EtherCAT-IOLink Gateway
 
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Start TwinCAT - Basic Project

This section describes how to establish a connection between TwinCAT software and the AM64x_EVM connected with general IO-Link devices.

The first step is to copy the EtherCAT-IOLink Gateway ESI files to TwinCAT.

The ESI file TI AM64x.R5F IOLGW.xml can be found in the location examples\industrial_comms\ec_iol_gateway\esi in gateway projcect. This file must be copied to TwinCAT at C:\TwinCAT\3.1\Config\Io\EtherCAT

The following are the steps to create a new TwinCAT project and scan for the IO-Link slave devices connected to AM64x_EVM .

  1. Launch the TwinCAT XAE Shell.
    • Right click on the TwinCAT Config Mode icon and select TwinCAT XAE (TcXaeShell)
TwinCAT - Launch
  1. Create a new project.
    • In the start page click on the New TwinCAT Project... or Goto File menu and select New and click on Project...
TwinCAT - Start Page
  • In a New Project window, select TwinCAT XAE Project (XML format) . Give a suitable project name and the location. Click OK.
TwinCAT - Create Project
  • A new TwinCAT project is created.
TwinCAT - New Project

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  1. Setup Network Interface Controller (Required to do it only once)
    • Go to TwinCAT menu and click on Show Realtime Ethernet Compatible Devices… and install TwinCAT RT-Ethernet Adapter driver.
TwinCAT - Menu

After the installation the NIC should be listed inside the Installed and ready to use devices .

TwinCAT - RT Ethernet Adapter Driver Installation
  1. Scan for the devices
    • Right click on the Devices in the I/O under the TwinCAT project.
Start Scan
  • A hint dialog box will appear. Click ok.
Hint Dialog
  • Once the EtherCAT compatible devices are detected then a dialog box containing new found devices will appear. Select the desired device and click OK.
Found Devices
  • A dialog will appear for to start scanning for boxes. Click Yes.
Scan For Boxes
  • A dialog will appear to use the available device description. Click Yes.
Available Description
  • A dialog will appear to activate the free run. Click Yes.
Activate Free Run
  • Now, all the devices found shall be listed under devices.
Scan Results
  • Double click on the Box 1 (TI EC-IOL-Gateway for AM243XR5F) and click on the Online tab. The current state shall be OP.
EtherCAT Operating Mode
  • Click on the CoE - Online tab and wait for the object dictionary to load. The etherCAT device identity shall be visible through the objects with indexes 1000,1001,1008,1009,100A and 1018.
EtherCAT Device Identity
  • In the example setup, the IO-Link smart light from BALLUFF is connected to the IO-Link channel 1 on the IO-Link breakout board. In the dictionary, the objects with index 90n0 , where n is the channel number ranging from 0 to 7, shall containg the details of the devices that are currently plugged in to the IO-Link ports. In this case, the details of the BALLUFF smart light shall appear in the object 9000.
IO-Link Device Description
  • The IO-Link slave device status data can be found in object with index F100.
IO-Link Device Status Data