[Industrial Control Special] AMIC110 SoC makes industrial communication simple

Industrial Ethernet protocols are an important part of factory automation. There are many protocol standards, including EtherCAT, Profinet, Powerlink, Ethernet/Industrial Protocol (IP), and Sercos III. Having so many different protocols makes it more challenging to develop solutions that can be used in multiple different networks. One solution is to have a single device that can be reprogrammed for different protocols, such as TI's newly launched AMIC110 system-on-chip (SoC).

TI Sitara™ ARM® processors implement more than 10 industrial communication standards through the Programmable Real-Time Unit Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS). If an existing application processor already exists in the design, adding a full-featured ARM® processor may not be practical. In this case, you can leverage existing products and also implement the functionality of the PRU-ICSS by adding a communication processor like the AMIC110 SoC. Although the AMIC110 SoC contains an ARM Cortex®-A8 core, it can run the Ethernet stack instead of being the main processor.

As a communications processor, the AMIC110 SoC offers a flexible alternative to static solutions. One advantage is that the software programmability of the AMIC110 SoC allows you to run different communication standards, rather than targeting just one. This makes it possible to reuse the same device in different projects using different protocols. Reprogrammability also makes upgrades easier if a protocol releases a feature change, or if the SoC needs to be completely reprogrammed after a new protocol is released. These advantages make the AMIC110 SoC an excellent way to add industrial communications to your equipment.

For example, a motor control application may use a C2000™ microcontroller (MCU) to control the motor, as shown in Figure 1. To add a protocol like EtherCAT, the C2000 MCU can communicate with the AMIC110 through a serial peripheral interface (SPI), and the AMIC110 SoC will handle the protocol-based communication to the rest of the network.

The AMIC110 SoC is part of the Sitara processor family and shares many of the family's benefits, such as the use of the processor software development kit (SDK) as a standard software platform. The processor SDK makes it easy to migrate software between Sitara processors, which reduces the learning time for new processors and enables you to fully leverage your existing products.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about the DP83822I Industrial Ethernet PHY.
• Start developing with the AMIC Industrial Communications Engine (ICE).
• Add industrial communications to your C2000 project with TI Designs.

Company Information: TI - Texas Instruments

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