Introduction

This document describes the integration of the delivered EtherCAT example projects for ST STM32F411x target with the development environment STM32CubeIDE.

Target System

The port EtherCAT stack is implemented and tested on a ST STM32F411RE-Nucleo board connected to a Trinamic TM8462 EtherCAT® slave controller via SPI. The ESC evaluation board is called “TMC8462-EVAL v3.1”. The connection to the EtherCAT board is implemented via simple connector cables.

Toolchain:

General information

Port’s EtherCAT Stack runs on the Cortex-M4 core of the STM32F411x.

Additionally, the power supply of the TMC8462-EVAL board is provided by the Nucleo board (5V, GND) as shown in the picture above. While this solution works, it is recommended to supply the TMC8462-EVAL board with an external power source. In any case, the GND signals of both boards must be connected to establish a common ground.

For further driver information, please read ../drivers/st_stm32f411x/README.txt

You can find port’s EtherCAT example projects in the folder of the delivery package:

../examples/st_stm32f411x/

Besides the EtherCAT Driver and the example applications you also need the
HAL-layer STM32Cube_FW_F4 provided by STMicroelectronics.

For further informations please read ../examples/st_stm32f411x/README.txt

Import projects

Import existing projects via STM32CubeIDE:

Use the Windows Explorer to insert the "Drivers" folder from the HAL layer STM32Cube_FW_F4 into the project structure shown:

Then you can build and run the example projects.

ICC tool project

The sample projects are designed with port’s ICC tool. The HW configuration uses the generic STM32 entry with SPI slave ESC interface. Shown here for example s1:

Please use this setting also for your own customer projects.

Available sample applications