Renesas Electronics claims ASi-5 ASSP is a first for industrial automation
The ASi-5 (Actuator Sensor Interface version specification version 5) standard is implemented in the ASI4U-V5 application specific standard processor (ASSP), developed by Renesas Electronics. It is, claims the company, the industry’s first silicon to fully implement the ASi-5 standard for industrial network equipment. ASi-5 offers superior performance and usability over ASi-3, delivering 1.27milli seconds cycle time, 200m cable length and 96 slaves per segment. The ASSP delivers an easy-to-use fieldbus integration option for developers working with sensors, actuators and other industrial equipment requiring cost-efficient fieldbus connectivity.
The ASI4U-V5 ASSP features a verified and field-proven firmware that reduces the complexity associated with ASi-5 implementations, allowing users to minimise design risks. The ASSP is backwards compatible with ASi-3 devices while incorporating the shorter cycle times, higher bandwidth resulting from the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), enhanced diagnostics, and robustness associated with the ASi-5 standard. The ASSP also supports all bus topologies, including line, star, and tree. It also offers easy and cost-efficient integration with other industrial protocols such as IO-Link and Hart, advises Renesas.
Commenting on the announcement, Niels Trapp, senior director of industrial automation business division at Renesas, said: “We are excited to bring the first ASi-5 silicon solution to market and enable faster transmission of larger data quantities and more efficient integration with smart sensors that are becoming an integral part of the Industrial IoT.”
The ASi-5 ASSP expands Renesas’ robust industrial network portfolio, which includes the RZ/N and R-IN32M series of network processors, the TPS-1, as well as IDT’s ASI4U and SAP5 devices implementing ASI-3.
Reference samples of the fully qualified ASi-5 ASSP are available now. Mass production is planned for March 2020. Renesas will demonstrate the ASI4U-V5 ASSP at SPS in Nuremberg, Germany (26 to 28 November) Hall 10.1 – 110.
