Case Study of a PROFIBUS FDL Layer Coprocessor

When designing master and slave PROFIBUS stations, the key of a useful implementation lies in a successful and effective realization of the FDL layer providing datalink functionality. Since standard solutions based on standard integrated circuits like microprocessors, microcontrollers or FPGAs often appear too inadequate, a specialized coprocessor is proposed and elaborated in this paper. The architecture is specified in VHDL and the respective building blocks subsequently simulated.