Secure SoC FPGA offers industrial Ethernet protocol conversion

HMS’s Anybus CompactCom 40-series products offer hardware solutions specifically designed for factory automation applications including PLCs, motor drives, motion drive control and safety modules, as well as other applications for industrial customers. HMS products are available in chip, brick and module product offerings, allowing customers to avoid designing ASSP/ASIC-specific boards for each industrial Ethernet standard. Customers can use HMS’s CompactCom 40-series and program Microsemi’s FPGA to the desired industrial Ethernet protocol standards with the IP and software stack for the ARM Cortex-M3 MCU in SmartFusion2.

Collaborations between Microsemi and ecosystem solutions providers like HMS align well with Microsemi’s commitment to the growing industrial Ethernet market. Microsemi’s highly secure SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA offers layered hardware and software solutions to protect the IP, platform, manufacturing flow and data layer according to a customer’s specific needs. The low power FPGA architecture also enables use of the device in compact solutions such as the Anybus CompactCom 40-series products from HMS. Should customers need to connect their industrial Ethernet boards to a larger network, Microsemi offers Ethernet switches and PHYs, PoE ICs and midspan products to complement HMS’s industrial Ethernet solutions.

“We welcome HMS as an ecosystem provider and are pleased HMS Industrial Networks has successfully leveraged the industry-leading features of Microsemi’s SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA, including its reliability, security, low power, compact form factor and high levels of integration into a variety of its unique industrial Ethernet devices,” said Jason Chiang, Senior Marketing Manager, Microsemi. “The high value of our technology is demonstrated by the increased adoption of SmartFusion2 with partners and customers seeking to contain their total cost of ownership by implementing, for example, support for multiple industrial Ethernet standards on one FPGA platform with unique security features.”

“Our Anybus CompactCom 40-series products benefit from the flexibility of using SmartFusion2 technology when designing the NP40 that is the core in the Anybus CompactCom, enabling support of multiple industrial Ethernet protocols on a single FPGA platform and accelerating time-to-market while lowering total cost of ownership for our customers,” said Christian Bergdahl, Product Marketing Manager at HMS Industrial Networks. “We were able to leverage on SmartFusion2’s advantages when designing the NP40 into scalable, reprogrammable, low power and secure industrial Ethernet solutions with a simple purchase model - allowing us to continue bringing our customers the latest industrial connectivity technology for embedded solutions.”

According to HMS Industrial Networks’ internal analysis, although serial fieldbus protocols still dominate industrial networking today, industrial Ethernet is growing at a rate of 17% per annum - more than double the fieldbus growth rate. This growth allows HMS Industrial Networks and Microsemi to continue developing products catering to the specific needs of this expanding market opportunity.