Industrial fieldbus for high-performance robotics

EtherCAT Arduino Shield by Esmacat (EASE) is an UNO Shield that stacks onto Arduino boards (or Arduino-like boards such as Mbed) and provides an SPI interface to data packets that are sent or received using the EtherCAT protocol. Those data packets can also be read or written by an EtherCAT master device. We offer two different versions of the Esmacat Master, or you can assemble your own using our open source software. Standard Ethernet cables can be used to connect multiple EASE boards, in a daisy-chain topology, and to provide power.

The high-speed communication of EtherCAT, which is 200 times faster than CAN-bus and 1,000 times faster than traditional RS232 communication, allows for the seamless integration and centralized control of multiple baseboards. For more information about EtherCAT, please have a look at our FAQ.

Expand Your Project by Syncing Multiple Boards

One major problem encountered by Arduino users – whether they are students building a school project or engineers prototyping industrial machines – is the lack of a common solution for expanding their projects to incorporate multiple Arduino boards and gain access to additional I/O pins. Arduino peripherals, including Arduino shields, sometimes take up multiple I/O pins and leave little room to create a project that requires multiple Arduino peripherals. This limits designers’ creativity. And even if they are* able to employ multiple Arduino boards to expand their project, users have no standard way of syncing those boards to produce a single connected project. This is now a problem of the past!

Flexible & Cross Platform

The EtherCAT master device described above is merely a portal capable of initializing different EtherCAT slaves, including EASE. Once initialized, any EtherCAT slave can send data to the master, which can either use those data – printing values to a GUI, for example – or send them on to other EtherCAT slaves. In other words, flipping a switch on one slave could activate an LED on another slave.

EASE specifically has eight data registers that can be read from or written to using functions that are available both to the EtherCAT master and through the Arduino IDE. Data packets are exchanged via SPI, which is universal across many MCU boards. This architecture is far more versatile than one in which the Arduino MCU implements the ability to connect, say, an Arduino Uno to a Nucleo 64.

Hassle-Free Power & Efficient Resource Utilization

A 24 V PoE injector is inserted between the EtherCAT master and the neighboring EASE board. It not only transmits data between the master and all connected EtherCAT slaves, it also provides power to all slaves, so there is no need to externally power each subsystem.

Important: EASE is rated for a 24 VDC PoE injector. Do not attempt to use it with a higher-voltage injector.

In addition, EASE runs the EtherCAT software on the shield itself rather than on the Arduino. This allows for high-performance applications to be developed on the EASE-Arduino subsystem, as the Arduino board is not busy trying to run the user’s application as well as the EtherCAT software.

Features

• EASE connects Arduino boards, Arduino-like boards, and Arduino Shields for large-scale applications.
• EtherCAT supports high-speed, 200 Mbps communication (200x faster than CAN-bus).
• EASE has an Arduino Uno form factor, which allows it to take advantage of the Arduino ecosystem.
• Daisy chain connections between multiple EASE units simplifies your wiring topology.
• 24 V DC Power-over-EtherCAT (PoE) technology reduces the number of wires and power outlets required.
• EASE and the baseboard to which it is attached exchange data packets over SPI. This makes EASE compatible with many Arduino alternatives, including MBed.
• Free and open source EtherCAT master software is available, for both Windows and Linux, on the Esmacat website. An easy-to-use Arduino library for EASE – which includes numerous examples – is also available.

Comparison Table

Support & Documentation

You can find all of our documentation, including tutorials, datasheets, and schematics on our website, which also hosts the Esmacat Master code. Finally, check out our Hackster.io page, where we plan to post EASE tutorials moving forward.

Manufacturing Plan

We have worked successfully with PCBWay on previous prototypes, and we plan to contract them for EASE fabrication and assembly. Once we receive the manufactured EASE boards, we will add various finishing touches ourselves. This includes soldering pin headers, uploading firmware, and carrying out a rigorous QC testing process to ensure that only high quality products are shipped to backers.

Fulfillment & Logistics

Each EASE board will be put into a small Esmacat box with foam to protect it. This box will then go into a larger box with more protection. The size of the larger box will depend on the number of products in the package. It will then be shipped to Crowd Supply for fulfillment. Please see theCrowd Supply Guide for information about shipping logistics.

Risks & Challenges

We are prepared to handle any challenge that may come our way! Our current prototype has been tested thoroughly, so there shouldn’t be any hardware problems with EASE. EASE goes through a quality control process, and we will ensure that we never send out a damaged product. We have experience working with PCBWay and are familiar with their manufacturing process. If we encounter unforeseen shipping mishaps – damage, loss, etc. – we will find the source of the problem as quickly as possible and send an immediate replacement if there is no easy fix.