Mechatrolink-Ii - Omron TJ1-MC04 - PROGRAMMING 1 Programming Manual

Communication protocols
4.6

MECHATROLINK-II

The MECHATROLINK-II protocol is a serial bus that is made to
control motion in a deterministic way.
The number of MECHATROLINK-II devices determines the data
exchange cycle time:
• For 1 to 4 devices the cycle time can be 0.5 ms, 1 ms or 2 ms.
• For 5 to 8 devices the cycle time can be 1 ms or 2 ms.
• For 9 to 16 devices the cycle time is 2 ms.
The cyclic transmission has two stages:
• The TJ1-ML__ sends the reference command to the
MECHATROLINK slaves.
• The slaves send feedback and status information to the TJ1-
ML__.
The MECHATROLINK-II uses a synchronization clock and
broadcast messaging to make sure that all the slaves execute the
commands at the same time.
In addition, other information is transferred at a lower rate, for
example the reading and writing of parameters.
There are specific BASIC commands to address MECHATROLINK
slave units directly.
• DRIVE_CLEAR: This command resets one alarm in a
MECHATROLINK Servo Driver via a MECHATROLINK
message.
• OP(45,ON): This command sets to on one output in a remote
MECHATROLINK I/O module.
PROGRAMMING MANUAL 179