Is EtherCAT possible to port to micropython?

General discussions and questions abound development of code with MicroPython that is not hardware specific.
Target audience: MicroPython Users.
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Meekdai
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:45 pm

Is EtherCAT possible to port to micropython?

Post by Meekdai » Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:24 am

EtherCAT is the open real-time Ethernet network originally developed by Beckhoff. EtherCAT sets new standards for real-time performance and topology flexibility.

EtherCAT includes master and slave, the source code is as follows:
master:https://github.com/OpenEtherCATsociety/SOEM
slave:https://github.com/OpenEtherCATsociety/SOES

stijn
Posts: 735
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:13 am

Re: Is EtherCAT possible to port to micropython?

Post by stijn » Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:44 am

Since that source builds on a variety of platforms already, the principle of porting is relatively easy (add some hardware-specific code possibly, build, wrap public API in MicroPython module) and I'm fairly sure it is going to work, but it's hard to estimate how much work it is since the API is fairly large. Also in the platform-specific code ther's thread-related things so might not work on all ports currently supported by MicroPython. But Linux/Windows ports should work. Plus I assume one needs a compatible network adapter (at least that's how it works for Beckhoff software)? I.e. realtime ethernet over WiFi is probably not a thing, right?

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