NEC and German chip firm ELMOS Semiconductor have developed what they claim is the single chip interface for the IO-Link industrial sensor communication standard.
"The IO-Link device includes our 78K0R 16bit microcontroller and a transceiver circuit designed by ELMOS. TMG-Karlsruhe was responsible for the protocol stack," said NEC.
"The collaboration between these three companies significantly simplifies the process of establishing an efficient industrial automation network for customers."
IO-Link is a point-to-point system that works over existing three-conductor shielded and unshielded wiring.
It works up to 20m, and transfers a 16bit data word typically in 2ms. At power up, IO-Link controllers establish the fastest data rate available to each sensor.
All master ports can default to standard industrial serial data mode if no IO-Link sensor is detected on a line. The only limitation is that binary sensors with NPN outputs are not compatible. Binary PNP outputs are allowed.