1 Introduction

EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) are rapidly gaining market share in the industrial communications market due to the high bandwidth, reliability, and real-time deterministic performance. These protocols are commonly used in factory automation and control applications such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), motor control, robotics, factory management systems, and field sensors and actuators.

High-availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) or Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) are high-availability Ethernet protocols that maintain network operation in the event of a node or link failure. HSR and PRP are found in networks such as the electrical grid that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and cannot afford any downtime.

TSN is a relatively new set of IEEE 802.1 standards that add real-time, deterministic services to Ethernet networks. TSN supports factory automation and control applications as well as high-availability applications. Many believe TSN is the dominant industrial communication technology of the future.

The AM243x and AM64x series of Arm-based MCUs and processors were specifically designed to support industrial communication protocols. Both series have dual-gigabit industrial communication subsystems (ICSSG), multiple 1Gbps Ethernet ports, and multiple Arm CPU cores to support industrial communication protocols and applications such as real-time control loops.