实时工业以太网EtherCAT时序特性分析系统

分析了实时工业以太网的特点,提出一种时序特性分析系统,该系统硬件部分包括数据侦听器和监听计算机;软件部分是安装在监听计算机上的时序分析仪.数据侦听器是以现场可编程门阵列(FPGA,Field-Programmable Gate Array)为核心的硬件单元,主要功能是捕捉被监听链路上的数据帧,提取并封装原始帧的信息生成一个Probe帧,随后转发原始帧和Probe帧到监听计算机.Probe帧是提出的一种专门用于实时工业以太网时序和功能分析的以太网数据帧.时序分析仪解析Probe帧中封装的信息,按照用户设置进行计算统计后,以图形化的方式显示分析结果.最后,构建基于实时工业以太网EtherCAT的实验系统进行功能验证.实验结果表明,时序特性分析系统能够完成对实时工业以太网数据的在线捕捉和离线分析,并能清晰、直观的显示被监听链路和器件时序特性的解析结果.

Timing analysis system for real-time industrial Ethernet EtherCAT

The characteristics of real-time industrial Ethernet(RTIE) were studied. A timing analysis system was proposed consisting of probe, monitoring PC and Timing-Analyzer software. Each of the passing frames was captured by the probe which includes one field-programmable gate array(FPGA) core. The information of the original frame was extracted and encapsulated in the probe frame, which was transmitted to the monitoring PC together with the original frame. The probe frame is one specific Ethernet frame format for the timing or functional analysis of RTIE. The information contained in the probe frames was parsed and synthesized by the timing-analyzer. The graphical results were displayed according to the user-defined parameters. A verification system based on EtherCAT was presented. The implementation shows that the on-line acquiring and off-line analyzing for RTIE were carried out by the proposed timing analysis system. The graphical result is clear and useful for determining the timing characteristics of the communication links and devices.