HONG KONG: Avnet Design Services, part of Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia (http://www.em.avnetasia.com/), a business region of Avnet, Inc. http://avnet.com/)(NYSE: AVT (http://ir.avnet.com/ )), has announced a low-cost Ethernet Powerlink Industrial Networking Kit that delivers a total development platform for industrial networking applications.

Co-developed with Xilinx and Texas Instruments with supporting technology from Austria;s B&R Automation, the Spartan-6 FPGA-based kit delivers a complete implementation of the Powerlink protocol (Controlled Node), development tools and other design resources to help developers of industrial networking applications build their systems quickly at the lowest cost.

Ethernet Powerlink is an industrial networking protocol standard that was first developed in 2001 by B&R Automation, an Austrian company. Today, the standard has been open-sourced and is managed by the Ethernet Powerlink Standardisation Group (EPSG), an independent association.

At the end of 2011, Powerlink was approved as a Chinese nationally recommended standard, GB/T 27960-2011. “Avnet Design Services is delighted to have had the support of the market leaders in their respective segments in the execution of this program,” said Andy Wong, vice president, Asia for Avnet Design Services and Segment Marketing. “This offering underlines our technical strengths in the industrial automation market. The optimised Powerlink protocol meets critical system timing and performance requirements. We believe it will prove easy for engineers to adopt and the advantages of an FPGA-based solution will be clear to them from day one, helping them expedite the development of applications.”

Xilinx’s Spartan-6 FPGA has the processing performance and networking capabilities to handle the Powerlink protocol requirements easily while still having resources available to execute user-specific applications. For example, a motor control algorithm could be included within the same FPGA. The level of processing power offers greater integration options and higher performance within a single device.

“The Ethernet Powerlink Industrial Networking Kit gives developers a design platform from which they can easily get started and complete development specific to their system’s design,” commented Yvonne Lin, Industrial Marketing Manager, Xilinx.

The kit includes two Ethernet DP83630 PHYTER(R) transceivers from Texas Instruments. These are IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol transceivers that deliver the highest level of precision clock synchronisation for real-time industrial connectivity applications. PDI (Parallel Digital Interface) connectors are also included to extend connectivity to interface with the industrial components or devices actually controlled.

“The Texas Instruments DP83630 PHYTER transceivers provide network packet time stamps for clock synchronization, as well as advanced fault detection features that enable a system designer to identify and address deteriorating link conditions,” said Alexander E. Tan, Product Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments.

The cost of the kit will be US$349.00 and is available now from the Avnet Asia website: www.em.avnetasia.com/promotion/powerlink_kit.

Avnet Design Services is a specialised team in Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia with experienced and technically competent experts to offer customers with design support throughout the product life cycle, from conceptualization to product launch and product life extension. ADS is able to deliver “reference and turnkey system solutions” through seven in-house design centers and third-party design partners (IDHs) in Asia, enabling customers to design with ready solutions for applications of  different market segments.

Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), has a significant presence in Asia. With its regional headquarters in Singapore, the company has offices in more than 50 locations in Asia. Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia distributes semiconductors,