At the Hannover Messe show, Xilinx, Inc., the world's leading programmable logic supplier, announced immediate availability of a SERCOS III real-time Ethernet solution. The low-cost Spartan(TM)-3 FPGA enabled SERCOS III solution provides a low-cost flexible alternative for industrial networking applications. SERCOS III is supported by SERCOS International e.V., the world-wide user organization for SERCOS technology. SERCOS International e.V. will showcase the Xilinx-based networking platform at this week's Hannover Messe, April 16-20, Hall 9, Stand D23, at the Exhibition Grounds in Hannover, Germany.

"SERCOS III now becomes extraordinary attractive for users as an I/O profile and a safety protocol, available without any restrictions on the real-time behaviour of drive functions. Therefore, a single SERCOS fieldbus is now sufficient to implement challenging motion control applications," states Helmut Börjes, product manager at Wago.

Both the SERCOS III master and slave are hosted by a single Spartan-3 FPGA on the Xilinx industrial networking platform. "FPGAs offer an ideal platform for the diverse requirements within industrial automation. The flexibility and scalability of the Spartan-3 devices provide an ideal platform for innovative and cost-efficient automation products," stated Peter Lutz, managing director of SERCOS International. SERCOS III is based on the established real time mechanisms of the original SERCOS interface, still using the principle of cyclic data transfer with deterministic timing. This hardware-based synchronization is the indispensable prerequisite for the reliable implementation of challenging motion applications, such as packaging machines, multi-axis machine tools and electronic line shafts in printing machines.

"Due to its real time capabilities and performance, the SERCOS III interface has become a widely accepted Ethernet-based networking standard worldwide," said Niladri Roy, senior manager for ISM at Xilinx. "The implementation of SERCOS III on the Spartan-3 generation not only adds to our growing library of industrial networking IP, the solution allows for the most optimized application of SERCOS III and effective cost management
for a broad spectrum of customers."

SERCOS III has been defined such that any standard Ethernet frame can be transmitted in a non-real time slot, in parallel to the real time processing. SERCOS International is the responsible user organization for the technical development, standardization, certification and commercialization of the real time communication standard SERCOS interface (IEC 61491). The organization with its headquarters in Germany has presently more than 60 member companies all over the world as well as own trade associations in North America and Asia.