5. Diagnosis

5.1. Overview

EC-Inspector is a diagnosis application specifically developed to analyze EtherCAT networks that are controlled by an EtherCAT MainDevice. Automated control systems usually require high availability of the whole system. Due to the rough industrial environment this is often hardly to achieve.

If high availability shall be guaranteed for an automated control system it is important to verify and maintain the field bus. Using EC-Inspector it is possible to take a look into the “health” of the EtherCAT system. Detection of signs of system degradation prior to running into a system failure will be of great benefit. In that case it is possible to exchange the problematic components (cables, SubDevice devices).

Many aspects of diagnosis are covered by the EC-Inspector:

  • System analysis and maintenance

  • Error detection

  • Documentation

After switching into diagnosis mode of EC-Inspector, the user will see this page:

../_images/diag-mode.png

5.2. Device

This section shows the current “health” state of the MainDevice and helps the user to analyze MainDevice related problems.

5.2.1. General

In this tab, the user can see the current state of the state machine of the MainDevice. He has also an overview over the current “health” state of his EtherCAT network:

../_images/diag-master-general.png
State Machine
Current State:

Current state of the MainDevice

Requested State:

Requested state of the MainDevice

Information
Device version:

Version number of the running MainDevice

Number of found SubDevices:

Number of SubDevices, which were found from device on the network

Number of SubDevices in configuration:

Number of SubDevices, which are configured in the ENI file

Number of DC SubDevices:

Number of SubDevices with DC support, which were found from MainDevice on the network

DC in-sync:

Signals that all SubDevices with DC support are correctly synchronized or not. If not all SubDevices are correctly synchronized, please refer the Message Window for more information.

Topology OK:

Signals that topology is “okay” or not. If topology is not “okay”, you have a mismatch between the configured bus and the currently connected bus. Please open the ‘Network Mismatch Analyzer’ (Menu Network Network Mismatch Analyzer) to solve the problem.

Link Connected:

Signals the link is connected.

SubDevices in MainDevice State:

Signals that all SubDevices are in MainDevice state.

Frame Counter
TX frames:

Number of sent frames

RX frames:

Number of received frames

Lost frames:

Number of lost frames

Cyclic frames:

Number of cyclic frames

Acyclic frames:

Number of acyclic frames

Memory Usage
Current:

Current memory usage in bytes

Max:

Maximum memory usage in bytes

5.2.2. Process Data Image

In this tab, the user can see and change the values of the process variables. The variables will be forced to the value the user entered. The user can press release to release the variable. If one or two variables are selected, a chart of the values is shown. Also resize and zoom is possible to see more details. The chart will be updated every 250 milliseconds:

../_images/diag-master-process-image.png

It is also possible to add the variables to a watch list (next chapter).

5.2.3. Watch list

In this tab, the user can monitor selected variables. He can go through the SubDevices and add variables to the watch list to monitor them. The user can also export or import the watch list, so changes can be saved:

../_images/diag-master-watchlist.png

5.2.4. Performance

In this tab, the user can see the busload per cycle and per second:
../_images/diag-master-performance.png

5.2.5. Data Acquisition Diagnosis

In this tab, the user can start and stop the DAQ recorders. Also he can see some statistics of running recorders.
../_images/monitor-daq-diag.png

5.3. SubDevice

This section shows the current “health” state of the selected SubDevice and helps the user to analyze SubDevice related problems.

5.3.1. General (SubDevice)

In this tab, the user can see the current state of the state machine of the SubDevice:

../_images/diag-slave-general.png
State Machine
Current State:

Current state of the selected SubDevice

Requested State:

Requested state of the selected SubDevice

Software Diagnostics
State Machine Error:

SubDevice error which occurred during state transition

Hardware Diagnostics
Summary:

Summary of hardware diagnostics

Port A:

Port specific error

Port D:

Port specific error

Port B:

Port specific error

Port C:

Port specific error

Buttons
Acknowledge:

Acknowledge the current error state and notify the user again if error state was changed again.

