Setup in TwinCAT

The CU2508 must be created as a MultipleProtocolHandler in the configuration before functions can be assigned to its downlink ports.

Online scanning of the CU2508 is for the time being only possible with EtherCAT systems connected to the downlink ports. The notes in the EtherCAT port definition regarding the ESI XML files must then be observed.

Setup

Append a new device in the TwinCAT System Manager with a right click.

Select the "Real-Time Ethernet Adapter (Multiple Protocol Handler)".

Now select the Gbit uplink port used for the CU2508. You can only select ports on which the Beckhoff real-time driver is installed/activated. <none> can also be selected if the port is to be selected later.

If the real-time driver is not yet installed, it has to be installed first, e.g. via the System Manager options.

Characteristics that are important for the further operation, e.g. the MAC and the IP addresses of the Gbit network port are now listed in the adapter characteristics of the MultipleProtocolHandler.

Name	Explanation
Description	Name of the adapter in the operating system (the same on several identical PC systems)
Device Name	Unique adapter name (different on several identical PC systems)
MAC Address	MAC address of the hardware adapter; not changeable
IP Address	IP address of the hardware adapter; changeable via the Windows operating system "Network Connection" settings
Freerun Cycle	In ConfigMode, the adapter is operated with this cycle time, i.e. usually 250 cycles/sec.
Promiscuous Mode	If activated, the Ethernet Frames are copied from the real-time context into the Windows NDIS layer and can thus be read by Netmon/Wireshark®
Virtual Device Names	deactivated: "Device Name" is used by TwinCAT for the identification of the network adapter. Thus a TwinCAT configuration is not transferable to another PC system without being changed. activated: "Description" is used by TwinCAT for the identification of the network adapter. Thus a TwinCAT configuration is transferable to another PC system without being changed if an adapter with this name is present there.

The number of necessary ports must be set in the port mask (A). The TCP/IP operation mode must also be set (B); “via EoE” must be set for pure EtherCAT operation. See the Notes on TCP/IP settings. In each case the ESL protocol must be activated for the CU2508 on this Gbit port (C).

The CU2508 has no separate diagnostic variables, since it is designed to be as transparent an infrastructure device as possible.

In the following

individual downlink ports can now be assigned to protocols
the TCP/IP behavior of the CU2508 can be set

Diagnostics

The TwinCAT System Manager provide several information about the online operation.

Name	Explanation
Send Utilization (%)	Utilization of the Gbit ESL transmission in send direction R: real-time data, N: non-real-time data
Recv Utilization (%)	Utilization of the Gbit ESL transmission in receive direction R: real-time data, N: non-real-time data

Name

Explanation

Send Utilization (%)

Utilization of the Gbit ESL transmission in send direction

R: real-time data, N: non-real-time data

Recv Utilization (%)

Utilization of the Gbit ESL transmission in receive direction

R: real-time data, N: non-real-time data

The diagnostic data can also be retrieved via ADS.

Read Rx/Tx error counter
CMD	Ads Read
Port	10
Index Group	Object ID of the RT Ethernet device + port number (1..8) (for port 1 of the CU from Fig. "Statistics": 0x03010011)
Index Offset	0x03010038
Read data
UINT32	Tx Error Count
UINT32	Rx Error Count

Reading the port status
CMD	Ads Read
Port	10
Index Group	Object ID of the RT Ethernet device + port number (1..8)
Index Offset	0x03010042
Read data
UINT64	Timestamp in distributed clocks (DC) time (ns)
UINT32	Tx Frame Count
UINT32	Rx Frame Count
UINT32	Rx Dropped Frame Count
UINT32	Tx Dropped Frame Count
UINT32	Flags [ LinkError = 0x00000001]
UINT32	reserved