on the bus to avoid power lack issues in the configuration.

If the slaves are lack of power the tool discolors them to red and shows negative values of Power influence.
On the first screenshot it is seen power lack (red colored slaves) and on the second where added EL9400 (power supply terminal) there is enough power (all slaves are green).