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NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® 21.5 Readme

October 2021

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software.

You can find more release information on ni.com.


Overview

Supported Operating Systems

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

Supported EtherCAT Masters

Accessing the Help

Finding Examples

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Unsupported Windows Operating Systems

Legal Information


Overview

The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software provides an EtherCAT master driver to support the real-time EtherCAT network operations. Use the software with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module to configure the EtherCAT network and map the EtherCAT device signals to the LabVIEW I/O variables.

Supported Operating Systems

The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software supports the following operating systems:

  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016

Note  The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.x, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.

Software Requirements

To install the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software, install the following prerequisite software.

  • LabVIEW 2019 SP1 or later
  • LabVIEW 2019 SP1 Real-Time Module or later
  • NI CompactRIO Device Drivers October 2021

Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for LabVIEW.

Notes  
  • NI 9145 is the only EtherCAT slave that has FPGA support in LabVIEW. To use the NI 9145 in FPGA Mode, install the LabVIEW 2014 FPGA Module or later on the host computer and then download a bitfile to the FPGA of the NI 9145. You can compile or copy a bitfile to download to the FPGA.
  • NI 951x Series drive interface modules require the LabVIEW 2014 SoftMotion Module or later to work for EtherCAT.

Installation Instructions

Download the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using Package Manager.

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.

Supported EtherCAT Masters

The following table lists the supported EtherCAT masters and the earliest supported version of the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT.

EtherCAT MasterEarliest Supported Version
PXI-81061.0
PXIe-81301.0
PXI-81041.0
PXI-81081.01
All real-time embedded PXI controllers with the PXI-8231 or PXI-8232 Ethernet interface2.0
PXIe-81332.0
PCI-82322.0
PCIe-82312.0
PCIe-82332.0
PCIe-82352.0
cRIO-90812.2
cRIO-90822.2
RMC-8354RT2.5
RMC-8355RT2.5
PXI-81092.5
PXI-81152.5
PXIe-81152.5
PXIe-81352.5
cRIO-90682.6
cRIO-903014.0
cRIO-903114.0
cRIO-903314.0
cRIO-906714.0
sbRIO-965114.0
cDAQ-9132RT14.0
cDAQ-9134RT14.0
PXI-884014.0
PXIe-884014.0
PXI-811914.0
PXIe-811914.0
PXIe-888014.0
PXIe-888121.5
cRIO-903414.5
cRIO-903514.5
cRIO-903614.5
cRIO-903814.5
cRIO-903914.5
cRIO-906414.5
cRIO-906514.5
cDAQ-9133RT14.5
cDAQ-9135RT14.5
sbRIO-960715.0
sbRIO-962715.0
cDAQ-9136RT15.0
cDAQ-9137RT15.0
CVS-1458RT15.0
cRIO-903216.0
cRIO-903716.0
cRIO-9035 (Sync)16.0
cRIO-9039 (Sync)16.0
IC-317116.0
IC-317216.0
IC-317316.0
cRIO-904x17.6
cRIO-905x18.0
PXIe-8840 Quad-Core with NI Linux Real-Time18.5
PXIe-8880 with NI Linux Real-Time18.5
PXIe-8861 with NI Linux Real-Time19.0
All PXIe controllers with NI Linux Real-Time with the PXIe-8245 or PXIe-8246 Ethernet interfaces21.3
sbRIO-960320.0
sbRIO-960820.0
sbRIO-960920.0
sbRIO-962820.0
sbRIO-962920.0
sbRIO-963820.0

Note  NI does not recommend using cDAQ real-time controllers with the NI 9145 EtherCAT slave device in FPGA mode, because cDAQ real-time controllers cannot read user-defined variables from the NI 9145 EtherCAT slave device. When using a cDAQ real-time controller as the master device, you can only read EtherCAT device signals from the LabVIEW I/O Variable Functions. You cannot read directly from the LabVIEW I/O variables.

Note  If you use NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) to install the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software on real-time controllers, some controllers, such as the Embedded Vision System, require you to install the controller driver software. Otherwise, MAX cannot discover the controllers.

Note  In NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 18.5, PXIe-8840 Quad-Core with NI Linux Real-Time and PXIe-8880 with NI Linux Real-Time are supported only for VeriStand. In NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 19.0 or later, this support no longer relies on VeriStand.

Note  NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 21.5 supports only the non-primary built-in Ethernet port of PXI controllers with NI Linux Real-Time.

Accessing the Help

Refer to the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® Help, available by selecting Help»NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT from LabVIEW, for information about the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software.

Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder. Navigate to the Hardware Input and Output»NI-Industrial Communications»EtherCAT folder to access the examples.

You can also find the examples for NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® in the labview\examples\indcomecat folder.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.

If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.

For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, refer to NI Product Compatibility for Microsoft Windows 10.

Unsupported Windows Operating Systems

NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.x, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. Versions of this product that ship after May 1, 2021, may not install or execute correctly on these operating systems. For detailed information about NI operating system support, visit https://www.ni.com/r/win32bitsupport.


Legal Information

Copyright

© 2008–2022 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

NI respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.

End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices

You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:

  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.

IVI Foundation Copyright Notice

Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.

The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Trademarks

Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Patents

For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.


Credits

This product includes components that use the Expat XML Parser. In regards to the Expat XML Parser, the following notice applies:

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Thai Open Source Software Center Ltd and Clark Cooper. Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Expat maintainers.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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