Echelon Series 6000 Chip databook - Manual (Page 14)

Product Family Overview
Echelon designed the original Neuron Chip as a system-on-a-chip semiconductor device to
provide intelligence and networking capabilities to low-cost control devices. Through a
unique combination of hardware and firmware, the Neuron Chip provided all of the key
functions necessary to process inputs from sensors and control devices intelligently, and to
propagate control information across a variety of network media. Since then, Echelon has
continued to develop and improve the families of products that are based on the Neuron
Chip.
This book describes the newest additions to the Neuron families of products:
• FT 6000 Free Topology Smart Transceivers
• Neuron 6000 Processors
This book describes these products generically as “Series 6000 chips”.
All Series 6000 chips include multiple processors, read-write and read-only memory (RAM
and ROM), communication subsystems, and I/O subsystems. Each Series 6000 chip includes
a processor core for running applications and managing network communications, memory,
I/O, and a 48-bit identification number (the Neuron ID) that is unique to every device. In
addition, all Series 6000 chips include the Neuron system firmware, which provides an
implementation of the LonTalk ® protocol, along with I/O libraries, and a task scheduler for
application-program management. The device manufacturer provides the application code
and the I/O devices that complete a L ON W ORKS device.
The Neuron 6000 Processor provides a media-independent communications port which
permits short distance Neuron Chip-to-Neuron Chip communications, and can also be used
with external line drivers and transceivers of almost any type.
FT 6000 Smart Transceiver
The FT 6000 Free Topology Smart Transceiver integrates a high performance Neuron core
with a free topology twisted pair transceiver. Together with the FT-X3 Communications
Transformer and inexpensive serial memories, the FT 6000 Smart Transceiver provides a
low-cost, high-performance solution.
Neuron 6000 Processor
The Neuron 6000 Processor provides a media-independent communications port that
supports external transceivers for EIA-485 or TP/XF-1250 channels, using an external
transceiver circuit. The Neuron 6000 Processor can also connect to a link-power TP/FT-10
channel using a L ON W ORKS LPT-11 Link Power Transceiver. The Neuron 6000 Processor
provides a lower-cost, higher-performance alternative to the previous generation of Neuron
Chips.
Development Resources for Series 6000 Chips
A wide assortment of technical documentation, diagnostic tools, support programs, and
training courses are available to assist customers with their projects. Additionally, Echelon
offers fee-based pre-production design reviews of customers’ products, schematics, PCB
layouts, and bills of material to verify that they comply with published guidelines.
2 Introduction