EtherCAT device
An EtherCAT device is disclosed. The EtherCAT device comprises a data input port to receive a signal representing data, the signal representing one of a plurality of possible logical values; and a degradation calculation circuit. The degradation calculation circuit is to read, demodulate, and convert the received signal into a digital domain representation; process the digital domain representation into slices, where the value of the received signal at a respective time is represented in a respective one of the slices; determine differences between the respective slices and reference slices; identify an intended logical value of the received signal responsive to the determined differences; determine a quantification of error at the respective time responsive to the identified logical value and the determined differences; and determine a signal quality index responsive to the determined quantification of error.
1. An EtherCAT device comprising:
a data input port to receive a signal representing data, the signal representing one of a plurality of possible discrete logical values; and
a degradation calculation circuit to:
read, demodulate, and convert the received signal into a digital domain representation;
process the digital domain representation into slices, where the value of the received signal at a respective time is represented in a respective one of the slices;
determine differences between the respective slices and reference slices;
identify an intended discrete logical value of the received signal responsive to the determined differences;
determine a quantification of error at the respective time responsive to the identified discrete logical value and the determined differences; and
determine a signal quality index responsive to the determined quantification of error.
2. The EtherCAT device of claim 1 , wherein the degradation circuit to normalize the digital domain representation across a given range.
3. The EtherCAT device of claim 1 , wherein the degradation circuit to determine the quantification of error at the respective time using a mean-squared-error calculation.
4. The EtherCAT device of claim 1 , wherein the degradation circuit, using the determined quantification of error, to determine SQI characterizations of the data.
5. The EtherCAT device of claim 4 , wherein the degradation circuit to determine the SQI characterizations of the data from a look-up table.
6. The EtherCAT device of claim 4 , wherein the degradation circuit to provide an alert or a corrective action if, based upon the SQI characterizations, a quality of the received data is sufficiently poor.
7. A method, comprising:
receiving a signal representing data, the signal representing one of a plurality of possible discrete logical values;
reading, demodulating, and converting the received signal into a digital domain representation;
processing the digital domain representation into slices, where the value of the received signal at a respective time is represented in a respective one of the slices;
determining differences between the respective slices and reference slices;
identifying an intended discrete logical value of the received signal responsive to the determined differences;
determining a quantification of error at the respective time responsive to the identified discrete logical value and the determined differences; and
determining a signal quality index responsive to the determined quantification of error.
8. The method of claim 7 , comprising normalizing the digital domain representation across a given range.
9. The method of claim 7 , comprising determining the quantification of error at the respective time using a mean-squared-error calculation.
10. The method of claim 7 , comprising, using the determined quantification of error, determining SQI characterizations of the data.
11. The method of claim 10 , comprising determining the SQI characterizations of the data from a look-up table.
12. The method of claim 10 , comprising providing an alert or a corrective action if, based upon the SQI characterizations, a quality of the received data is sufficiently poor.