Integration of EtherCAT Hardware Into the EPICS Based Distributed Control System at iThemba LABS

iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (iThemba LABS) has, over the past 30 years, carried out several upgrades to its control electronics and software. This culminated in the adoption of EPICS as the de-facto distributed control system at the lab. In order to meet the changing technology and user requirements, iThemba LABS adopted EtherCAT as its new industrial communication standard. Building on an open EtherCAT master implementation and prior community development, iThemba LABS has successfully integrated a variety of EtherCAT hardware into its EPICS control system. This paper presents the open source software toolchain that has been developed and is used at iThemba LABS and showcases several hardware installations at the facility and abroad. Community involvement and future plans for this initiative are also presented. Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Cyclotrons and their Applications, Cyclotrons2019, Cape Town, South Africa