Implementation of Linux RTAI Open CNC System Based on EtherCAT Network
Sung-Mun Park, Cheol-Jin An, Hyoung‐Woo Kim, Hyun-Chul Yi, Joon‐Young Choi · Journal of Institute of Control Robotics and Systems · 2015
We propose a method for the implementation of an EtherCAT communication bus in a Linux-based open source Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) system. Recently, increasingly more CNC systems support real-time Ethernet protocols such as EtherCAT, which is a high-performance industrial communication protocol. For real-time CNC control over an Ethernet-based protocol, an additional layer driver needs to be implemented between the CNC system and the master of industrial communication protocol. Among the various solutions for the connection layer driver, we employ a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) driver based on Linux. The operation of the implemented CNC system is demonstrated and confirmed by Hal Meter, which is used to observe the pins, signals, or parameters of HAL.