PLC/PAC/IPC

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) grew from their classical role as a dedicated layer in the Automation Pyramid to flexible Intelligent Edge nodes with versatile and customizable functionality. While SW-runtimes for IEC 61131 guarantee traditional PLC functions, network offloading, image processing and Digital Twins inside the same component increase the value of this class of industrial products.

That's where intelligent and adaptive SOCs like Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and Xilinx Versal come into the play. The applications processors inside the SOC communicate with the Programmable Logic through a high-performance architecture. Logic can be used for custom logic as well as for Deep Learning using Neural Networks which sit in the FPGA portion and run at optimal power to performance ratio. Typical applications to enrich a PLC, a PAC and an IPC are:

• Real time networking with scalable number of ports (TSN, UDP IP, Industrial Ethernet)
• Predictive Maintenance
• Comprehensive data acquisition with pre-processing of data from the field using chip-internal RAM and DSP resources
• Fast and deterministic control loops
• Interfacing to optical sensors and optimized Image Signal Processing including Sensor Fusion
• Hypervisor support for isolation of SW applications
• Cyber and physical security related functions tied to FIPS140 and IEC62443 including hardware and software field updates for a solid security lifecycle management

Because Xilinx's development tools are safety certified and because Xilinx provides in-depth information including reports from assessors about Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC on the Safety Lounge, this architecture can be used for Safe PLC designs.

Xilinx's partner ecosystem provides you with the right boards and kits to create a solution fast. Our product Xilinx Kria, a versatile SOM for industrial applications, enables a fast start with accelerated applications around machine vision and more to come in our App Store.