Possible warning and errors:
Disturbed Connection:

There may be problems in the connection between two SubDevices. The message will tell either that there is a problem between two SubDevices or two ports. The warning appears if error counters are increased (Invalid Frame: 0x300-0x306, RX Errors: 0x301-0x307, Lost Link: 0x308-0x30B). The value from which a warning is issued can be set in the User.xml files in C:/ProgramData/EC-Engineer. More information below.

Bad Connection:

The same as “Disturbed Connection” but the error counters are higher. The value from which an error is issued can be set in the User.xml files in C:/ProgramData/EC-Engineer. More information below.

Line break:

A line break is detected before a SubDevice. This error is detected by looking at the topology.

Link missing:

A link is missing on input port of the SubDevice. This error is detected by looking at the topology.

Multiple warnings:

There are multiple warning for this port.

Multiple errors:

There are multiple errors for this port.

Multiple warnings and errors:

There are multiple warning and errors for this port.

State Machine:

See ETG1020 “Description of AL Status Codes” or ETG.1000.6. This error is detected by looking at the AL Status (0x130).

How to solve errors?

  • Lost Link errors are often caused by the power supply system

  • Helpful might be the usage of an extra power supply

  • It is recommended to clear all error counters after startup

How to change amount of errors leading to a warning or error:

  • Open C:/ProgramData/EC-Inspector

  • Search for DiagGeneral

  • Change the values which should be adjusted

    • LostLink: The value entered is used

    • All others are calculated depending on the amount of cyclic frames: (Value / CyclicFrames) x 10^6

Note

Please refer also the “ETG.1600 EtherCAT Installation Guideline”: http://www.ethercat.org/ETG1600.

5.3.2. Variables

In this tab, the user can see and change the values of the process variables. The variables will be forced to the value the user entered. The user can press release to release the variable. If one or two variables are selected, a chart of the values is shown. Also resize and zoom is possible to see more details. The chart will be updated every 250 milliseconds:

../_images/diag-slave-variables.png

5.3.3. ESC Register

In this tab, the user can see the values of the registers. In the settings section he can set the offset and the length. If he activates the compact view, he will only see the registers which have a description:

../_images/diag-slave-esc.png

5.3.4. Extended Diagnosis

In this tab, the user can see the extended diagnosis information:

../_images/diag-slave-extended.png

There will be a red ! to signalize that a counter is higher than 0. Except for the forwarded errors.

If an error counter is ‘-’ it was not read. If it is ‘0’ it is really zero. So there is a difference between ‘0’ and ‘-‘.

Common Error Counter
Processing Error Counter:

Indicates that SubDevice received “not EtherCAT frames”, which are not allowed in the EtherCAT segment (of course acceptable in a test environment)

PDI Error Counter:

Counts if a PDI access has an interface error (read from register: 0x30D)

Port 0..3

  • Invalid Frame Counter of Port y (read from register: 0x0300+y*2)

  • RX Error Counter of Port y (read from register: 0x0300+y*2+8Bit)

  • Lost Link Counter of Port y (read from register: 0x0310+y)

  • Forwarded RX Error Counter of Port y (read from register: 0x0308+y)

Acknowledge warning

If one of the error counters increase there will be a warning in the tree, sigalized with an icon. With this button it is possible to acknowledge this warning. So the SubDevice can be monitored again and the icon will come back with the next error.

