Industrial Automation Solutions

Industrial Automation is the use of control systems, in concert with other applications of information technology to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.

Specialized hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events. This leads to precisely controlled actions that permit a tight control of almost any industrial process. Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response.

The range of peripherals SmartFusion devices offer for the ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor and the flexibility of its FPGA fabric make the device ideal for industrial automation. With the use of the programmable analog for sensing and analog outputs, SmartFusion can also be used in industrial control applications, including gateways, sensing, actuators and I/O devices.

Each uniquely capable section of the SmartFusion intelligent mixed signal FPGA device enables targeted solutions addressing multiple aspects of an integrated industrial automation system. A SmartFusion integrated industrial automation design would use the sections for the application areas as shown below:

Microcontroller Subsystem

• ARM Cortex-M3 running Fieldbus protocol stack
• Ethernet MAC –protocols including uIP, lwIP and TCP/IP and Modbus TCP/IP
• Operating systems including FreeRTOS, uClinux and µCos-III
• MSS UART with RS485 Modbus

FPGA Fabric

• CAN – Controller Area Network
• PWM – Pulse Width Modulation for Motor Control or Fan Control
• Multiple RS485 capable soft UARTs with PROFIBUS, Modbus®, WorldFIP, P-NET
• High Speed Manchester Encoding/Decoding

Analog

• ADC for sensing
• DAC for excitation

Applications supported by SmartFusion in Industrial Automation

• Power Metering and Smart-Grid Applications
• Motor Control: AC/DC/VFD
• Power-Factor Correction
• Human-Machine Interfaces: Touch Screens, Keypads
• Fieldbus Interfaces
• Field Devices: I/Os, Sensors, Actuators

The SmartFusion Development Kit supports Ethernet, EtherCAT, CAN, UART, I²C and SPI hardware, while firmware can be used for various other interface standards such as Modbus and PROFIBUS for industrial networking. The description below includes the main features relating to industrial automation. For a full list of board capabilities, visit the SmartFusion Development Kit web page.

Devices On-Board

• A2F500M3G-FGG484
  • 500,000 System FPGA gates, 512 KB flash memory, 64 KB SRAM, and additional distributed SRAM in the FPGA fabric and external memory controller
  • Peripherals include Ethernet,  DMAs, I²Cs, UARTs, timers, ADCs, DACs and additional analog resources
  • Refer to the SmartFusion product page for full device information
• Flash memory, SRAM memory, and PSRAM
• EtherCAT ASIC

Interfaces

• RVI header for application programming and debug from either Keil™ or IAR Systems®
• Mixed-signal header for daughter card support
• USB-to-UART connection to UART_0 for HyperTerminal examples
• DB9 connector for RS485 UART_1
• Two DB9 connectors for CAN ports
• RJ45 connector for 10/100 Ethernet (on-chip MAC and external PHY)
• Two RJ45 connectors for EtherCAT port connection through soft SPI core in the fabric and external PHY)
• I²C headers
• SPI headers

For SmartFusion-related documents, visit the SmartFusion Documentation page.

Datasheets

SmartFusion Customizable System-on-Chip (cSoC) Datasheet

9 MB

8/2011

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User's Guides and Manuals

	Actel SmartFusion FPGA Fabric User's Guide		4 MB	12/2011	Click on the to rate this document
	Actel SmartFusion MSS Configurators and Drivers User's Guides (These are additional user guides not included in the SmartFusion Microcontroller Subsystem User's Guide. These user guides cover each specific MSS peripheral configurator and driver within the MSS.)			6/2010	Click on the to rate this document
	Microsemi SmartFusion Modbus Reference Design User’s Guide   Design Files (ZIP, 5.9 MB, 1/12)		1 MB	1/2012	Click on the to rate this document
	SmartFusion Microcontroller Subsystem (MSS) User's Guide		19 MB	12/2011	Click on the to rate this document
	SmartFusion Modbus TCP Demo Using lwIP and FreeRTOS User's Guide  Design Files (ZIP, 32.4 MB, 5/11)		1 MB	2/2012	Click on the to rate this document
	SmartFusion Programmable Analog User's Guide		6 MB	12/2011	Click on the to rate this document

	Firmware Catalog v9.1 Online Help		375 KB	1/2011	Click on the to rate this document
	Microsemi SoftConsole v3.1 User's Guide		4 MB	3/2010	Click on the to rate this document

	SmartFusion Development Kit Quickstart Card    Demo Design Programming File (ZIP, 137 KB, 8/10)		324 KB	7/2010	Click on the to rate this document
	SmartFusion Development Kit User's Guide  A2F500-DEV-KIT Manufacturing Programming File (ZIP, 13 MB, 8/10) A2F-DEV-KIT Manufacturing Programming File (ZIP, 7.63 MB, 3/10) Note: For use with the older A2F-DEV-KIT that used the A2F200 device		9 MB	10/2011	Click on the to rate this document

• Emcraft's A2F-Linux Evaluation Kit (A2F-LNX-EVB)
• SmartFusion Webserver Demo Using uIP and FreeRTOS
• Download uIP version
• lwIP version
• Micrium with TCP/IP
• Modbus design example and download