Clock Synchronization for Virtualized Numerical Control from the Edge Cloud using EtherCAT and COTS Hardware

Procedia CIRP, vol. 130, pp. 1856–1862

Abstract

This paper proposes a concept for virtualized numerical control from the edge cloud. It focuses on precise clock synchronization between numerical controllers in the edge cloud and field devices as this crucial aspect is not addressed by current research. Leveraging EtherCAT and commercial of-the-shelf hardware for compute and networking, the proposed concept is implemented and extensively validated. For this purpose, response time, frame delay, clock synchronization accuracy and cyclictest measurements are carried out in a setup with multiple virtualized controllers and under heavy load of the entire system. The results support the realization of real-time-capable industrial control from the edge cloud with current IT hardware and open-source software even under the highest real-time requirements of a numerical controller. Future work will involve refining our concept and implementing it on a real machine tool.

Authors 4

1. Christoph Susen corresponding Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstraße 19, 52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Nico Schoofs Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstraße 19, 52074 Aachen, Germany

3. Oliver Petrović Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstraße 19, 52074 Aachen, Germany

4. Werner Herfs Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstraße 19, 52074 Aachen, Germany