October 4, 2010 - The IEC 61131 PLC runtime system ProConOS embedded CLR from KW-Software is now available for Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers. The PLC code can be executed directly from the flash memory (Execution-in-Place). This way, no additional external RAM memory is required for processing the PLC program. The minimum requirements of the processor are 64KB internal RAM and 384KB flash memory. The Cortex-M3 is the first ARM-Core, which was specifically designed for the microcontroller market.
The newly developed architecture of the Cortex-M3 provides a powerful processor, which can also replace the so far common 16-bit architectures.The IEC 61131 PLC runtime system ProConOS embedded CLR is based on the internationally standardised Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL/CIL according to IEC/ISO 23271) and uses a backend compiler, which generates optimised PLC code for the Cortex-M3. This technology is also available for additional processes like x86, NIOS II, MIPS, ARM7/ARM9, SH2/SH3/SH4 and PowerPC.The Execution-in-Place technology from KW-Software is a performance and cost-effective solution for PLC applications on System-on-Chip designs.