Altera cuts development time, increases industrial design flexibility

SAN JOSE, USA: Reducing development time for industrial networking designers, Altera Corp. announced the expansion of its Industrial Networking Partner Program (INPP) with a new Industrial Networking Kit (INK) from Terasic.

Through one convenient online site at altera.com, designers can now access the kit and Altera's industrial intellectual property (IP) partners in one place. Designers can choose the industrial networking IP that suits their system and begin designing with confidence, knowing all the IP partners listed offer proven solutions and evaluation packages that work with Terasic's Industrial Networking Kit, featuring Altera's Cyclone IV E FPGA.

The combination of Altera's INPP and the INK further reduces development time by serving as a common development platform for embedded industrial designs.

The kit is a full-featured hardware platform based on the Terasic DE2-115 FPGA board with dual 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 128-MB SDRAM, 8-MB flash memory, 4-MB SRAM, security EEPROM, HSMC connector, GPIOs, toggle switches, and status LEDs along with USB, audio, and video capabilities.

The INK features a Cyclone IV E (EP4CE115F29) FPGA and supports most Industrial Ethernet and fieldbus networking standard enabling all IP vendors to support the latest generation of low-cost FPGAs. It is ideal for industrial automation and process control applications for servo/drive/motion-control equipment, sensors, programmable-logic controllers, machine vision, and video surveillance equipment.

The plug-and-play usability of the INK can cut down development time by up to one year, depending on the complexity of the platform and how many products it supports. The kit can easily be expanded with HSMC and GPIO connectors to address a broad range of industrial applications.

Whether designers are looking to support single or multiple networking standards, Altera's expanded INPP is the place to start for industrial networking IP, reference designs, and support from Altera's IP partners. All of the listed partners target the INK as the evaluation and development platform. This means developers can use one FPGA platform to support multiple networking standards, evaluate the networking solutions from different vendors, and develop the embedded industrial communications system required for their product.

Altera's INPP includes IP solutions from:
* Softing Automation GmbH—PROFINET IO, EtherNet/IP.
* Beckhoff Automation GmbH—EtherCAT IP core.
* Automata GmbH—SERCOS III.
* IXXAT Automation GmbH—EtherCAT software stack, IEEE 1588 IP core and stack.

"While Altera FPGAs are capable of supporting most industrial networking protocol standards, customers have had to rely on third-party IP vendors and development board suppliers to offer the right hardware and software IP to meet their industrial networking requirements," said Michael Samuelian, director of the industrial and automotive business unit at Altera.

"Now, by providing access to Altera's IP partners in one place and adding the capabilities of Terasic's versatile Industrial Networking Kit, customers can generate IP evaluation packages without having to develop their own development boards, thereby reducing cost and time to market."

This kit, featuring Altera's Cyclone IV E FPGA, is available today and priced at $795.