News
"Safety over EtherCAT" wins SAFETY AWARD 2009
12/08 | Nominated by a jury that included safety experts from TÜV, BGIA, VDMA and ZVEI and voted for by the readers of the German magazines "Sicherheit + Management" and "MessTec & Automation" the EtherCAT Safety Technology "Safety over EtherCAT" has won one of the three GIT SAFETY AWARDs 2009 in the category "Safe Automation". "Safety over EtherCAT" was the only winning safety technology, all other winners were products.Please read more about Safety over EtherCAT here.
Omron selects EtherCAT as its next Motion Bus System
11/08 | Following an extensive study and evaluation period, Omron has selected EtherCAT as its next Motion Bus System. Along with that step, Omron has also decided to take an active role in EtherCAT Technology Group in Japan and Asian Market: Omron will pursue the adoption of EtherCAT as a national Japanese standard and will help to establish the conformance and interoperability test lab in Japan. Omron will develop EtherCAT based servo motors and inverters as well as the motion controllers in the next summer, initially for the European market and for Japanese OEMs exporting their machines.National Instruments selects EtherCAT as System Bus
11/08 | National Instruments has selected EtherCAT as System Bus for its Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) product line. Rahman Jamal, Technical & Marketing Director of National Instruments Central Europe, presented at the ETG press conference at SPS/IPC/Drives show how third party slave devices can be integrated in the system by using the LabView configuration tool. ETG expects that NIs' decision will have major impact both in North America and in the test and measurement field in general, where EtherCAT is already well established.Multi-vendor Multi-axis Demonstrator @ ETG Booth at SPS/IPC/Drives 2008
11/08 | 25 different Servo Drives from 16 Vendors, one EtherCAT network, one application program: ETG shows new multi-vendor multi-axis demonstrator at SPS/IPC/Drives tradeshow in Nuremberg, Germany. This unparalleled setup, in which all servo drives are synchronized, underlines the leadership of EtherCAT in motion control.ETG develops new Safety Drive Profile
11/08 | Because current Drive Profiles do not cover functional safety, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) is developing a new Safety Drive Profile to close this gap. With this new drive profile, the Safety Functionality of EtherCAT drives with CiA402 (CANopen®) or SERCOS™ Drive Profile can be used and configured in a "manufacturer-independent" way.Technology enhancement: "Power over EtherCAT"
11/08 | The EtherCAT Technology Group has enhanced its technology with a new "Power over EtherCAT" option. The specification enhancement makes use of the IEEE802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality and can be implemented with commercially available chips. Power over EtherCAT is particularly suitable for encoders or linear position sensors, which now can connected to EtherCAT using a single, standard Ethernet cable.Industrial Ethernet Seminars in South Africa
10/08 | November 11+14 ETG will hold Industrial Ethernet Seminars in South Africa. Invited are end users as well as device vendors that want to learn about EtherCAT and other Industrial Ethernet technologies. The seminars take place in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Details and registration form are found here."Safety over EtherCAT" nominated for SAFETY AWARD
10/08 | A Jury that included safety experts from TÜV, BGIA, VDMA and ZVEI has nominated the "Safety over EtherCAT" Technology for the final round of the 2009 GIT SAFETY AWARD in category A: Safe automation. The winner is selected by an online poll system which can be found here.Webcast: "Engineering-driven Ethernet"
09/08 | Control Engineering online has premiered "Engineering-driven Ethernet" - a highly informative Webcast featuring Joey Stubbs, ETG representative North America and other industry experts. Click here to register and view the archived Webcast from October 8th, 2008.EtherCAT Plugfest with 13 Master Vendors
09/08 | At the EtherCAT Plugfest on Sept 22/23 13 different master implementations were tested with the slave device variety of 17 different vendors. It is the goal of the event, which was hosted by Lti Drives in Lahnau, Germany, to check the interoperability of EtherCAT implementations. All slave devices are operated individually and in groups with all master devices. In addition, the devices are checked with the Conformance Test Tool.1st Asian EtherCAT Plugfest announced
