profibus News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

LP-AM243 dual Gigabit Ethernet MCU board features TI Sitara AM243x Cortex-R5F microcontroller

LP-AM243 Sitara AM2434 development board

The few microcontroller boards that get Ethernet, are often limited to 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps, but the LP-AM243 LaunchPad development kit comes with two Gigabit Ethernet ports controlled by the newly announced 800 MHz Texas Instruments Sitara AM243x Cortex-R5F microcontroller with industrial communication and security features. TI Sitara AM243x Cortex-R5F microcontroller The Sitara AM243x is the first family of microcontrollers part of the larger Sitara AM2x MCU series that, a bit like NXP i.MX RT crossover processors, aims to combine the advantages of traditional microcontrollers and microprocessors by leveraging the real-time capabilities of the former and the high performance of the latter, but in a way optimized for industrial communication and safety. The Sitara AM243x family is comprised of three processors with one, two, or four cores with the following key features and specifications: CPU AM2431 – Single-core Cortex-R5F real-time core @ 800 MHz with 128KB TCM AM2432 – Dual-core […]

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Raspberry Pi CM4 Carrier Board comes with RS485/Modbus, CAN, 1-wire interfaces (Crowdfunding)

Another day, another Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board. Just like the TOFU carrier board, CM Hunter carrier board for Raspberry Pi CM4 targets industrial applications, but in a different way, as it focuses on industrial communication protocols with Galvanically-Isolated RS485/Modbus, 1-Wire, CAN 2.0B, and together with more common interfaces like Ethernet, HDMI, USB, etc… CM Hunter specifications: Supported systems-on-module – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 / 4 Lite Industrial communication Interfaces Isolated RS485/Modbus (Profibus compatible) based on Texas Instruments ISO1410 controller Isolated CAN 2.0B based on Microchip MCP2515 controller and MAX14879 CAN transceiver Isolated 1-Wire via Maxim DS2482 I2C bridge Storage – MicroSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0, optional 3.5-inch or 4-inch 480×320 LCD display with resistive touch connected over SPI Networking – Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port and optional 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 plus Bluetooth 5.0 LE USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port […]

May 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

TQMa65xx Embedded Module Features TI Sitara AM65xx SoC, Six TSN Ethernet Interfaces

Texas Instruments Sitara AM654 Cortex-A53/R5 SoC was launched in 2018 as the first 64-bit processor from the company and specifically targetting Gigabit industrial Ethernet networks with support for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). Since the processor launch, we’ve seen a couple of Sitara AM65xx modules such as PHYTEC phyCORE-AM65x SoM and Mistral AM65x Industrial SOM. There’s now another option with TQ Embedded TQMa65xx embedded module featuring a choice of 5 AM65xx dual-/quad-core processor, up to 4GB RAM, up to 64GB eMMC flash, and various I/Os via a 560-pin connector that includes six Gigabit TSN Ethernet interfaces. TQ Embedded TQMa65xx embedded module specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM6526, AM6527, AM6528, AM6546, or AM6548 with dual-core or quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.1 GHz, dual Cortex-R5 dual-lockstep processor @ 400 MHz, optional Imagination SGX544 GPU (AM6xx8 SKU) System Memory – Up to 4GB DDR4 SDRAM with optional ECC Storage – Up to 64GB eMMC […]

July 4, 2018July 7, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Differences Between RS232, RS422 and RS485 (Video)

RS232, RS422, and RS485 are pretty old serial communication interfaces, and I was not even born when RS232 was specified in 1962, but there are still commonly used today in various applications such a points-of-sales, multi-meters, industrial equipment like PLC or HMI, as well as medical devices. Maxim Integrated shared a video – embedded at the end of this article – on social networks today explaining the fundamentals of serial transmitter devices and the differences between RS232, RS422, RS485, and Profibus. The video goes into more details with a glossary of terms, discussion of cable length and bitrate, hand-shaking, and auto-shutdown, but I’ll provide a quick summary below: RS232 supports one transmitter and one receiver, and operates between -15 and +15V (with input tolerance of up to -/+ 25V). A logic zero is between +3 and +15V and a logic one between -15 and -3V on the receiver side RS422 […]

