%0 Conference Paper %1 10.1007/978-3-031-88831-1_13 %A Fischer, Marc %A Walker, Moritz %A Neher, Philipp A. %A Neubauer, Michael %A Lechler, Armin %A Verl, Alexander %B Advances in Automotive Production Technology -- Digital Product Development and Manufacturing %C Cham %D 2025 %E Holder, Daniel %E Wulle, Frederik %E Lind, Jannik %I Springer Nature Switzerland %K %P 150--159 %T EtherCAT Tunneling Through Time-Sensitive Networks: An Experimental Evaluation %X Due to flexibility requirements, the strictly horizontal communication of the automation pyramid is converging. This includes communication at the field level. Due to the long lifetime of machines in manufacturing, it is important to support converged communication for existing fieldbuses such as EtherCAT. This enables the implementation of brownfield approaches for gradually implementing converged networks in existing plants. EtherCAT is a widely used industrial Ethernet-based fieldbus protocol for communication between programmable logic controllers and field devices. This work analyzes the tunneling concept of EtherCAT through a Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) network from the literature and contributes an empirical evaluation based on a test setup with multiple EtherCAT networks and EtherCAT slaves. The tunneling of EtherCAT through TSN based on Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) is demonstrated to be a viable option, allowing the utilization of existing EtherCAT devices without the necessity for adaptation. A comparison of the Linux features SO\_TXTIME and a simple RAW\_SOCKET reveals that both introduce jitter, which is compensated by the EtherCAT slaves to a few microseconds. %@ 978-3-031-88831-1

@inproceedings{10.1007/978-3-031-88831-1_13, abstract = {Due to flexibility requirements, the strictly horizontal communication of the automation pyramid is converging. This includes communication at the field level. Due to the long lifetime of machines in manufacturing, it is important to support converged communication for existing fieldbuses such as EtherCAT. This enables the implementation of brownfield approaches for gradually implementing converged networks in existing plants. EtherCAT is a widely used industrial Ethernet-based fieldbus protocol for communication between programmable logic controllers and field devices. This work analyzes the tunneling concept of EtherCAT through a Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) network from the literature and contributes an empirical evaluation based on a test setup with multiple EtherCAT networks and EtherCAT slaves. The tunneling of EtherCAT through TSN based on Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) is demonstrated to be a viable option, allowing the utilization of existing EtherCAT devices without the necessity for adaptation. A comparison of the Linux features SO{\_}TXTIME and a simple RAW{\_}SOCKET reveals that both introduce jitter, which is compensated by the EtherCAT slaves to a few microseconds.}, added-at = {2025-06-23T13:41:12.000+0200}, address = {Cham}, author = {Fischer, Marc and Walker, Moritz and Neher, Philipp A. and Neubauer, Michael and Lechler, Armin and Verl, Alexander}, biburl = {https://puma.ub.uni-stuttgart.de/bibtex/2ae398320141264366d7115a851559dc8/isw-bibliothek}, booktitle = {Advances in Automotive Production Technology -- Digital Product Development and Manufacturing}, editor = {Holder, Daniel and Wulle, Frederik and Lind, Jannik}, interhash = {5f66bc0ad08883915972cd4943b58f7b}, intrahash = {ae398320141264366d7115a851559dc8}, isbn = {978-3-031-88831-1}, keywords = {}, pages = {150--159}, publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland}, timestamp = {2025-06-23T11:41:12.000+0200}, title = {EtherCAT Tunneling Through Time-Sensitive Networks: An Experimental Evaluation}, year = 2025 }