I
ndustrial
C
ontrol
& C
ommunications
more is standard. Even “fit, form, function”
programs, in which memory modules in new
manufacturing technologies are based on old
form factors and functions, are not immune
to datasheet modifications and thus from
requalification. The XMC4800 solves this
problem, as do all devices from this micro-
controller range, with guaranteed long-term
availability – until 2027 at least (figure 1).
In addition to the EtherCAT slave control-
ler, the XMC4800 has a number of integrated
peripherals in order to completely cover vari-
ous applications, as the block diagram shows
(figure 2).
In addition to the ARM Cortex M4 processor
mentioned already, the large flash memory of
up to 2 MB, and the RAM of up to 352 KB, the
XMC4800 places special emphasis on com-
munication as well as actuators and sensors.
No other Cortex-M-based component offers
six CAN nodes in which 256 message objects
can be organized into send/receive FIFOs,
allowing communication to take place with-
out interaction with the CPU. Even exchange
between different CAN networks with differ-
ent transmission rates takes place in gateway
mode without involvement of the computing
core. The XMC4800 offers an elegant solution
for its implementation in mixed networks
with CAN and EtherCAT, allowing a gate-
way from CAN to EtherCAT to be efficiently
established through DMA transfers (figure 3).
There are also six serial interfaces (UART, SPI,
dual and quad SPI, I2C, and I2S) which can
be realized through the programmable USIC
interface. There are also parallel interfaces
(EBU) and USB and SDIO/SD/MMC inter-
face for connecting a mass storage device. A
regular TCP/IP Ethernet interface offers an
Figure 1. Overview of various implementations of EtherCAT. XMC4800 allows EtherCAT
without additional memory, quartz clock pulse generator, or microcontrollers.
Figure 2. The XMC4800 represents the first EtherCAT node integrated into an ARM Cortex
microcontroller with flash memory and analog/mixed-signal-IP specified for a temperature range
of up to 125°C and AEC-Q100 qualification.