June 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Texas Instruments Announces AMIC110 Sitara Industrial Communication Processor & Development Board

Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoCs integrate an ARM Cortex A8 processor @ up to 1GHz with a PRU-ICSS for industrial communication, but also include a display controller, an optional PowerVR GPU, and a rich-set of peripherals making it useful for a wide range of applications. The company has now launched AMIC110 Sitara processor with a Cortex A8 core @ 300 MHz, and a PRU-ICSS specifically designed for industrial Ethernet, and fieldbus communication. Texas Instruments AMIC110 Sitara processor key features and specifications: CPU – ARM Cortex-A8 processor @ up to 300 MHz with NEON, 32+32KB I/D cache, 256KB L2 cache, 176KB boot ROM, 64KB RAM External Memory Interfaces (EMIF) – mDDR(LPDDR), DDR2, DDR3, DDR3L Controller up to 1GB General-Purpose Memory Controller (GPMC) – 8-bit & 16-bit Asynchronous Memory Interface with up to Seven Chip Selects (NAND, NOR, Muxed-NOR, SRAM) 2x programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS) supporting EtherCAT, […]

March 23, 2017May 17, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Bosch Rexroth IndraControl XM22 PLC Runs Ubuntu Core IoT, Supports Industrial Apps

Canonical wants you to run Ubuntu apps (snaps) for everything and on all types of devices, not only on your computer or smartphone. For example, base station apps (4G LTE, Bluetooth, LoRa…) will soon be able to run on LimeSDR board, the company is pushing for branded app stores, like the one for Orange Pi Boards, and now they have introduced the concept of App Logic Controllers (ALC) which are PLC devices running apps, thus bringing the concept of apps to the industrial world. Bosch Rexroth demonstrated the solution at Embedded World 2017 on their IndraControl XM22 PLC running Ubuntu Core. Let’s have a look at the hardware first with IndraControl XM22 specifications: Processor – Intel Atom E620 one core / two threads processor @ 600 / 1300 MHz (3.3W TDP) Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – likely some flash + SD card slot Networking Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet […]

February 16, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MYD-C437x-PRU Development Board Leverages TI Sitara AM437x Programmable Real-time Unit

MYIR Technologies launched MYC-C437x system-on-module based on TI Sitara AM437X processor, and the corresponding MYD-C437x development board at the end of 2015, but the latter did not make use of the processor’s PRU-ICSS (Programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication SubSystem) block. The company has now released a new version of the baseboard called MYC-C437x-PRU which exposes I/Os pins to leverage the PRU-ICSS and enable implementation of protocols like EtherCAT and Profibus.MYD-C437x-PRU industrial development board specifications: System-on-Module – MYC-C437x module with SoC – Texas Instruments AM437x ARM Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU (AM4378/AM4379 only) System Memory – 256 or 512MB (default) DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash (reserved 256/512MB Nand Flash design), 16MB QSPI Flash (unpopulated by default), 32KB EEPROM Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet PHY Storage – 1x micro SD slot Serial ports – 1x 3-wire RS232 debug serial port, 2x 5-wire RS232 serial […]

January 31, 2017January 31, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

FOSDEM 2017 Open Source Meeting Schedule

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) is a 2-day free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate that happens on the first week-end of February, meaning it will take place on February 4 & 5, 2017 this year. FOSDEM 2017 will features 608 speakers, 653 events, and 54 tracks, with 6 main tracks namely: Architectures, Building, Cloud, Documentation, Miscellaneous, and Security & Encryption. I won’t be there, but it’s always interesting to look at the schedule, and I made my own virtual schedule focusing especially on talks from “Embedded, mobile and automotive” and “Internet of Things” devrooms. Saturday 4, 2017 11:00 – 11:25 – Does your coffee machine speaks Bocce; Teach your IoT thing to speak Modbus and it will not stop talking, by Yaacov Zamir There are many IoT dashboards out on the web, most will require network connection to a server far […]