realtek 8168 ethercat

[maurino]

Hi to everyone,

so i have a question about my test bench: i have to communicate with a servovalve in ETHERCAT. So i have a realtek 8168 ethernet card. My idea is to create this subsystem: servovalve in ethercat---->realtek 8168 ethernet card----->software twinCAT that creates a dll or ActivX---->labview.

SOmeone can tell me if is it possible this configuration? And how can i see if my realtek 8168 ethernet card is ethercat compatible?

Thank you very much in advances

Enjoy

Mauro

[enpe]

Hello,

To use a Desktop PC as EtherCAT master, we would need to set up the PC as RT target at first. The following two links should be able to provide more detailed information about the system requirements and the setup steps:

• Requirements for Desktop PCs as LabVIEW Real-Time Targets

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/8239?OpenDocument

• Using Desktop PCs as RT Targets with Real-Time Module

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/371857f.pdf

Now with a Desktop PC running LabVIEW Real-Time OS, we need a second Ethernet adapter to work as EtherCAT master. Please refer to the Supported Hardware section in the link below for our recommended adapter list for real-time desktop target:

http://ftp.ni.com/support/softlib/embedded%20networks/NI-Industrial%20Communication/ethercat/2.1/rea...

The Desktop PC now can work as any other RT controller (cRIO, PXI, etc.) that supported by NI-IndComm EtherCAT driver. You can discover this target in MAX, install the real-time software to it, set the 2nd Ethernet adapter to EtherCAT mode, and use this target in LabVIEW.

Hope it help!

AE Senior

National Instruments