In my previous blog post, I discussed how you can use the processor software development kit (Processor SDK) for industrial products. In this post, I’ll explain how to develop applications with ease of development and quick time to market.
Let’s take an industrial application to show how you can start with a concept block diagram and use it when developing a product. Figure 1 shows a concept diagram of single-chip motor control at a high level.
Figure 1: Single-chip motor-control concept
Figure 2 shows a Processor SDK-based design meeting the concept shown in Figure 1. I’ll focus on software aspects in this blog post.
Figure 2: Processor SDK-based architecture for single-chip motor control
Each of the blocks shown in Figure 2 is delivered at production-ready quality, with an out-of-the-box example real-time operating system (RTOS) template application that you can use to start prototyping. The Processor SDK offers software components like real-time protocols and control and communication interface drivers. Each of these modules includes a header file documenting application programming interfaces (APIs) for you to interface and integrate your application.
For this example industrial application, the programmable real-time unit subsystem and industrial communication subsystem (PRU-ICSS) software packages provide EtherCAT and EnDAT 2.2 decoder real-time protocols. Modules like UART and I2C in the Processor SDK are available for board-level control and console functions. A secondary boot loader available in the SDK has several options for booting application images. The Processor SDK ships with operating systems (OSs) like TI RTOS and Linux®, and you can design and create task models as needed.
This example highlights a simple motor control use case with a minimal set of drivers; however, it’s possible to extend this methodology to all modules available in the Processor SDK and choose a combination of drivers and protocols as needed.
The template application and evaluation module (EVM) enable you to prototype the solution quickly. Once the prototype is complete, you can move your application to the production board following the steps highlighted in the TI training “Application Development Using Processor SDK RTOS,” under the Port section. Developers can then scale their prototype to other Sitara™ processors for evaluation and design using the Processor SDK, which isthe single software platform across the Sitara portfolio.
If you are dealing with the Linux operating system, you can leverage the Yocto project, define the board-level details as a Yocto layer and fully leverage TI and OpenEmbedded Yocto components.
The Processor SDK also provides the Code Composer Studio™ integrated development environment; debugger; compiler tools; and hardware configuration tools like a pin multiplexer and clock tree as one single stop for development and debugging.
These tools and packages are fully integrated and qualified through Processor SDK testing and provide a seamless way for you to develop complex applications focusing on your differentiation at an application level.
Additional resources
- Learn more about PRU-ICSS industrial software for Sitara processors.
- See what’s available in the Processor SDK training series.
- Read about the Processor SDK in our previous blog posts, “Processor SDK: one for all and all for one” and, “How quality assurance on the Processor SDK can improve software scalability.”
