Altera® FPGAs are programmable and allow you to evaluate and develop multiple Industrial Ethernet protocol standards on a single device, such as a Cyclone® IV device. To take advantage of the flexible nature of Altera FPGAs, you can start with a modular industrial solutions platform such as the Industrial Networking Kit (INK) from Terasic. Table 1 on Altera's Industrial Networking web page shows a list of Altera's industrial networking partners and the real-time Ethernet intellectual property (IP) they support on the Cyclone IV E INK. For a full listing of IP protocols that each partner supports on various Cyclone series FPGAs, please refer to Table 2 of the Industrial Networking web page.
Figure 1 shows the INK contents. This Cyclone IV E development kit is based on the Terasic DE2-115 FPGA board, shown in Figure 2, with the following features:
- Dual 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet
- 128-MB SDRAM, 8-MB flash memory, and 2-MB SRAM
- Security EEPROM (for the EtherCAT slave ID)
- High-speed mezzanine card (HSMC) and general purpose I/O (GPIO) connectors
- Toggle switches and buttons
- Status LEDs and a 16x2 character display
- USB 2.0, SD card slot, audio, and video capabilities
The INK includes the ICB-HSMC board, which expands the DE2-115 board functionality with support for dual CAN, dual RS-485, and RS-232 (and Profibus) interfaces with both DB-9 connectors and 10-pin headers. The INK comes with Quartus® II software, an INK system CD-ROM, and a quick-start guide to get you up and running with the development kit.
Figure 1. INK Featuring Altera's Cyclone IV E FPGA
Figure 2. INK's DE2-115 and ICB-HSMC Boards
For limited time, buy the INK and get a 50% discount on the Embedded IP Suite
Get licenses for the Nios® II processor, Triple-Speed Ethernet media access controller, and memory controllers in the Embedded IP Suite for only USD$495 when you buy an INK. For offer details see the contents of the INK box or contact the following:
- Arrow Electronics (search for P0061)
- Newark-Farnell
- Terasic
- Find your local Altera distributor
Related Links
- Industrial Networking Partner Program
- Industrial Networking Kit (INK) from Terasic
- Whitepaper: Five Ways to Build Flexibility into Your Industrial Applications with FPGAs (PDF)
- Whitepaper: Lowering the Total Cost of Ownership in Industrial Applications (PDF)
- Whitepaper: A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet (PDF)
- Webcast: Three Reasons to Use FPGAs in Industrial Applications
- Webcast: Achieve Lower Total Cost of Ownership for Industrial Designs
- Video: Three Ways to Quickly Adapt to Changing Ethernet Protocols
