Industrial software development kit supports new protocol, enhancing flexibility in industrial automation applications

October 29, 2013 1:18 pm

Texas Instruments (TI) continues to invest in its powerful Sitara AM335x industrial software development kit (SDK), adding the production-ready EtherNet/IP protocol to the currently support PROFIBUS and EtherCAT protocols. Supporting multiple protocols on a single device with an integrated on-chip programmable real-time unit (PRU) makes industrial automation easier and more affordable for OEMs. OEMs can now easily access production-ready software and accelerate time to market for their industrial automation designs, including programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and I/O devices such as sensors and drives. Advancement of this industrial SDK furthers TI’s unmatched commitment to simplifying product development.
Enhancing flexibility by reducing system complexity and costWith the extended protocol support in TI’s Sitara AM335x industrial SDK, OEMs can now connect their PLCs or I/O devices to two or more types of PLCs or HMI systems to give their customers enhanced connectivity flexibility in their industrial automation systems. As these protocols are supported through a single chip, OEMs can design scalable solutions with one printed circuit board based on TI’s Sitara AM335x processors and simply change the protocol software in the processor’s PRU depending on system requirements. The PRU is a powerful, 32-bit processing engine that is optimized for industrial protocols and other real-time tasks. It eliminates the need for an additional FPGA or ASIC. The industrial SDK runs on the differentiated ARM + PRU system-on-chip architecture on Sitara AM335x processors, reducing OEMs system cost and complexity for easy development and faster time to market, and enabling scalable solutions from industrial communications for industrial drives or PLC to higher performance HMI systems.
Pricing and availabilityTI’s Sitara AM335x industrial SDK can be downloaded for free from TI.com to add communications flexibility to AM335x-based industrial automation systems. The SDK and the PRU software have a simple licensing structure, with no upfront licensing fees or per-unit royalty reporting so that OEMs can take their products to market quickly and easily. Customers only need their own stack software or third-party stack software that runs on TI’s Sitara AM335x processor.