Convert your XMC System into an EtherCAT Slave Device
- Add EtherCAT Slave (ECS) functionality to your XMC equipped base board
- The EtherCAT Slave Controller address space is directly mapped to the PCI Express® address space.
Simple Configuration and Rapid Application Development
- Easy Configuration by esd's EtherCAT master or other masters
- Sample EtherCAT Slave Information File (ESI file in XML format) is provided
- esd EtherCAT slave API library and sample code for rapid application development are included
Bus Master Support
- The
FPGA contains Bus Master DMA Support to offload the CPU from copying
the output process image data into the host memory. This is utilized by
the esd EtherCAT Slave Stack.
Download the XMC EtherCat Slave Interface Data Sheet (PDF)...
esd electronics is a member of the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG).

EtherCAT Slave Interface for XMC
The ECS-XMC/FPGA is an EtherCAT Slave controller board in a VITA 42.3
(XMC) form factor. It utilizes a Beckhoff IP-Core, which is implemented
in an Altera FPGA and configured for 8 FMMUs, 8 Sync Managers, 60 kB
DPRAM and 64 bit Distributed Clocks. Other Configurations are available
on request. The FPGA connects the PCI Express bus to the XMC P15
connector and the two Ethernet interfaces on the front panel. The
additional EtherCAT signals SYNC and Latch are available on the
secondary XMC connector P16, soldering pads or optionally on the PMC I/O
connector P14.
Versatile Applications
Due to this simple but very effective hardware topology and the use of a “soft”
controller, the design offers maximum flexibility. The XMC system
can act as an I/O node. An EtherCAT master can use several EtherCAT
protocols like CoE, FoE and EoE to communicate with this EtherCAT slave
device.
SYNC/Latch I/Os and Share I/Os
Via connector XMC-P16 equipped on the ECS-XMC/FPGA 20 3.3 V LVTTL
I/Os are available, including the signals from the EtherCAT slave
controller: 2x Sync and 2x Latch. On request the 20 XMC I/Os can be
configured as 10 I/Os with 2.5 V level LVDS.
Software Support
Device drivers for Windows® and Linux® with documentation and
EtherCAT slave examples are included in the scope of delivery. Drivers
for other operating systems, especially real-time OS, are available on
request.