Cyclone III FPGAs in Industrial Applications
Challenges
Are you designing products to update manufacturing facilities or automate a distribution floor? Do you need to adapt to changing business requirements but keep manufacturing costs low? Do you need to maintain supplies of mature product lines? If so, Cyclone® III FPGAs can help you solve these challenges. Its programmable architecture, development tools, and broad range of development intellectual property (IP), including Altera's flexible Nios® II 32-bit processor, make it an effective solution for a variety of industrial applications such as industrial Ethernet, graphics control, embedded control, and motion control.
Solution
Cyclone III FPGAs offer an unprecedented combination of low power, functionality, and low cost and provide the flexibility to keep up with changing market dynamics. Because Cyclone III devices are programmable, they allow for design-reuse to keep costs low and can support a variety of different protocols such as the different flavors of industrial Ethernet. Additionally, the longevity of Cyclone III FPGAs means that you don't have to worry about product obsolescence. Table 1 shows some of the Cyclone III FPGA industrial application advantages.
| Table 1. Key Industrial Application Advantages of Cyclone III FPGAs |
| Feature |
Advantage |
| End of Life Protection |
Altera keeps its devices in production longer, reducing your obsolescence risk management volume. |
| Industrial Temperature Support |
Support for harsh operating environments from -40°C to 100°C. |
| Abundant Memory at Every Density |
Up to 4 Mbits of embedded memory and an increased memory-to-logic ratio for all Cyclone III device family members. |
| Flexible Column Driver Interface Support |
Integrated differential buffers, including LVDS, mini-LVDS, and reduced swing differential signaling (RSDS) to interface to a variety of displays. |
| Video and Image Processing (VIP) Suite |
A suite of nine pre-optimized video and image IP cores, including deinterlacer, scaler, and filters, reduce time and effort to increase productivity. |
| Nios II Embedded Soft Processor |
The world’s most versatile embedded soft processor, ideal for implementing a low-cost microcontroller. |
| Low Power |
The EP3C120 device includes 119K logic elements (LEs), nearly 4 Mbits of memory, and 288 multipliers while consuming just 179 mW typical static power at a junction temperature of 85°C. |
Industrial Ethernet
Cyclone III FPGAs not only support a wide variety of industrial Ethernet standards, but also adapt to emerging protocols. This allows you to develop state-of-the-art routers, switches, hubs, and converters. With a single low-cost Cyclone III device and Ethernet PHY, you can cost-effectively implement any industrial standard in your design. By programming the device with several media access control (MAC) hardware blocks and the Nios II embedded microprocessor, you can support multiple standards simultaneously. You can also support multiple identical Ethernet ports from a single device using the same MAC and Ethernet driver software (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Industrial Ethernet Block Diagram
Resources
Table 2 shows the design resources to get you started.
| Table 2. Design Resources |
| Category |
Resource |
Description |
| Development Kit Resources |
 |
Cyclone III FPGA Development Kits |
Altera and partners offer a portfolio of development kits starting at just $199 to jump-start Cyclone III FPGA designs. Each kit comes with everything you need to evaluate and design with Cyclone III FPGAs.
You can order many of these kits via Altera's online eStore or any Altera® distribution partner.
|
| Software and IP Resources |
 |
Nios II Embedded Processor |
The world's most versatile processor supported by easy-to-use development tools and a portfolio of FPGA development kits. |
| Memory Controllers |
Memory controller IP from Altera and partners for DDR, DDR2, and other popular external memory device interfaces. |
| Beckhoff GmbH |
Offers SOPC Builder-ready EtherCat IP core. |
| IXXAT |
Offers software and IP for CAN, industrial Ethernet, and IEEE 1588 protocols. |
| IEC61131 support |
Industrial control language ported to the Nios II processor available from KW Software and 3S Software. |
| AMPP Partners |
Partners offering CAN, graphics processing, and other IP and development solutions for industrial and other application areas. |
|
Video-on-Demand Resources
|
 |
The Next Industrial Revolution: Low-Cost Cyclone III FPGAs |
15-minute executive overview on the features and benefits of Cyclone III FPGAs for typical industrial applications including industrial Ethernet, graphics control, and embedded control in webcast video format. |
|
Implementing Flexible Industrial Ethernet Solutions |
Describes how to support any 802.3-based industrial Ethernet protocol (past or future) from a single board design. By taking advantage of low-cost FPGAs, a wide range of IP, and powerful development tools, you can reduce the cost, increase the flexibility, and minimize the time-to-market of your industrial Ethernet products. |
| White Papers |
 |
A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet (PDF) |
Provides an overview of how to use FPGAs to create flexible solutions for applications requiring industrial Ethernet connectivity. |
Related Links
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