Texas Instruments announces a new IDK named Sitara

April 17, 2015 12:35 pm

Texas Instruments (TI) announced the new Sitara AM437x Industrial Development Kit (IDK). Allowing developers to differentiate and optimize motor control industrial system design the AM437x IDK aids in the evaluation of the multi-protocol, industrial communication and feedback interface capabilities of the highly integrated Sitara AM4379 and AM4377 processors based on the ARM Cortex-A9 core.
As the trend of connected drive solutions continues, intelligent industrial systems are adopting digital motor feedback systems. This digitisation coupled with industrial Ethernet for communication provides higher efficiency in factory and energy sectors by reducing the latency between communications and control.
The AM437x IDK combines motor control feedback and certified industrial Ethernet protocols providing a single-chip drive solution for Inverter, servo drive or AC premium drive. In addition to motor control applications, the kit aids in the development of other industrial automation applications such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and Human Machine Interface (HMI) among others. The AM437x IDK integrates certified, production-ready industrial communication protocols providing a developer friendly industrial system solution platform.
Punya Prakash, Marketing manager at TI, says “The Sitara AM437x processors, with the quad-core PRU, offer the highest degree of integration enabling multi-protocol communication and feedback interface for an industrial single-chip drive solution.”
Highlights of the Sitara AM437x IDK
A single-chip solution to bridge from motor control to higher level communications
The IDK combines feedback and industrial communication protocols on a single chip allowing for additional integration and a smaller footprint
The platform drives synchronization that aids in lower latency between communication and control
Support for certified multi-protocol industrial Ethernet through the programmable real-time unit (PRU)
Multi-protocol feedback interface for motor control though the PRU
Field-oriented Control (FOC) for variable-frequency drives