We are planning to use the AGX orin developer Kit with actuators that support EtherCAT (the actuator P/N is RMD-X6-P20-60-E) for a robotic application.
The actuator exposes R+,R-,T+,T- through an SH1.0mm.
My questions are:
Does the AGX orin support EtherCAT through its ethernet port or another port?
Do we require additional hardware or software to make it work?
If we can connect the etherCAT slave to the orin through the ethernet port, which pins we need to connect those TX and RX because the schemtic of the orin show that there are 4 channels used so it is a little confusing.
I didn’t find a lot of details about about etherCAT in the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit
Carrier Board document.
I haven’t played with EtherCAT and Jetson before, but I found this wiki from SeedStudio, and I think you might find it very helpful.
I know you are using a devkit, however, between you and me… there is really no much difference from a devkit and an reComputer. They are pretty much the same, so I would not expect any major issues when it comes to running a demo on your devkit.
Now to answer your questions based on the wiki:
Yup. It seems like you connect the EtherCAT slave device to the Jetson Ethernet port.
No additional HW required. The Jetson board will function as the master EtherCAT device. Although it seems like you will need to get a specific library for the Jetson to be able to interact with the EtherCAT slave device.
I am not 100% sure. Although I found the following image here.
Which I am willing to bet will give us a good idea on how to wire a slave device into an RJ46 connector.
Now, as long as you are not going to be powering the device via the ethernet cable (POE), I think you should be good trying different configurations. Since R and T are just data lines, worst scenario could be that the devices can’t communicate.
Hope this helps a bit.
However, please do not hesitate to reach out if you need further support, we would love to help.
best regards,
Andrew
Embedded Software Engineer at ProventusNova
Regarding the no additional hardware needed, do we think the raw R+,R-,T+,T- from the actuator can be connected directly to the ethernet port (i mean i need to make a custom cable which one side is SH1.0mm 4 pin and the other side to the ethernet port) or you think i need to make a custom pcb where i connect the SH1.0mm and then put an RJ45 for the magnetic isolation to which i use a normal ethernet cable.
The real part is do i need the magnetics or direct connection is possible in this situation?
One last part, i think that i need to be careful so that the receiver side of the AGX be connected to the transmitter side of the actuator correct?
My guess is that you shouldn’t need the magnetic isolation.
If I was on your situation, I would start by putting together a POC with just a “custom cable” nothing fancy, just put a SH1.omm 4 pin connector on one side of an ethernet cable. This would allow you to run a quick test and try different Pinout configurations.
Then, for production, I would go with a custom PCB integration for better cable management, easier maintenance and overall higher build quality.
Please let me know if you need help putting together the POC, we could give you a hand figuring out the software so you can focus on something else. Besides, I would love to explore EtherCAT on NVIDIA Jetson platforms.
best regards,
Andrew
Embedded Software Engineer at ProventusNova