To see this information the error counters must be read by the EtherCAT MainDevice. Only if this is activated the EC-Inspector is able to read this. Here is a quick overview on how to activate this function on different MainDevices:

acontis EC-Master:

To activate the error collection of the acontis EC-Master, the follwing API has to be called:

/* SubDevice statistics polling for error diagnostic */
EC_T_DWORD dwPeriodMs = 1000;
dwRes = ecatIoCtl(EC_IOCTL_SET_SLVSTAT_PERIOD, (EC_T_BYTE*)&dwPeriodMs, sizeof(EC_T_DWORD), EC_NULL, 0, EC_NULL);
if (dwRes != EC_E_NOERROR)
{
    EcLogMsg(EC_LOG_LEVEL_ERROR, (pEcLogContext, EC_LOG_LEVEL_ERROR, "ecatIoControl(EC_IOCTL_SET_SLVSTAT_PERIOD) returns with error=0x%x\n", dwRes));
    goto Exit;
}
Third Party MainDevice:

Find more details here Operating with Third Party EtherCAT Controller

5.3.5. CoE Object-Dictionary

This tab consists of different modes:

Description from ESI

In this tab, the user can see the description of the object dictionary from ESI and the values from the SubDevice.

../_images/diag-slave-coe.png
Lists of CoE Object-Dictionary entries

  • Entries comes from ESI

  • The “Flags” column tells the user if this entry is an PDO entry and if it can be edited

    • “AA BB C D (EE FF GG)”

    • AA = Mapping as RX PDO or not

    • BB = Mapping as TX PDO or not

    • C = Backup Flag

    • D = Settings Flag

    • EE = Access rights for PreOp (RO, WO, RW)

    • FF = Access rights for SafeOp (RO, WO, RW)

    • GG = Access rights for Op (RO, WO, RW)

Single Object

In this tab, the user can read and write (not EC-Inspector) the values of the object dictionary of the SubDevice.

../_images/diag-slave-coe_3.png
Settings
Index:

Index of the CoE value

SubIndex:

SubIndex of the CoE value

Size:

Size of the CoE value (only used for reading)

Complete Access:

Activate, if complete access mode should be used for reading or writing the CoE value (can be used only if it is supported from SubDevice)

Operation
Read:

Reads the value from SubDevice (Hex format, like: “00 11 22 33 …”)

5.3.6. File over Ethernet (FoE)

In this tab, the user has the possibility to download or upload a file to the SubDevice:
../_images/diag-slave-foe.png
FoE Operations
Local Filename:

Name of the file on the harddrive

SubDevice Filename:

Name of the file on the SubDevice

Password:

Password on the SubDevice as a hex-number

Timeout:

Timeout for downloading or uploading the file in milliseconds

Max File Size:

Maximal file size which should be uploaded from the SubDevice in kilo bytes

5.3.7. History (SubDevice)

In this tab, the user can see and change the diagnosis history of the SubDevice. It is also possible to export the data:
../_images/diag-slave-history.png
Settings
Show Info Messages:

Info messages will be collected from SubDevice

Show Warning Messages:

Warning messages will be collected from SubDevice

Show Error Messages:

Error messages will be collected from SubDevice

Show Emergency Messages:

Emergency messages will be collected from SubDevice

Current Mode:

Overwrite Mode: Messages will be overwritten if buffer is full Acknowledge Mode: Messages will be discarded if buffer is full

Messages

List of history messages

Change Message Handling
Enable/Disable Info Messages:

Enable or disable info messages

Enable/Disable Warning Messages:

Enable or disable warning messages

Enable/Disable Info Messages:

Enable or disable info messages

Enable/Disable Error Messages:

Enable or disable error messages

Enable/Disable Emergency Messages:

Enable or disable emergency messages

Enable Acknowledge Mode:

Enable acknowledge mode

Enable Overwrite Mode:

Enable overwrite mode

Clear All Messages:

Clear all messages (only available if “Overwrite Mode” is active)

Clear All Acknowledged Messages:

Clear all acknowledged messages (only available if “Acknowledge Mode” is active)

Acknowledge All Messages:

Acknowledge all messages, that they can be overwritten from new messages (only available if “Acknowledge Mode” is active)

5.3.8. Motion (Motion Tabs only)

In this tab, the user can see and change the motion settings of the SubDevice. He can read important variables and change velocity and direction of the axis. Also gearing and camming are possible to use:
../_images/diag-slave-motion.png