Industrial Ethernet Module – POWERLINK Certified
Conformance of the Industrial Ethernet Module (IEM) as part of the POWERLINK Starterkit now approved.
As one of the first devices, the IXXAT POWERLINK Starterkit Controlled Node (CN)
receives the official certificate of the EPSG POWERLINK Conformance Test. The Starterkit consists of an IXXAT Industrial Ethernet Module, a carrier board, a CPU module as well as a demo application. The IEM, as base hardware for different real-time Ethernet protocols, is based on the IXXAT POWERLINK stack, in the protocol variant for POWERLINK, and comes with an integrated Ethernet hub for the 2-port network connection.
The certificate ensures the conformity to the latest POWERLINK DS301 V1.1.0 specification. In addition, the Industrial Ethernet Module passes herewith the Multi-Vendor Test at the first attempt, which approves the interoperability with managing nodes of various vendors. The interoperability test shows again, that the guaranteed performance of the IXXAT IEM is a substantial characteristic of a POWERLINK module. Especially the very low response jitter below 250 ns as well as the guaranteed cycle time of minimal 400 µs enables the stable and error free operation of the Industrial Ethernet Module with almost every POWERLINK control unit.
The POWERLINK IEM is the optimal basis for an easy implementation of CN solutions, which also demonstrably works reliable in inhomogeneous systems. Due to the FPGA technology used, future enhancements, like POWERLINK High Availability (EPSG WDP 302-A) or Multi Poll-Response, can be made available to the customer without hardware modifications.
Besides POWERLINK, IXXAT supports the Industrial Ethernet Module also with firmware for PROFINET, EtherCAT and EtherNet/IP. SERCOS III and Modbus-TCP will follow soon. To change the used protocol, only the firmware including the FPGA IP has to be exchanged.
For an integration into customer devices the Industrial Ethernet Module can also be produced with customer specific form factors. Besides this, IXXAT also offers the design-in of the FPGA based Ethernet connection directly on the customer hardware. All variants are supported with appropriate services, like consultation, system design and development services.
