Cost-effective, compact industrial slave device development made easy
Protocol firmware available for free evaluation

STMicroelectronics (ST) has introduced a new expansion board, the I-NUCLEO-NETX, and expansion software, the I-CUBE-NETX, which combines ST's STM32™ ecosystem with Hilscher's multi-protocol netX control ICs.

The I-NUCELO-NETX expansion board, developed in collaboration between ST and Hilscher, can be used with any STM32 Nucleo-64/STM32 Nucleo-144 development board, while I-CUBE-NETX is an STM32Cube software expansion for combining Hilscher's netX 52 network controllers with host MCUs from ST's extensive STM32 family.

The NUCLEO-NETX includes a netX 52 network controller IC with integrated real-time Ethernet switch and two RJ45 ports for line and ring topologies. netX 52 supports all real-time Ethernet protocol specifications and future versions, including EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet, Ethernet/IP, POWERLINK, CC-Link IE, Modbus TCP, and SERCOS III.

It also supports fieldbus standards such as CANopen and new standards such as Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), as well as OPC-UA and MQTT for cloud data exchange, making it suitable for the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) field.

The I-CUBE-NETX software package comes with pre-certified firmware that allows free evaluation of EtherCAT, PROFINET and Ethernet/IP protocols. The package also includes Hilscher's cifX API and cifX Toolkit, which allow all Real-Time Ethernet protocols to be used in the STM32 ecosystem and minimize software effort when porting one protocol to another.

Combining the powerful performance of netX with the broad STM32 family, ranging from the entry-level STM32F0 MCUs to the high-performance STM32F7 series and STM32H7 series, enables flexible, reliable, and scalable platforms for everything from simple I/O systems to complex, high-end drives and controls.

Based on this common hardware, it is possible to efficiently handle various protocols such as PROFINET in Europe, Ethernet/IP in the US, CC-Link IE in Japan, and EtherCAT in Europe and Asia, and develop products suitable for various markets around the world.