Network transceiver IC implements ASi-5 standard for industrial networks

Renesas Electronics Corporation introduced the ASI4U-V5 ASSP – the industry’s first silicon solution to fully implement the ASi-5 (Actuator Sensor Interface version specification version 5) standard for industrial network equipment. ASi-5 offers superior performance and usability over ASi-3, delivering 1.27 ms cycle time, 200m cable length and 96 slaves per segment. The field-proven ASSP delivers an easy-to-use fieldbus integration option for developers working with sensors, actuators, and other industrial equipment requiring easy and cost-efficient fieldbus connectivity.

The new ASI4U-V5 ASSP features a fully verified and field-proven firmware that reduces the complexity associated with ASi-5 implementations, allowing users to minimize design risks. The ASSP is fully backwards compatible with ASi-3 devices while incorporating the shorter cycle times, higher bandwidth resulting from the use of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), enhanced diagnostics, and state-of-the-art robustness associated with the ASi-5 standard. The ASSP also supports all bus topologies, including line, star, and tree. Users can also take advantage of easy and cost-efficient integration with other industrial protocols such as IO-Link and HART.

Key Features

• The integration of up to 96 devices and operation down to 1.2 ms cycle time with less than 10ns jitter compared with 5 ms cycle times for ASi-3 solutions
• Support for up to 200m cable and 16 data bits per transport channel
• Diagnostics and event handling for industry 4.0 applications
• Backwards compatibility with ASi-3 devices
• Exceptional robustness against electromagnetic disturbers
• Fully verified and field-proven firmware enables easy integration, as no further programming of the chip is required.

The new ASi-5 ASSP expands Renesas’ robust industrial network portfolio, which includes the RZ/N and R-IN32M series of network processors, the TPS-1, as well as IDT’s ASI4U and SAP5 devices implementing ASI-3.

Reference samples of the fully qualified ASi-5 ASSP are available now. Mass production is planned for March 2020.