IXXAT Automation GmbH enables the rapid and cost-effective connection of your hardware to SERCOS III

Specially for the implementation of a SERCOS III interface on systems with limited space or with specific form factor requirements, IXXAT offers the Industrial Ethernet Module (IEM) as design-in solution. The design-in of the IEM is based on the cost-effective Cyclone III FPGA from Altera and offers for SERCOS III a communication interface as complete Generic IO Device.

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New Consortium Speeds IEEE 1588 Testing

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, announced that the organization will host an industry plugfest, providing participants the opportunity to perform interoperability testing of devices in compliance with the Precision Time Protocol IEEE 1588-2008 standard. The Precision Time Protocol Interoperability plugfest, which will take place September 27 – September 29 at the UNH-IOL’s 32,000+ square foot facility in Durham, N.H., will be held in association with the 2010 International IEEE Symposium on Precision Clock Synchronization (ISPCS) for Measurement, Control and Communication. The Symposium immediately follows the plugfest on September 29 – October 1 in Portsmouth, N.H., and is a forum for researchers and practitioners from industry, academia, and government involved in the area of Precision Clock Synchronization.

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The analysis and diagnostic tools from IXXAT have been complemented by the new CBT2plus and CANobserver, enabling an even easier analysis and monitoring of CAN networks during development, manufacturing and service.

The new CBT2plus enables the fast and yet detailed analysis of the signal quality in CAN networks. Due to the various trigger modes and the integrated oscilloscope, errors can easily be analyzed and thus causes of errors can be detected and fixed quickly.

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Recent projects, briefly introduced.

Read more about the development projects we made together with our customers and see the benefits of collaboration for your project. On our webpage we present currently three projects from different development areas.

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Implementation strategies for POWERLINK

Among a large number of Ethernet-based communication systems that are suitable for automation due to their real-time capability, nowadays solutions such as PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT, POWERLINK or Sercos III set the standards. Although all of the above-mentioned systems are based on Ethernet, they vary considerably in terms of their specific features and areas of application. When selecting a suitable protocol, not only criteria such as performance, availability and hardware costs play a decisive role but also the possibilities for optimum implementation.

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As of now, IXXAT delivers the CANobserver with an extended functionality.

The device is now able to automatically send e-mails to inform the user about faults within the communication system more quickly. This also enables to plan maintenance operations before system failures happen. Furthermore, the internal memory has been expanded by five times: Instead of the previous four, now the device comes with 20 data sets providing a storage capacity for up to 10 years. The third new feature is the SAE J1939 protocol support. Besides CAN, CANopen and DeviceNet, the CANobserver supports now also SAE J1939 systems.

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acontis technologies GmbH introduces EtherCAT^® Master protocol on the Freescale QorIQ™ multicore processing platform with Green Hills INTEGRITY^® real-time operating system

WEINGARTEN, Germany – June 16, 2010 – acontis technologies GmbH, a leader in EtherCAT^® Master protocol IP, has collaborated with Freescale Semiconductor, a leader in embedded processors for industrial applications, and Green Hills Software, Inc., the largest independent vendor of embedded software solutions, to create an embedded reference design for the EtherCAT Master protocol integrated with the Green Hills INTEGRITY^® safe, secure real-time operating system on the Freescale QorIQ™ multicore processing platform.  This solution, which allows customers to confirm EtherCAT Master function, reliability and performance, and more quickly complete their designs, will be first demonstrated during the Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando, June 21-24, 2010.

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DeviceNet, the first implementation of the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) on CAN, which was developed more than 15 years ago, has seen a new boost because of the rising demand for EtherNet/IP, the Ethernet based version of CIP. Within the last 2 ½ years, more than 30 new DeviceNet vendors have registered an ODVA Vendor ID. The device manufacturers realized, that it makes not always sense to set-up an industrial communication system based on Ethernet (the connection costs per node are significantly higher compared with CAN) and end customers often require a common application layer for their heterogeneous systems, grown over a long time. Both results in a higher demand for DeviceNet. An additional push results from the new, very powerful 32 bit microcontrollers, like the Cortex M3 with an integrated CAN controller, which enable the development of highly complex applications.

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Prof. Dr.-Ing. Konrad Etschberger, founder of IXXAT Automation GmbH and co-partner of IXXAT Holding GmbH will end his operational activities as the Managing Director of IXXAT Automation GmbH on March 31, 2010 and will take up the position of Chairman of the Advisory Board of IXXAT Holding.

Together with the long-standing Managing Director and co-partner of IXXAT Holding, Dipl.-Ing. Christian Schlegel, Dipl.-Ing. Werner Sauter will manage the company as the Business Manager. Werner Sauter has worked for IXXAT since September 1, 2009 and is responsible for Sales, Marketing, Personnel and Business Management since January 1, 2010.

As the Director Retail Systems Market at Bizerba GmbH & Co KG, Werner Sauter was responsible for worldwide sales and product marketing of the Retail Systems division. Before that he managed the basic systems product division at Bizerba and in this position was responsible for hardware and software development as well as electronic production for components and systems.

See how IXXAT CANbridge users can implement flexible software filtering and packet modifications with the CANbridge ADK.

This video demonstrates how users can utilize IXXAT’s CANbridge Application Developer’s Kit (ADK) to create custom software for filtering and modification of all CAN messages which are received by the two CAN channels within the CANbridge.  Applications includes protocol conversion, packet data modifications and filtering based on data values.  The ADK is available for all industrial and automotive versions of the CANbridge.

Click here for more information about the CANbridge, and call for more information about the CANbridge ADK.  North American customers please call 603-471-0800 x101 (for other countries +49-751-56146-0).

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