What is Esmacat?¶

Esmacat is an easy yet powerful EtherCAT solution for robot mechatronics. It provides a full EtherCAT hardware and software solution for Master and Slave devices which allows developers to set up and run an EtherCAT application within minutes. It also supports Power-over-EtherCAT (POE) technology which allows high-speed communication and logic-power supply over a single Ethernet cable simplifying the cabling and wiring needs of the system significantly.

What is EtherCAT Arduino Shield by Esmacat (EASE)?¶

EASE is a Shield with the form factor of Arduino UNO. It stacks onto base boards with form factor of Arduino UNO e.g. Mbed board with form factor of Arduino UNO. The Base board can read and write registers on EASE via SPI (Serial Programming Interface). The same registers can also be written and read by an EtherCAT master via a standard EtherCAT protocol which is an industrial fieldbus for high performance robotics. Multiple EASE boards can be connected with Ethernet cables in a daisy-chain topology powered via Ethernet cables with Power-over-EtherCAT (POE) technology. EASE thus bridges the data packets between an EtherCAT master and multiple Base boards. The high-speed communication of EtherCAT, which is 200 times faster than a CAN (Controller Area Network)-bus and 1,000 times faster than the traditional RS232 communication, allows for the seamless integration and centralized control of multiple Base boards.

Information about the hardware needs and setup is provided in the link below. https://os.mbed.com/users/pratima_hb/code/EASE_Example/wiki/Hardware-Setup

Information about the structure of the system and it's software is provided in the link below. https://os.mbed.com/users/pratima_hb/code/EASE_Example/wiki/Software