Can PXIe-8623 be used for EtherCAT network?

[Sonans]

Hello everyone,

I have already known that the PXIe-8623 card is not in the supported list of NI EtherCAT software as shown below.

https://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/ni-ecat-2023-q1.html

I'm a Kratzer-NI software engineer and trying to port the Kratzer's EtherCAT driver in our RT Linux system. Tests on the controller network interface have been successful. I mean if the network interface located on the controller, e.g. PXIe-8881, is used to connect to the EtherCAT network, the driver can start and control all the slaves without any problem.

Then we must test whether the driver also works with interfaces on an expansion card. And what we have on hand is the PXIe-8623. From the software driver point of view, all interfaces that can be used as standard Ethernet interfaces should also be able to connect to an EtherCAT network. However, it doesn't work in our test...

The problem we encountered is actually quite simple: no link detected when the interface is connected to an EtherCAT network.

The interface is already up. When connected to a normal Ethernet network, link is detected and LED blinks. But nothing happens when connected to EtherCAT slaves.

Could anyone tell me, is there some special design in the PHY or firmware of the PXIe-8623 that doesn't recognize the EtherCAT network? Or some special settings in Linux must pay attention to?

Looking forward to your help.

[ZYOng · Accepted solution]

Could anyone tell me, is there some special design in the PHY or firmware of the PXIe-8623 that doesn't recognize the EtherCAT network? Or some special settings in Linux must pay attention to?

Since Kratzer is part of NI, you can contact the R&D engineers responsible for the NI-ECAT driver for more information.

[Sonans]

Answer from R&D: Currently the PXIe-8623 doesn’t support the NI EtherCAT stack as it’s intended for the XNET automotive ethernet stack.

Solution: Use other general Ethernet peripheral interface cards, for example PXIe-8246.