Setup

The steps for getting started with AUTD3 are described in the following order.

• Hardware: Connect the AUTD3 device to the PC.
• Firmware: Update the device firmware to a compatible version.
• Software: Add the SDK library as a dependency.

Choosing how to drive the bus

AUTD3 is driven over EtherCAT. There are three options, depending on where the EtherCAT master runs.

• Appliance (recommended)
  • A dedicated board runs the master and the host connects over TCP. For any host OS, and when you want the bus decoupled from the host’s load and OS settings.
• echocat
  • The host itself becomes the master. When you do not want to add hardware. Needs npcap on Windows and raw socket privileges on Linux/macOS. It may also become unstable under host load.
• TwinCAT
  • Windows only. Needs a supported network controller and a TwinCAT setup. The most stable of the three.

Unless there is a reason not to, the Appliance is recommended, though it additionally requires a Raspberry Pi 4, a microSD card and a USB Ethernet adapter.

Note

The tutorial that follows uses echocat, to avoid the extra hardware setup.