EtherCAT is now an official IEC standard. The standards for EtherCAT; — 61158, 61784-2 and 61800-7 unanimously passed in final voting.

In 2005, the EtherCAT specification was published by IEC as IEC/PAS 62407, and is now being replaced by the International Standards. In IEC 61158, the EtherCAT protocols and services are standard, while IEC 61784-2 defines profiles for specific device classes.

IEC 61800-7 is particularly important for Motion Control applications, since it makes EtherCAT a standard communication technology for the Sercos and CANopen drive profiles. The drive parameters, state machines, and process data layout of the device profiles remain untouched when mapped to EtherCAT. As a result, the user interface does not change when moving from Sercos and CANopen to EtherCAT, and device manufacturers can re-use major portions of their firmware.

The EtherCAT Technology Group continues to actively participate in IEC standards work. Currently, “Safety over EtherCAT” is being introduced to the appropriate work groups to include it in the next revision of IEC 61784-3, which is scheduled for 2009.
In other EtherCAT news, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has approved EtherCAT for SEMI applications and has accepted EtherCAT as a standard. EtherCAT is used in a variety of semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing applications.

EtherCAT Technology Group
www.ethercat.org

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