Office applications and automation solutions accrete in an increasing degree. The request of most companies is an integrated flow of information from field bus level up to office cross-linking. Unfortunately, different ancillary technical conditions hamper the necessary real-time access and complicate full-coverage use of Ethernet in the automation.

The present state-of-the-art consists in the use of different proprietary approaches. Standardization efforts try to eliminate the disadvantages of this widespread network and to unify the already existing company-wide solutions to an industry capable standard.

We offer support in realizing a deterministic, real-time capable and secure communication system based on the Ethernet technology in consideration of hardware and software aspects. As a member of IAONA we actively work on the real-time Ethernet themes and security solutions in the automation technology as well as on the development of new automation standards.

Our achievements in the area of real-time Ethernet include:

• integration of Ethernet in real-time operating systems
• real-time Ethernet based on ARM-processor platforms with integrated Ethernet-MAC
• hardware and software components for the realization of real-time Ethernet functions
• hardware-IPs for the integration in ASICs resp. FPGAs