Fast, open and ideally suited as a fieldbus for intralogistics: EtherCAT – the high-speed fieldbus
Efficient handling of large amounts of data, such as those generated by fully automated warehouse and distribution logistics, requires the efficient and structured acquisition, storage and use of these data. The high-performance data acquisition at machine and plant level, the so-called field level, is ensured by EtherCAT. With outstanding performance, flexible topology selection, extensive diagnostics and simple configuration, EtherCAT is ideal for use in intralogistics. EtherCAT communicates with 1,000 distributed I/Os in 30 µs, offering virtually unlimited network expansion and optimal vertical and horizontal integration via standard Ethernet and Internet technologies. In particular in the area of high-speed applications in material transport, significantly higher-performance systems can be realized by means of EtherCAT.
- communication with 12,000 digital I/Os devices in 350 µs
- communication with 200 analog I/Os (16-bit) in 50 µs, which corresponds to a 20 kHz sampling rate communication with 100 servo axes every 100 µs
- network expansion: almost unlimited (> 500 km)
- up to 65,535 devices
However, EtherCAT is not just about high performance; the control of costs is at least as important: EtherCAT uses low-cost Ethernet cables and supports flexible cabling topologies. In addition, EtherCAT devices do not require switches, special fieldbus cards or IP addresses. Another advantage: Existing network and fieldbus technologies as well as devices can be fully integrated into an EtherCAT-based system.
More than 6,000 companies worldwide (as of October 2020), which have joined forces to form the EtherCAT Technology Group, now support the technology developed by Beckhoff. Due to its widespread use around the world, a large number of EtherCAT-compatible devices, sensors and actuators are available on the market, ensuring a high level of investment security and guaranteeing a suitable solution for every problem. The openness and properties of EtherCAT processing "on the fly", high-precision synchronization, free choice of topology and integrated diagnostics meet the present-day and future requirements for modern warehouse and distribution logistics. This applies both to the planning and development of new plants and to the modernization of existing plants. Beckhoff offers numerous gateway solutions that enable older or third-party technologies to be integrated into the new EtherCAT world.
While EtherCAT with a communication speed of 100 Mbit/s meets the vast majority of current requirements, EtherCAT G and G10 are already available for the future with bandwidths of 1 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s respectively, which can be seamlessly integrated into the existing EtherCAT system. With increasing demands on industrial image processing, complex motion controllers, IoT functions, high-end measurements and the associated increasing volume of data, these technologies will become increasingly important in order to be able to realize trendsetting intralogistics systems.