Kithara Real-Time Ethernet

Ethernet-based communication is used more and more within industrial applications – but the standard functions of operating systems often not keep up with these requirements. So, hard real-time properties are needed!

Industrial communication tasks based on TCP and UDP protocols can now be realized with the real-time Ethernet environment in real-time.

In conjunction with the Packet module (Fast/Gigabit Ethernet for Intel and Realtek), all mechanisms are provided to communicate in real-time over selected Ethernet controllers, furthermore TCP and UDP are practicable in real-time with the Socket module, too. The real-time data communication is applicable using Fast Ethernet cards as well as network cards with Gigabit Ethernet controllers by Intel and Realtek. So, measured value aquisition or individual image processing can easily be implemented .

Intel-Pro/1000 PT Quad Adapter

To achieve real-time capabilities, the network controllers are accessed and programmed directly in an optimized high-speed driver. The complete bandwidth of the connection is available and an immediate response on inbound data packets takes place in real-time.

Functions for CRC calculation and byte-order conversion are provided.

The socket application is coded by the programmer, as known by Kithara, comfortably within the application which is coded in C/C++ or Delphi. For using C#.NET, a DLL written in native C/C++ can be provided which contains the hardware-dependent and time-critical code and can be embedded in the application.

So the software is going beyond the scope of the Windows operating systems, which are due lacking real-time capability often inapplicable for industrial requirements.

Characteristics of the Kithara Real-Time Ethernet

• Transmit Ethernet frames in real-time up to 1000 Mbit/s
• Instant sending and immediate response when receiving
• Sending and receiving in kernel mode possible
• Supported hardware: Intel, RealTek (up to Gigabit) – see hardware-compatibility list
• Jumbo frames up to 16128 bytes according to the NIC being used
• IP and MAC multicast, broadcast, promiscuous mode for the reception of all packets
• Reception of data packages either per callback function directly in interrupt context or in polling mode
• Prioritization in four levels of the packets to be sent
• Automatic address identification by ARP support
• Functions for CRC calculation and byte-order conversion included
• Socket communication (UDP and TCP communication in real-time)
• Real-Time Timer with jitter in the range of microseconds
• Priority-based pre-emptive real-time multi-tasking with max. 255 priority levels
• Use of kernel level supported by C/C++ or Delphi (Win32 native)
• Operating systems: Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000 and NT

Supported controllers

The slow Windows driver of the network interface card has to be exchanged to achieve real-time capability. For this reason, only network inferface cards with special controllers are supported.

The following network interface cards are included: