4 | Network structure
STOBER
12
02/2020 | ID 442516.07
4
Network structure
An EtherCAT network normally consists of an EtherCAT master (controller) and EtherCAT slaves, i.e. drive controllers from
the SD6 series in combination with components from third-party manufacturers.
The EtherCAT network structure is generally optimized for a line topology. Each EtherCAT slave has an incoming and
continuing bus connection.
Overall network expansion is virtually unlimited because a maximum of 65535 EtherCAT nodes can be connected together.
You can configure and parameterize the drive controllers using the STOBER DriveControlSuite DS6 software and the entire
EtherCAT network using the STOBER AS6 AutomationControlSuite development environment, for instance.
The following graphic provides a generalized depiction of an EtherCAT network with an EtherCAT master and EtherCAT
slaves.
EtherCAT
MC6 motion controller
Command level
Controller level
Commissioning
Field level
Commissioning
3 x drive controlle
rs S
D6
Fig. 1: EtherCAT – Network structure