ET1815, ET1816 | EtherCAT IP Core for Xilinx® FPGAs

The EtherCAT IP core enables the EtherCAT communication function and application-specific functions to be implemented on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array – i.e. a device containing programmable logical components). The EtherCAT functionality is freely configurable.

The IP core can be combined with own FPGA designs, and it can be integrated in Systemon-Chips (SoCs) with soft core processors or hard processing systems via the PLB™ or AMBA® AXI™ interfaces. The physical interfaces and internal functions, such as the number of FMMUs and SYNC managers, the size of the DPRAM, etc., are adjustable. The process data interface (PDI) and the distributed clocks are also configurable. The functions are compatible with the EtherCAT specification and the EtherCAT ASIC ET1100.

The ET1816 quantity-based licence offers manufacturers of small lots and development service providers the possibility of entering the world of EtherCAT development with low initial investment. For the development of an EtherCAT device, the ET1816 one-time kick-off charge is required, plus ET1816-1000 royalty for 1,000 devices. The royalties for 1,000 devices must be paid in advance each time.

Development service providers only require ET1816 one-time kick-off charge; the ET1811-0030 system integrator OEM licence is required for each customer implementation. The end customer requires the royalty licence (ET1816-1000).

The number of required logic elements depends on the chosen configuration:

• 2 MII ports, 32 bit digital I/O, 1 kB RAM, without distributed clocks, with FMMU and SYNC manager, has approx. 4.400 slices (Spartan®-3E)
• 3 MII ports, 16 bit μC interface, 60 kB RAM, with distributed clocks, 8 FMMUs and 8 SYNC managers, has approx. 14.000 slices (Spartan®-3E)

The EtherCAT Xilinx­ IP core can be used with the following FPGAs:

• Spartan®-3
• Spartan®-3E
• Spartan®-3A
• Spartan®-3AN
• Spartan®-3ADSP
• Spartan®-6
• Kintex™-7
• Virtex®-II
• Virtex®-II Pro
• Virtex®-II Pro X
• Virtex®-4
• Virtex®-5
• Virtex®-6
• Virtex®-7

Evaluation licence (Open Core Plus):

• A full-featured, time-limited version is available for testing purposes.

Please contact the Development Products Team at Beckhoff Automation directly.