EtherCAT as a fast I/O system

The Embedded PCs were developed with a view to optimized interaction with EtherCAT. Therefore, each CX5600 controller has an internal primary EtherCAT port. This can be fed to the right to the I/O level in order to enable the use of EtherCAT I/O Terminals. If necessary, however, it can also switch automatically to the K-bus terminal system.

Both Ethernet ports of the CX5600 can be used both for standard IT connections and as additional EtherCAT master interfaces. In conjunction with EtherCAT and TwinCAT, it is possible to implement very fast control processes in the microsecond range (eXtreme Fast Control Technology).

Due to the separate 1.0 Gbit Ethernet interfaces it is also possible to use EtherCAT with cable redundancy by using one of the Ethernet interfaces as a redundancy port. In addition, the devices can be operated with a EtherCAT slave interface in the multi-option interface so that several intelligent controllers can be synchronized via an EtherCAT network.