SERCOS III Implementation for Altera FPGAs

The SERCOS trade organizations and Altera, one of the leading manufacturers of programmable logic chips, have agreed to make the SERCOS III Core available for the Altera Cyclone II FPGA family, creating new controllers for SERCOS III. 

The SERCOS III Core includes all hardware functions, such as timing, synchronization and processing of cyclic and non-cyclic data on the basis of two integrated Ethernet MACs. The existing core will be ported onto the Altera high-volume low-cost FPGA platform. The SERCOS III IP will be provided in the form of a bit-stream or in the form of a netlist. First prototypes will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005, so utilization in commercial products is possible in early 2006.

Read the complete press release.

The SERCOS organizations previously announced that controllers for SERCOS III are also available based on the Xilinx Spartan 3 family of FPGAs.

SERCOS Safety -- The Safety Protocol for SERCOS interface

Also at the SPS/IPC/DRIVES show, the SERCOS trade organizations introduced a safety concept that allows a safe data transfer based on the SERCOS interface.

The SERCOS safety concept is a protocol extension, which is compatible with the established transmission mechanisms of the SERCOS interface. Thus, the SERCOS interface can be used within safety applications up to SIL 3 (Safety Integrity Level) according to IEC61508 even with the shortest cycle times. Independent of the type of data -- command values, logical signals or safe logic or process information -- the SERCOS interface provides a homogeneous, continuous solution for modern automation concepts. 

SERCOS safety is independent of the transport layer, so that any transmission physics can be used. Thus, the extension is available both for SERCOS II and SERCOS III and also for other transmission physics, as no special requirements for transmission components need to be fulfilled. Due to the routing capability of the protocol, a safety network may even be extended over several subordinate SERCOS networks. The safe data container, which is embedded in the SERCOS III data telegram, may transfer up to 64 bits of safe user data.

SERCOS safety achieves its best performance when used in combination with SERCOS III. Safe data can be exchanged between slaves directly using the peer-to-peer cross-communication capabilities of SERCOS III, without collection and re-distribution of data by a central master (safety control). 

In addition, when combining SERCOS safety with the fault tolerance provided by the hardware redundancy of SERCOS III, safe, highly dependable automation solutions can be implemented for both centralized and decentralized safety applications.

SERCOS safety is presently being investigated by TÜV Rheinland, an international technical service provider which evaluates, tests and certifies the safety and quality of products. The specification should be approved by the TÜV Rheinland within the next two months and will be available free of charge to all SERCOS members. The first SERCOS safety products will be available in 2006.

SERCOS I/O Profile to be Developed

At the show, the SERCOS trade organizations announced that they are intensifying activities in the field of I/O communication. I/O has always been a part of SERCOS, and now the SERCOS I/O Technical Working Group is preparing a specification for an extended device profile for I/O, based on the existing SERCOS communication protocol. Modular I/O devices with bus couplers as well as simple block I/Os will be included. In order to minimize the costs of the bus interface, especially for simple I/O, an FPGA-based low-cost communication controller will be developed. Even in smaller quantities, the price is expected to be under $5. 

The SERCOS I/O specification will be available by mid-2006. First prototypes of the low-cost FPGA I/O controller, as well as corresponding product implementations, will be available in 2006.

Automata and SERCOS International e.V. Sign Cooperation Agreement

SERCOS International e.V. and Automata GmbH, specialist in industrial automation and communication technology, have agreed upon a strategic partnership, in which Automata acquired from SERCOS International e.V. the license to use the SERCOS III IP Core for its own products and customer-specific projects. Automata will assume the maintenance and the technical support of the IP Core, which represents the reference implementation for SERCOS III and which is used in the SERCON100 Master and Slave controllers.