Abstract: Considering the increasing use of information technology with established standards, such as TCP/IP and XML in modern industrial automation, we present a high cost performance solution with FPGA (field programmable gate array) implementation of a novel reliable real-time data transfer system based on EPA (Ethernet for plant automation) protocol and IEEE 1588 standard. This combination can provide more predictable and real-time communication between automation equipments and precise synchronization between devices. The designed EPA system has been verified on Xilinx Spartan3 XC3S1500 and it consumed 75% of the total slices. The experimental results show that the novel industrial control system achieves high synchronization precision and provides a 1.59-μs standard deviation between the master device and the slave ones. Such a real-time data transfer system is an excellent candidate for automation equipments which require precise synchronization based on Ethernet at a comparatively low price.

Key words: Ethernet for plant automation (EPA), IEEE 1588, Precise synchronization, Real-time data transfer

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