MikroElektronika has announced the launch of the 1000th Click board, EtherCAT Click, which enables cost-effective implementation of EtherCAT functionality in various processors via the SPI interface.
Ten years ago, MIKROE invented the 16-pin mikroBUS standard for female connectors on a development board and the compact click boards that use it.
CEO Nebojsa Matic had the insight that all development boards are basically similar, all integrating a microcontroller, power supply, touch switches, LEDs and pins, while the features that differentiate one from the other are the peripheral devices: UARTs, displays, RTCs, relays, A/D converters, EPROMs etc.
Click boards allow engineers to change peripheral devices easily, saving months on development time.
MIKROE currently introduces a new click board almost every day at 10am and many leading microcontroller manufacturers such as Microchip, NXP, Infineon, Dialog, STM, Analog Devices Renesas and Toshiba, as well as distributors such as Future Electronics and Avnet, now include the mikroBUS socket in their development boards.
EtherCAT Click, the 1,000th Click board, features the LAN9252, a two-port EtherCAT device controller with integrated dual physical layer (PHY) Ethernet from Microchip Technology. Each PHY houses a full-duplex 100BASE-TX transceiver and supports 100 Mbps operation.
Itcommunicates with a microcontroller via a synchronous SPI/SQI interface and can operate in digital I/O mode, allowing signals to be controlled or monitored via the EtherCAT Master. This click board is suitable for many applications - industrial control, factory/process automation, pneumatic and hydraulic valves, power supplies and more.
Comments
Comments Matic: "Engineers know that their time is valuable and that they need to focus on raising the quality level of the whole project rather than just seeing a small part of it. Why spend two months on development when you can pay less than $50 for a ready-made solution that enables you to develop the code and prove the concept?”