First safety over EtherCAT plug fest held successfully

The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) recently held its first Safety over EtherCAT Plug Fest successfully. EtherCAT Plug Fests have been a fixture in the ETG event calendar for many years. A total of 36 participants from 18 different companies came to Verl, Germany, where the event took place at the facilities of ETG member company Beckhoff Automation GmbH and Co. KG.

Several manufacturers of EtherCAT safety master and slave devices came to Verl, Germany, to test the interoperability of their Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE) devices and exchange knowledge with the other participants and the on-site experts.

Although the exclusive focus on FSoE was new at this particular Plug Fest, it was well received. The attendees tested their FSoE devices for interoperability, and in total they brought nine masters, 15 slaves as well as one stack and one tool. According to the on-site experts, the interoperability of all devices was consistently very good.

EtherCAT devices without safety functionality were not permitted at the event; the EtherCAT protocol served only as a transport layer. The focus of the event was on FSoE masters as safe controllers for distributed and central solutions as well as on FSoE I/O devices. In addition, safe drives whose safe drive functions are implemented with the support of the ETG.6100 profile were tested. The profile serves to standardise the functionality and parameters for drive-integrated safety functions.

Due to the success of the first Safety over EtherCAT Plug Fest from ETG, further events will follow in the future.