Date: 08/05/2012

Ethernet industrial automation solution by Avnet Design Services, Xilinx and TI

Avnet Design Services (ADS) has announced an Ethernet POWERLINK industrial networking kit that delivers a total development platform for industrial networking applications. Co-developed with Xilinx and Texas Instruments with supporting technology from Austria's B&R Automation, the Spartan-6 FPGA based kit delivers a complete implementation of the POWERLINK protocol (controlled node), development tools and other design resources to help developers of industrial networking applications build their systems quickly.

Ethernet POWERLINK is an industrial networking protocol standard that was first developed in 2001 by B&R Automation, an Austrian company. Today, the standard has been open-sourced and is managed by the Ethernet POWERLINK Standardization Group (EPSG), an independent association. At the end of 2011, POWERLINK was approved as a Chinese nationally recommended standard, GB/T 27960-2011.

"Avnet Design Services is delighted to have had the support of the market leaders in their respective segments in the execution of this program," said Andy Wong, vice president, Asia for Avnet Design Services and segment marketing. "This offering underlines our technical strengths in the industrial automation market. The optimized POWERLINK protocol meets critical system timing and performance requirements. We believe it will prove easy for engineers to adopt and the advantages of an FPGA-based solution will be clear to them from day one, helping them expedite the development of applications."

The kit includes two Ethernet DP83630 PHYTER transceivers from Texas Instruments. PDI (Parallel Digital Interface) connectors are also included to extend connectivity to interface with the industrial components or devices actually controlled.

"The Texas Instruments DP83630 PHYTER transceivers provide network packet time stamps for clock synchronization, as well as advanced fault detection features that enable a system designer to identify and address deteriorating link conditions," said Alexander E. Tan, product marketing manager, Texas Instruments.

The cost of the kit will be US$349.00 and is available at http://www.em.avnetasia.com/promotion/powerlink_kit