NexECM is an EtherCAT master communication software that fully complies with EtherCAT communication protocols, including the data link layer and application layer.
The figure below shows the comparison of the common communication protocols (such as HTTP, TCP/UDP, and IP) and the EtherCAT communication protocol in the OSI network model. The EtherCAT communication protocol in the OSI model mainly defines two layers: data link layer and application layer. The EtherCAT communication protocol used Ethernet in a physical layer so that we can use a general Ethernet cable to connect the network.
By using NexECM, you can easily communicate with EtherCAT slave modules such as EtherCAT servo drivers and EtherCAT I/O modules.
You can develop your own EtherCAT motion control functions under the real-time system, or you can develop the EtherCAT related application process under the Microsoft® Windows.
The main specifications of NexECM are as bellow:
| Item |
Specification |
| Maximum Cycle Time |
250 us [250us, 500us, 1 ms, 2 ms, 4ms…] |
| Maximum number of slave devices |
64 |
| Support the ENI /ESI file? |
Yes |
| Support CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE) |
Yes |
| Support distributed clock (DC) |
Yes |
| Support file access over EtherCAT (FoE) |
Yes |
| Operating system |
Microsoft® Windows:
Windows 7, WES7, Win10
Real-time:
TenAsys® INTime
IntervalZero® RTX |
NexECM provides a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) for all kinds of high-level programming language to use in the Windows operating system. In addition, NexECM provides C/C++ APIs for users to call directly in the real-time operating system (RTOS). The development environment is Microsoft® Visual Studio.
NexECM, NexCOBOT’s EtherCAT Master solution, enables a variety of motion control applications. Refer to the online manual for detailed programming methods.
