LXMASTER Features
This page lists the full set of LXMASTER features organized by category. Use the filter pills to focus on a specific status.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Available | Fully implemented and ready to use in the current release. |
| In development | Actively being worked on; not yet in a release. |
| Planned | Confirmed on the roadmap; work has not started. |
| Not planned | Not currently on the roadmap. |
12Available
7In development
0Planned
19Not planned
Core EtherCAT communication
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EtherCAT state machine (INIT / PRE-OP / SAFE-OP / OP) | Available | Full ESM with AL status + status-code handling, error-ack retry, and BOOT state support. |
| Service commands (APRD / FPRD / BRD / LRD / LWR / LRW / ARMW / FRMW) | Available | Full EtherCAT command set driven by the configurator and the cyclic path. |
| Raw EtherCAT frame types (EtherType 0x88A4) | Available | Standard raw EtherCAT frames on the wire. |
| Error handling and fault reporting | Available | Per-cycle working-counter watchdog, link/topology break localisation, AL monitoring, on_bus_fault callback. |
| IRQ field in EtherCAT datagram | Not planned | AL-event IRQ mask is generated in the ENI, but the datagram IRQ field is not consumed; state changes are detected by polling AL Status. |
| Device emulation flag awareness | Not planned | Simple and complex slaves are handled, but no special error-ack skipping for device-emulation slaves. |
| VLAN tagging | Not planned | Optional per the EtherCAT spec; not implemented. |
| UDP frame types | Not planned | Optional per the EtherCAT spec; not implemented. |
Process data
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclic PDO exchange | Available | Process data packed into segmented LWR/LRD frames per group; driven by a single real-time cyclic task. |
| Multiple cyclic tasks (multi-rate) | Not planned | The backend supports multi-group process data, but only a single cyclic task is exposed. Wire on demand. |
| Frame repetition | Not planned | Not implemented. |
Network configuration
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ENI file loading and validation | Available | Runtime loads and validates an ENI; online bus scan reads live SII/identity. Both paths are available. |
| Network configuration comparison at boot | Available | Slave count, VendorId, ProductCode, and revision rules are compared on bring-up. |
| Explicit device identification | Not planned | ENI Identification ADO not parsed; needed for hot-connect and cable-swap detection. |
| Station alias addressing | Not planned | Alias address is read from hardware but addressing still uses the configured address. |
| EEPROM read / write / reload | In development | Full EEPROM access (read, write, reload, dump) is available in the backend but not yet surfaced through the public API. |
Mailbox
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mailbox protocol support | Available | Mailbox pool, queue, post/fetch, and sync-manager setup. |
| Resilient mailbox layer (link-counter + retransmit) | Available | Link-counter toggle (wraps 1–7) and retransmit queue are fully implemented. |
| Cyclic mailbox polling (unsolicited input data) | In development | Cyclic mailbox handler exists in the backend but is not wired in the public API. |
| Multiple mailbox channels | Not planned | Optional per the spec; not implemented. |
CoE — CANopen over EtherCAT
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SDO upload / download (normal + expedited) | Available | Used throughout for PDO assignment, CiA402 objects, and ENI InitCmd replay. |
| Segmented SDO transfer | Available | Transparent handling of segmented uploads and downloads of any size. |
| SDO complete access | In development | Backend supports complete access but callers do not yet use it. |
| SDO information service (object dictionary listing) | In development | OD listing is available in the backend but not exposed through the public API. |
| CoE Emergency messages | Not planned | Emergency messages are decoded internally into the error log but not yet surfaced as application callbacks. |
| PDO transmission via CoE | Not planned | Optional; expose on demand. |
Mailbox protocols (EoE / FoE / SoE / AoE / VoE)
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EoE — Ethernet over EtherCAT | In development | IP config, fragmented send/recv, and reassembly are in the backend; not yet exposed through the public API. |
| EoE virtual switch + OS endpoint | Not planned | Needs a host-side L2 switch / TAP bridge to the OS IP stack. |
| FoE — File over EtherCAT (firmware up/download) | In development | Full FoE get_file/put_file with password and progress hook is in the backend; not yet exposed through the public API. |
| BOOT state for firmware update | In development | BOOT state exists; needs wiring in the bring-up sequence for firmware update use cases. |
| SoE — Servo drive profile over EtherCAT (IDN) | Not planned | SoE read_idn/write_idn/map_idns is in the backend; not yet exposed through the public API. |
| AoE — ADS over EtherCAT | Not planned | Routing slot exists; no AoE service module. Needs new code. |
| VoE — Vendor-specific over EtherCAT | Not planned | Routing slot exists; no VoE handler. Optional. |
Distributed Clocks
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DC configuration and synchronisation | Available | Propagation-delay measurement, reference clock selection, alignment, SYNC0/SYNC01 setup, and master-side PI drift controller. |
| Continuous propagation-delay re-measurement | Not planned | Master–DC drift is compensated, but periodic re-measurement of propagation delay is not yet emitted. |
| Sync window monitoring (hard per-cycle fault) | Not planned | System-time-difference is gated at OP entry and traced in OP, but no hard per-cycle fault threshold is enforced. |
Advanced bus features
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slave-to-slave data copy via master | Not planned | No master-side routing of one slave's inputs to another's outputs. Required for Safety-over-EtherCAT. |
| Master object dictionary (ETG.5001) | Not planned | No master-local OD. |
Device profiles and feature packs
| Feature pack | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Motion control — CiA402 drive profile | Available | Full CiA402 drive profile: control/status word, CSP/CSV/CST operating modes, DC sync. The primary purpose of LXMASTER. |
| Digital I/O — CiA401 profile | Available | Digital and analog I/O modules via the IoModule facade. |
| Encoder — CiA406 profile | Available | Encoder devices via the Encoder facade. |
| Custom device profiles | Available | Users can implement IDeviceProfile / IMotionProfile / IIoProfile to support any EtherCAT device. |
| Cable redundancy | In development | Ring-topology plumbing exists in the backend; break-localisation and facade wiring remain. |
| Motion control — SERCOS / SoE drive profile | Not planned | SoE transport is available; no SERCOS drive profile layer on top. |
| Hot connect (dynamic topology) | Not planned | No hot-connect groups or identify commands. |