Fields of application
EtherLab is used for machines and systems as well as for temporary setups in laboratories, research facilities, universities and on mobile test vehicles. EtherLab convinces with its reliability and high flexibility.
EtherLab is used on all five continents, as well as on the high seas and in the air. And this for more than 15 years!
Networkable and scalable
All EtherLab components are network-compatible, so it doesn't matter whether you are planning a single-computer system or want to run control, visualization, measurement data acquisition, evaluation and log generation on different systems. EtherLab is scalable – and integrates perfectly into modern Industry 4.0 environments.
Reliable technology
Usually EtherLab is used with EtherCAT, the open real-time Ethernet. EtherCAT offers high bandwidths and synchronization accuracy in the nanosecond range. Thus, sophisticated measurement tasks can be implemented in addition to control and regulation tasks. The free network topology (any combination of line, star, tree, ring) gives the user great flexibility in design and subsequent changes.
Due to the relatively low hardware costs, EtherCAT is also suitable for applications with lower performance requirements.
Open source
All EtherLab components are provided under open source licenses (GPL/LGPL). This provides investment security, (hardware) independence and customizability - now and in the future. Developers from all over the world help to improve EtherLab every day. Best of all: There are no licensing costs.
Your application software may of course continue to be under a proprietary license - thanks to the LGPL.
Real-time control
To write your real-time controller, you can either use C/C++ or you can use our open source toolkit for MATLAB® Simulink.
It contains numerous blocks for the I/O modules of different manufacturers, which you can configure graphically.
Graphical programming of your application also simplifies communication with other team members.
User interfaces without programming
With the Testmanager, you simply drag and drop your controller into operation, connect signals and parameters to instruments, and create a fancy user interface in no time at all.
For more elaborate interfaces or for mobile devices, there is an extensive toolbox in the form of libraries for Qt and QML.
Measurement data acquisition
The network-ready Data Logging Service (DLS) records your data over a long period of time so that it can always be viewed or exported quickly, whether the time range is 10 years or 100 milliseconds. Exporting can be done manually or automated. With modern file formats like HDF-5, easy evaluation is possible under Linux and Windows.
IgH as a reliable partner
We are a special machine manufacturer specialized in machines in the field of testing. For our machines and test benches, measurement and automation technology plays a very important role.
EtherLab was created to implement these tasks efficiently and sustainably. Thus, the developers of EtherLab are also users and thus know exactly what is important for further development.
We are happy to support you with your automation task!
