System-on-Chip implementation of Reliable Ethernet Networks nodes

Reliable Ethernet Networks are gaining acceptance for many Industrial Automation applications. However, the diversity and variety of emerging Ethernet based Industrial Protocols make difficult for the Industry the selection of the technology to implement them. Furthermore, the continue evolution of the standards and their combination increment the risk in the engineering decisions. This need for flexibility combined with the need for hardware processing make FPGAs and reconfigurable devices in general, the best candidates to implement network devices and equipments able to deal with these issues. In this work, 3 architectures for Reliable Network Devices that support HSR and PRP protocols are presented. These architectures benefit from cutting-edge 28nm silicon fabrication reconfigurable technology combined with on-chip ARM processors and peripheral. One of the proposed architectures is implemented following a Design Flow that integrates 3 complex EDA tools and a third-party IP to achieve a full operative Reliable Networking Device with HSR and PRP processing capabilities.