09/08 | The first Asian EtherCAT Plugfest will be held in Suncheon, South Korea, on October 15/16. The event is hosted by Prof Moon, ETG Representative Korea, in facilities provided by Sunchon National University and will be attended by master and slave device manufacturers from several Asian countries. Establishing plug fests in Asia reflects the importance of the Asian market for EtherCAT. The technology is currently being implemented by many Asian automation device vendors.IEC approves ETG Liaison with IEC SC65C JWG10
08/08 | The Standardization Management Board of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has approved the liaison of the ETG with the workgroup for industrial cabling, JWG10. The decision was taken unanimously. ETG experts are actively contributing to the installation profiles elaborated in this workgroup, e.g. to the next edition of IEC 61784-5.EtherCAT SEMI Standard enhanced
07/08 | The EtherCAT SEMI standard E54.20 was enhanced by the vacuum pump device profile. The SEMI committees unanimously accepted the proposed specification at the standards meetings during Semicon West in San Francisco, CA, USA. The new standard release is expected to be published soon. ETG had an info booth at this show, which was well frequented.EtherCAT Robots are vice world champions
07/08 | EtherCAT Robots finish a strong second in soccer championship. The EtherCAT equipped robots from the Dutch Team, Tech United had a near perfect record at the RoboCup World Championships in Suzhou, China: the finals went to the 14th match, which was the first that the EtherCAT soccer robots from Eindhoven finally lost. In the semi finals, Tech United defeated the former world champion, but the win from the round robins against the eventual world champion team CAMBADA from Portugal could not be repeated in the finals. However, 2nd place is a great achievement and everyone at the ETG offers congratulations to Tech United!ETG Member Meeting Japan: over 100 Attendees
07/08 | The members meeting in Tokyo was very well attended: over 100 representatives of Japanese ETG members followed the invitation. Seiko Epson and the bio-mimetic control research center Riken presented robot projects.ETG Member Meeting Japan on July 8th
06/08 | ETG Japan Office will host a members meeting in Tokyo on July 8th. The meeting is intended for employees of Japanese ETG members as well as for the Japanese representatives of ETG members located in other parts of the world. Latest EtherCAT technology enhancements, ETG news, and the status of the worldwide and Japanese EtherCAT deployment will be covered as well as EtherCAT slave device development resources. Detailed information can be found here.EtherCAT IP Core now supporting 3 Ports
06/08 | The EtherCAT IP core turns Altera or Xilinx FPGAs into an EtherCAT Slave Controller. The core now supports up to three EtherCAT ports. The third port allows one to directly connect drop lines and branches with further devices and take full advantage of the topology flexibility of EtherCAT. So far this functionality was implemented in the ASICs only, now EtherCAT devices with integrated junction can be designed with FPGAs, too.EtherCAT 1st RTE Choice for Packaging Machine Builders
05/07 | According to a survey recently published by the consultancy and market research firm Quest TechnoMarketing (Bochum, London) the trend towards Ethernet is particularly visible in packaging machines. While in 2005 21% of the machine builders supported Ethernet, 76% plan to use this technology by the end of 2008. Generic TCP/IP without real time capabilities still has the largest share with 45%, but for 31% real time Ethernet already is the way to go. Within this group EtherCAT is the first choice. For more details please see graphics here.EtherCAT Robots win RoboCup German Open
04/08 | EtherCAT equipped soccer robots of the Dutch Team Tech United Eindhoven won the RoboCup German Open in Hannover. In the semi-final they defeated the reigning world champion of the Middle Size League, the Brainstormers Tribots from Osnabrück, Germany, a team that had not been beaten since 2004. In the finals it took a penalty shoot-out to beat the current number 3 in the world ranking, the CoPS Team from Stuttgart. The Tech United Robots use EtherCAT for interfacing to drives, sensors and actuators.EtherCAT at Hannover Industrial Fair
04/08 | EtherCAT is shown at the worlds largest industrial show in a variety of ways. The focus is on the Joint Booth of the EtherCAT Technology Group in Hall 9, F13 where 54 Vendors present more than 150 different EtherCAT Products. Shown for the first time are several control systems - including a new safety controller with Safety over EtherCAT protocol, drives, sensors, I/O systems, interfaces and gateways from various vendors.EtherCAT introductory presentations at the convention center in the middle of the fair ground are held at 4 p.m. on April 22-24. There will also be implementation seminars and workshops, which have been fully booked for some weeks, adjacent to the trade show.
