October 9, 2007 - The Industrial Ethernet Module from IXXAT now supports PROFINET RT IO-Device, EtherCAT Slave and EtherNet/IP Adapter. Further technologies like SERCOS III and Modbus/TCP are in preparation.The module is based on an FPGA from Altera and beside an integrated 32-bit CPU and an Ethernet Controller it comprises also the PHYs and th RJ45 jacks.
Depending on the implemented Industrial Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet interface is either single routed (PROFINET, EtherNet/IP) or double routed (Powerlink, EtherCAT).Variants with integrated 2-port switch for usage in PROFINET and EtherNet/IP line topologies are also scheduled.Using the disclosed programming interface to the Host-CPU (Host-API in C sourcecode) the vendor can connect his device easily using SPI or a standardised µC-Interface. The Host-API encapsulates the functions of the industrial Ethernet protocol running on the modul thus the application can be developed independant of the underlaying network.
Additionally protocol specific features can also be used by the application.With the optional available baseboard the modul can directly be connected to processor modules from Phytec (phyCORE-XC161und phyCORE-LPC2294) or Spectrum Digital (eZdsp F2812). Therewith this solutions is very suitable for rapid prototyping.The module can also be produced with customer specific form factors. IXXAT also offers the integration of customer specific hardware and software interfaces.
Beside the direct usage of the modul, IXXAT also offers a license for the design-in to the specific form factor of the customer device.