Embedded Chip Rides Several Busses

Multi-function communications system on a single component

The market that comprises communications bus systems is presently nearing 2 dozen different formats. There are buses for industrial and automotive applications, and others for medical and aerospace systems. This variety is multiplied by communications adapters, as well as system components dedicated for the individual buses, such as a machine controller stocked on a manufacturer's shelves for Profibus, DeviceNet, Ethernet, and whomever else a company supports. OEMs are also finding themselves forced to support more than one network in an installation, which quickly becomes complicated and expensive.

Aided by the current trends in systems miniaturization and specialized collaboration, Synergetic Micro Systems Inc., Downers Grove, IL, has introduced the Embedded Comm System on Chip device developed specifically for medical and industrial markets. Also referred to as EC-1 SoC, the component combines a Turbo 186 microprocessor and 8k x 8 on-chip memory with 10/100 Mpbs Ethernet, dual CAN 2.0B channels, multiple serial channels, and Siemens Profibus Master/Slave technology that enable data transfer from any embedded application to the Internet. The size of the device's memory permitted Synergetics to bundle protocols for Ethernet, Profibus and CAN bus concurrently in the package, eliminating the "which network do I do first" headache. The chip also contains 256 Kbytes of static RAM and a set of on-board peripherals which include 4 DMA controllers, 3 timer/counters, interrupt controller, SPI, 2 high-performance serial ports, external bhip selects, and a watchdog timer.

Operating at 48 MHz, the chip's high-speed memory provides zero-wait state performance. In complex multiprocessor applications, the device functions as a co-processor, using the dual-port memory for two-way communications between the chip's CPU and the host microprocessor. The EC-1 requires only a crystal/oscillator, a serial flash, and communications transceivers to build a complete system, meaning that an entire communications system can be packed onto a corner of a mother board. Implementation is practically plug-and-play, since the user can apply existing x86 code, over-the-counter software modules or user-developed embedded applications.

--RM