ETG Gains One New Member Every Business Day
04/08 | The growth rate of the EtherCAT Technology Group is further accelerating. In the last 12 months membership of the worldwide group increased by 250 - an average of one new member every business day. There are 732 member companies from 41 countries. The member distribution shows the migration from a primarily German to a truly global association. At the end of 2003, 70% of the 35 founding members were from Germany. As of today the percentage of German members is down to 38%. The US has the second highest percentage of members, followed by Japan, Switzerland and Italy.ETG Technical Committee Spring Meeting
03/08 | 86 participants attended the spring meeting of the ETG Technical Committee and the associated training classes. The Technical Committee meets twice a year to discuss the results of the various working groups and task forces, pass implementation guidelines and implement new work groups. One topic at the spring meeting was the EtherCAT master/master communication: the protocols and services are part of the specification since 2005 and are also included in IEC 61158, now a uniform configuration interface was introduced. The Technical Committee is accompanied by training classes which are also open to all ETG members. The fall meeting will take place Sept 23/24.EtherCAT at Hannover Industrial Fair
01/08 | EtherCAT is the fastest Industrial Ethernet Technology. This was found by researchers in a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. More details about performance can be found here.10 Master and 22 Slave Device Vendors at EtherCAT Plug Fest
12/07 | The 5. EtherCAT Plug Fest, hosted by Baumüller in Nuremberg, Germany, was well attended: 10 Master and 22 Slave Device Vendors from Europe, Asia and North America tested and proved the interoperability of their devices. The technical focus of this plug fest were the CiA402 Implementation Guideline for Servo Drives and the Modular Device Profile, which allows one to easily integrate and configure such modular products in EtherCAT networks.More than 100 Asian Members
12/07 | The number of ETG members from Asia has exceeded 100. This milestone shows the great interest in the fastest Industrial Ethernet Technology in Asia, underlined by a growing range of EtherCAT enabled products from local automation vendors.EtherCAT at SPS/IPC/Drives in Nuremberg, Germany
11/07 | Please visit the joint EtherCAT Booth (Hall 6/309), where 50 (!) member companies show over 100 EtherCAT products, including 20 masters using 10 different operating systems. The range of products also includes drives, I/O, pneumatic and hydraulic valves, sensors, as well as implementation kits for master and slave devices, and Safety over EtherCAT solutions.ETG opens Korea Office
11/07 | The EtherCAT Technology Group has opened a regional office in Korea. The office is supported by the new ETG Regional Committee, which was established to promote EtherCAT is this important market. EtherCAT is already widely used in Korea in applications ranging from semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing via robotics and machine control to ship building. The new ETG office is based in Seoul and is managed by Mr. Key Yoo, CEO of Tri-TEK, who has been deeply involved in EtherCAT promotion and support in Korea since 2004. Chairman of the Regional Committee Korea and official ETG Representative Korea is Prof. Dr. Yong Seon Moon, CEO of RedOne Technologies. Prof. Moon is a well known researcher in the field of robotic controls and has been involved in numerous Korean technology projects.EtherCAT standardized as communication technology for SERCOS and CANopen Drive Profile
10/07 | On Oct 12, IEC 61800-7 also passed the final voting unanimously. IEC 61800-7 is particularly important for motion control applications, since it makes EtherCAT a standardized communication technology for the SERCOS™ and CANopen® drive profiles, on an equal footing with SERCOS I-III and CANopen respectively. The drive parameters and state machines as well as the process data layout of the device profiles remain untouched when mapped to EtherCAT. Hence the user interface does not change when moving from SERCOS and CANopen to EtherCAT, and device manufacturers can re-use major parts of their firmware.EtherCAT now IEC standard!
09/07 | The voting period for lEC/FDIS 61158 ended midnight on Friday, Sept 28 - and it passed with 100% YES-votes. After four years of standardization work this makes EtherCAT an official IEC standard. In 2004 the EtherCAT Technology Group became an official standardization partner of IEC SC65C. Since 2005 EtherCAT had been an IEC specification (IEC/PAS 62407), which will now be replaced by the international standard IEC 61158. IEC will publish the standard in a few weeks, it will be made available in the IEC web-shop. EtherCAT is also part of IEC/FDIS 61784-2, which specifies profiles for real-time Ethernet networks. This standard also passed with 100% approval. The voting period for the drive profile standard IEC 61800-7 ends October 12.SEMI approves EtherCAT standard
09/07 | Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), the leading standards organization for the semiconductor industry, has approved EtherCAT for their applications. The EtherCAT SEMI standard was accepted by the SEMI North American Information & Control Committee in July and meanwhile also passed the final review. Currently SEMI staff in San Jose, CA, prepares the publication. EtherCAT is added to the E54 Sensor/Actuator suite of standards. This important milestone further increases the acceptance of EtherCAT within the semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing industries.Chinese EtherCAT Website online
08/07 | The ETG website is now also available in Chinese language, maintained by the new ETG Office in Beijing.EtherCAT at SEMICON West, San Francisco
07/08 | The semiconductor industry recognizes EtherCAT as the upcoming communication technology. Major players in this industry call on their suppliers to provide EtherCAT interfaces for semiconductor manufacturing devices, and as a result several such products were already shown on the recent SEMICON West tradeshow. Many visitors informed themselves about EtherCAT technology, products and implementation options at the ETG info booth, which also displayed a live multi vendor demo with controllers, sensors, drives, gateways, mass flow controllers, gauges and I/O. EtherCAT Implementation workshops will be held at the main US semiconductor locations San Jose, CA and Boston, MA in August.Enhanced Product Guide online
07/07 | The updated and enhanced version of the EtherCAT product guide is now online. If you want to add your EtherCAT product, please contact ETG Headquarters.ETG Member Meeting Japan on July 10th
06/07 | ETG Japan Office will host a members meeting in Tokyo on July 10th. More than 50 Japanese ETG member representatives have signed up so far. Highlight of the meeting will be several presentations from Japanese end users about their EtherCAT deployment. Detailed information can be found here.