Design and development of microblaze processor based Remote Terminal Units for Fast Breeder Reactors

Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) are single board remote data acquisition and control systems that are widely used in FBRs during all states of plant operation. Distributed Digital Control System (DDCS) architecture is being followed for the plant control and operation, which mandates the need for multiple sockets support in TCPIP Ethernet communication in an embedded system. Existing RTUs are 89C51 microcontroller based systems where the TCPIP communication is done using Wiznet Module. These modules can support maximum of four sockets and are already obsolete from the market. In this paper a new RTU design is described where the complete digital logic of a board is implemented in one single FPGA device using Soft-core processor and EMAC controller with multiple socket support for the Ethernet communication. This makes design more reliable and immune to obsolescence. (author)