voraus EtherCAT Python Client

The voraus EtherCAT Python Client is a Python package to interface with the voraus EtherCAT Master and provide access to PDOs of EtherCAT devices within Python applications.

Highlights and Architecture

ENI files: The master works with EtherCAT Network Information (ENI) files that describe the network.
Communication: OPC UA is used as communication protocol. The EtherCAT network is reflected in the OPC UA structure.
Docker: The master is published as a Docker image.

The architecture is shown in the Fig. 1. As described, the voraus EtherCAT Master requires an EtherCAT Network Information (ENI) file, which can initially be generated using Beckhoff TwinCAT3 or comparable software. The EtherCAT devices are then connected to the IPC on which the master is running. The master uses the generated ENI file to communicate with the devices and set up an OPC UA server for the process data. The individual process data can now be read or written from a Python context using the voraus EtherCAT Python Client package, called voraus-ecat.

Installation

The voraus EtherCAT Python Client can be installed using pip:

pip install \
   --index-url https://voraus.jfrog.io/artifactory/api/pypi/pypi/simple \
   --extra-index-url https://pypi.python.org/simple \
   voraus-ecat

The CodeMeter Runtime and an active license are required to use the EtherCAT Python Client.

1. Communication Modes