AM2434: EtherCAT communication hardware design consideration

Hi Nivetha,

nivetha arun said:

So, here we are planning to implement only one port. Is that ok to use one port. And what are the design consideration we need to follow for implementing EtherCAT communication. 

• Yes, it is fine to use only one port of EtherCAT. 
• In the default EtherCAT package we provide in INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATIONS SDK AM243X, you can disable the second port of EtherCAT from the SDK itself, within the Sysconfig, by choosing NONE as the ETHPHY Device for the corresponding port:
• 
• Followed by this, the corresponding configurations done on the port should be commented out (For the Beckhoff demo, the PHY configurations are done in tiescsoc.c file). Additionally, you will need to set the link polarity of the unused port to HIGH or LOW based on the PHY link polarity. Set it to HIGH if link state is zero (bit clear) or set it to LOW if link state is 1 (bit set).
• From hardware perspective, make sure the MII0 or MII1 (based on your requirement) signals mentioned in Hardware Requirements is connected. Do note that the document shared is referring to AM263x package, but the naming should be similar to AM243x package and total pins required will be same. Signal naming will be like this:  

nivetha arun said:

In launchPad (AM2434-LP), In Ethernet part they are using one mux. we planned to not to use the MUX. Is that ok to implement like this?

• I believe you're referring to whether you can bypass the external on-board MUX on the second PHY since you're not going to use that corresponding port for EtherCAT? If that's the case, then you can remove the external MUX.

Regards,
Aaron