The 'Ethercat G' presented by Beckhoff Automation for the first time in Nuremberg uses the 1 Gbit/s transmission rate of standard Ethernet; the 'Ethercat G10' variant presented as a technology study even uses 10 Gbit/s. According to Hans Beckhoff, "depending on the application, an increase in performance by a factor of 2 to 7 is possible with these extensions." However, the managing partner of the Verl-based company also emphasizes: "Ethercat G and G10 are not intended to replace the successful standard Ethercat based on 100 MBit/s. Both performance levels are to be understood as system-compliant upward additions."

The new solution was primarily developed to be equipped for future, extremely large applications and the increased integration of particularly data-intensive devices, such as vision cameras, complex motion systems or measurement technology components with high sample rates. According to Beckhoff, Ethercat and Ethercat G can be operated in a mixed network. This means that Ethercat G slaves also work in the 100 Mbit/s Ethercat network and vice versa. In both operating modes, all Ethercat G devices switch to 100 Mbit/s mode.

With the so-called branch controller concept for Ethercat G, however, Ethercat branches are possible that allow parallel operation of 100 Mbit/s segments in a 1 Gbit/s network through corresponding speed conversions. This concept also offers another advantage: minimized throughput delay times. The CU14xx branch controllers, which can be used to connect entire Ethercat and Ethercat G segments and thus parallelize them, are designed for this purpose. This enables significantly reduced signal propagation times and therefore shorter communication and cycle times. This is because the telegram of a segment runs directly from the branch controller back to the respective master - independently of other network segments and with the high 1 Gbit/s transmission rate.

The Ethercat G branch controller is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2019, together with an Ethercat G coupler (EK1400), an Ethercat G branch (CU1423) and, last but not least, an Ethercat G10 evaluation platform for device manufacturers (Ethercat G10 Piggyback FB1450). An evaluation platform for Ethercat G is already planned for the second quarter of 2019. When asked about the specific implementation of Ethercat G/G10, Thomas Rettig, Senior Management Control System and Communication Architecture at Beckhoff, replies: "Masters can simply use a Gigabit or 10 Gigabit NIC without any software adaptations. On the slave side, a new Ethercat slave controller and corresponding 1/10 Gbit/s PHYs are required. The slave stack or application code can generally continue to be used unchanged.

The XPlanar linear transport system

Uwe Prüßmeier, Beckhoff: "Delivery of the starter kits for XPlanar is scheduled for April 2019."

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With XTS, Beckhoff has already had a linear transport system in its portfolio for some time. XPlanar is another system that combines the individual arrangement of so-called planar tiles with multidimensional positioning of the planar movers hovering above them. The movers can be moved two-dimensionally without jerking or contact at speeds of up to 4 m/s, 2 g acceleration and 50 µm positioning repeatability.

According to Uwe Prüßmeier, the responsible product manager, the maximum flexibility of the mover positioning and the very high movement dynamics make it possible, for example, to divide product flows very easily and individually and replace previously necessary robots or other inflexible mechanical devices. The contactless movement of the movers also eliminates wear, emissions and the carry-over of contaminants.

The XPlanar system is based on 240 x 240 mm planar tiles that can be arranged in any geometry. These contain the entire electronics and Ethercat G communication. A freely selectable number of planar movers float above them - made possible by integrated permanent magnets. The movers can be used not only horizontally, but also vertically and even upside down. The two-dimensional X/Y positioning of the movers is supplemented by additional movement functions:

• Lifting and lowering by up to 5 mm, optionally including weighing function
• Tilting by up to 5° for transporting and handling liquids
• Rotation of up to ±15° or up to 360° using special planar tiles

According to Prüßmeier, XPlanar is suitable as a transport system in the entire mechanical engineering sector, particularly for the automation of packaging, assembly, sorting and picking processes. The free choice of surfaces - glass, stainless steel in hygienic design or plastic film - also supports use in cleanrooms, in the pharmaceutical and food industries and under vacuum conditions.

When asked how XTS and XPlanar can be differentiated from each other, Prüßmeier answers: "XTS is faster and more dynamic than the XPlanar system, as the mechanical guidance allows greater process forces to be absorbed. XPlanar, on the other hand, is much more flexible, thanks to the free movement on a surface and, within certain limits, even with rotation around three axes as well as lifting and lowering. This saves additional hardware at the processing stations."