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 organisational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.
Specialised hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronise 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 Actel’s SmartFusion devices offer for the ARM Cortex-M3 processor and the flexibility of its FPGA fabric, make the device well-suited 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 mixed-signal FPGA enables targeted solutions addressing multiple aspects of an integrated industrial automation system. A notional 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 – standard protocols.
FPGA fabric
* Multiple RS485 capable UARTs for PROFIBUS, Modbus, WorldFIP, P-NET.
* High-speed Manchester encoding/decoding CAN.
Analog
* ADC for sensing.
* DAC for excitation.
Applications supported by SmartFusion in industrial automation include power metering and smart-grid applications, motor control (AC/DC/VFD), power-factor correction, human-machine interfaces (touch screens, keypads), fieldbus interfaces and field devices (I/Os, sensors, actuators).
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