• State Resolved
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 7 replies
  • Answers 1 answer
  • Subscribers 99 subscribers
  • Views 573 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

AM6421: What does optional support of Industrial Communication Subsystem mean?

felix_123
Expert 1251 points
Part Number: AM6421

Hi TI,

we are currently evaluating processors, which fulfill the following requirements:

  • PRU-ICSSG support (for Industrial Ethernet like EtherCAT)
  • PCIe support (to connect this SoC wtih some other SoC)

AM64xx series seems promising, since it fulfills all of our requirements. However, the datasheet (https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/am6442.pdf?ts=1615817119383&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252FAM6442) says on page 8 (Table 5-1), that Industrial Communication Subsystem Support is _Optional_.

What do you mean with optional support? To make an informed decision, we have to be absolutely sure, that there is ICSSG support for this processor.

Thanks for your help and best regards,

Felix

  • 0
    TI__Genius 10980 points

    Hi Felix,

    Yes, those devices should all have the ICSSG on them (except for the ones that explicitly say that they do not). I have reached out to the datasheet owner to see exactly what is meant by optional and will provide you with more details when I have them.

    Regards,

    Nathan

  • +1
    TI__Genius 10980 points

    Hi Felix,

    Those devices have ICSSG support for devices with certain feature codes. You can find the definitions of those feature codes and which ones support ICSSG in table 10-1 in section 10.1.2 of the datasheet.

    Regards,

    Nathan

  • 0 in reply to Nathan Siegel
    Expert 1251 points

    Hi Nathan,

    thank you for providing that information, it helps a lot.

    One last question:
    Is my assumption correct, that the EtherCAT HW Accelerator (Value "E" or "F" in Field "Features") is not mandatory for EtherCAT support? In other words, it is sufficient to have Value "D" in Field Features, when I want to develop an EtherCAT Slave?

    Thanks again and best regards,

    Felix

  • 0 in reply to felix_123
    TI__Genius 10980 points

    Hi Felix,

    The HW accelerator means that it has preloaded EtherCAT FW on the ICSSG PRUs. So it would be possible to develop that code without, but that would be something additional that you would have to develop.

    Regards,

    Nathan

  • 0 in reply to Nathan Siegel
    Expert 1251 points

    Hi Nathan,

    your answer is a little confusing to me. I was under the assumption, that any SoC, which includes PRU-ICSS(G) can be developed as an EtherCAT Slave using the "PRU-ICSS software for EtherCAT slave" (PRU-ICSS-ETHERCAT-SLAVE_01.00.08.01, https://www.ti.com/tool/download/PRU-ICSS-ETHERCAT-SLAVE#downloads). This SW is not yet released for the AM64xx, but it would be logical, that this release is on your software roadmap, since for example AM65xx also has an PRU-ICSSG and is already supporting this SW Stack.

    So to clarify again:

    What exactly do you mean with preloaded EtherCAT FW? Is this only another description for the previous mentioned "PRU-ICSS software for EtherCAT slave" or something completely different?

    Does AM64xx ICSS Enabled support the "PRU-ICSS software for EtherCAT slave" in the future? If this is true, I do not understand what you mean by the "something additional" in terms of development effort since all SoCs which support "PRU-ICSS software for EtherCAT slave" are Conformance Tested EtherCAT Slaves and they all support the Slave Stack Code by Beckhoff.

    Which advantage would I have, if I choose AM64xx ICSS + EtherCAT HW Accelerator instead of AM64xx ICSS Enabled?

    Thanks again for your help and best regards,

    Felix

  • +1 in reply to felix_123
    TI__Mastermind 27764 points

    Hi

    felix_123 said:
    What exactly do you mean with preloaded EtherCAT FW? Is this only another description for the previous mentioned "PRU-ICSS software for EtherCAT slave" or something completely different?

    Yes, it means same. Please note that for AM64x, the firmware and software for EtherCAT will not be released separately. It will be a part of SDK.

    felix_123 said:

    Which advantage would I have, if I choose AM64xx ICSS + EtherCAT HW Accelerator instead of AM64xx ICSS Enabled?

    "AM64xx ICSS + EtherCAT HW Accelerator" is needed to enable the support for EtherCAT. With "AM64xx ICSS Enabled", EtherCAT can not be run.

    Regards

    Dhaval Khandla

  • 0 in reply to Dhaval Khandla
    Expert 1251 points

    Hi Dhaval,

    thank you very much. That solved all my questions.

    Best regards,

    Felix