®
Neuron® 6050
IP Processor for IzoTTM Enabled Devices
• 16-fold increase in address table
entries, up to 254 entries
• User programmable interrupts,
hardware UART, 12 I/O pins with
35 programmable standard I/O
models
• 5-pin network communications
port with 3.3V drive and
5V-tolerant pins.
• Unique 48-bit IEEE MAC ID
in every device for network
installation and management
Serial
Memory
Interface
IRQ CPU
5
/
External
Transformer
APP CPU
RAM
(64K x 8)
NET CPU
ROM
(16K x 8)
MAC CPU
The Neuron 6050 Processor incorporates
communication and control functions on
a single chip, in both hardware and
firmware, to facilitate the design of
LonTalk®, LonTalk/IP or BACnet/IP devices.
Its flexible 5-pin communications port
can be configured to interface with a wide
variety of transceivers — including twistedpair, RF, IR, fiber-optics, and coaxial — at a
wide range of data rates.
Multi-protocol Operation, Future
Proofing and Backward Compatibility
The Neuron 6050 Processor includes
3 independent 8-bit logical processors
to manage the physical MAC layer, the
network, and the user application. These
are called the Media-Access Control (MAC)
processor, the network (NET) processor,
and the application (APP) processor,
respectively (see Figure 1). At higher system
clock rates, a fourth processor called the
IRQ CPU can be used to handle interrupts.
The Neuron 6050 Processor supports up
to four different modes of operation, as
shown in Figure 2, allowing device makers
unprecedented flexibility in creating control
devices for a wide variety of applications
using one common development effort.
Backward compatibility and future proofing
can both be met using a common platform
based on the Neuron 6050 Processor
family.
Clock, Reset,
and Service
SVC~
• Support for up to 254 Network
Variables (NVs), 127 aliases
Comm
Port
RST~
• Support for larger external
flash memories, up to 256KB
applications
2-6
/
I/O
XOUT
• Upto 80MHz system clock, 64KB
RAM and 16KB ROM on-chip
memories
12
/
XIN
Neuron 6050 Key Features
The Neuron 6050 is optimized for
modernizing and consolidating smart
control devices and networks.
NVM
It is a key product in Echelon’s
(SPI)
IzoT™ Platform — the most
comprehensive and open control
networking platform for the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT). It offers options for
backward compatibility with LONWORKS®
while adding native IP addressing at the
device level and consolidating multiple
control protocols on the same device.
JTAG
5
Figure 1: Neuron 6050 Processor
• 7mm x 7mm 48-pin QFN
package, -40°C to +85°C
Preliminary
www.echelon.com
The pins for the Neuron 6050 Processor’s communications
port drive a 3.3V signal and are 5V input-tolerant. Thus, the
Neuron 6050 Processor is compatible with 3.3V transceivers
and with 5V transceivers that have TTL-compatible input.
The Neuron 6050 Processor is compatible with transceivers
for TP/XF-1250 and EIA-485 channels, and can be used
with the LONWORKS LPT-11 Link Power Transceiver. It also
supports a variety of other channels used with previousgeneration Neuron Chips, such as RF, IR, fiber-optic, and
coax. It does not, however, support a TP/XF-78 channel. To
support a TP/FT-10 channel, use an Echelon Free Topology
Smart Transceiver (FT 6050 or FT 5000 Smart Transceiver);
to support a PL-20 power line channel, use an Echelon
Power Line Smart Transceiver (PL 3120/3150/3170 Smart
Transceiver). Echelon’s Smart Transceivers integrate the
transceiver for the channel type and the Neuron core into a
single chip, which enables smaller designs and provides cost
savings.
The Neuron core in the Neuron 6050 Processor uses the
same instruction set and architecture as the previousgeneration Neuron core, including instructions for hardware
multiplication and division. The Series 6050 Neuron core
is source code compatible with applications written for the
Series 5000 and 3100 Neuron core. Applications written for
the Series 5000 and 3100 Neuron core must be recompiled
with the IzoT NodeBuilder Software before they can be used
with the Neuron 6050 Processor.
The Neuron 6050 Processor uses Neuron firmware version
21 or later. Firmware versions prior to version 21 are not
compatible with the Neuron 6050 Processor. The Neuron
firmware is loaded into RAM from off chip flash. The Neuron
6050 Processor firmware can be upgraded over the network.
devices that are fully compatible with LonTalk applications
while supporting native IP addressing at the device level. In
this mode, the network layer has been enhanced to support
translation between LonTalk addresses and IP addresses in
a manner that is transparent to both the LonTalk application
above and the network below. This allows LonTalk compatible
applications to run unmodified over a variety of media types
while gaining IP addressing at the device level.
In the “BACnet/IP mode”, LonTalk layers 4-6 services are
used to create BACnet/IP devices borrowing from a rich set
of LONMARK services and profiles. LONMARK® compatible
applications can now run unmodified over a variety of channel
types, and present their LONMARK interfaces as native
BACnet Objects, thus pushing BACnet/IP all the way down
to the simplest of devices. Provisioning and commissioning
of BACnet/IP devices is now possible with available and
powerful LONWORKS commissioning tools. Devices thus
provisioned are fully compatible and discoverable using
industry standard, BTL-certified BACnet management clients.
And finally, in the “Any IP mode”, the Neuron 6050 Processor
allows any control protocol to be modernized with IP
addressing transported over a variety of channel types.
Enhanced Performance
Fast system clock. The internal system clock for the Neuron
6050 Processor can be user configured to run from 5MHz to
80MHz. The required external crystal provides a 10MHz clock
frequency, and an internal PLL boosts the frequency to a
maximum of 80MHz as the internal system clock speed. The
fast clock is the same as what is available with the Neuron
Processor; however, the Neuron 3120/3150 core divided
the external oscillator frequency by two to create the internal
system clock. Hence, a Neuron 3120/3150 core running
with a 10MHz external crystal had a 5MHz internal system
clock. A Neuron 6050 Processor running with an 80MHz
internal clock is thus 16 times faster than a 10MHz Neuron
3120/3150 core running with a 5MHz internal system clock.
The 5MHz system clock mode in the Neuron 6050 Processor
provides backward compatibility to support time-critical
applications designed for the 10MHz Neuron 3150 or Neuron
3120 processor.
The Neuron core inside the Neuron 6050 Processor includes
a built-in hardware multiplier and divider to increase the
performance of arithmetic operations.
Support for large number of network variables.
Figure 2: Neuron 6050 Modes of Operation
In the “LonTalk mode”, the Neuron 6050 Processor runs the
LonTalk stack down to the MAC layer and is fully backward
compatible with devices running the LonTalk stack, including
devices based on the Neuron 3120, Neuron 3150 or FT
3120/3150/5000 Smart Transceiver.
In the “LonTalk/IP mode”, the Neuron 6050 Processor
preserves the services offered by LonTalk layers 4-6,
replacing layers 2-3 with UDP/IP. This allows the creation of
Interrupts. The Neuron 6050 Processor lets developers
define application interrupts to handle asynchronous events
triggered by selected state changes on any of the 12 I/O pins,
by on-chip hardware timer-counter units, or by an on-chip
high-performance hardware system timer. An application
uses the Neuron C interrupt() clause to define the interrupt
condition and the interrupt task that handles the condition.
The Neuron C program runs the interrupt task whenever the
interrupt condition is met. See the Neuron C Programmer’s
Guide for more information about writing interrupt tasks and
handling interrupts.
Enhancements for processing IP packets:
Memory Architecture
The Neuron 6050 Processor has an enhanced MAC layer
that allows frame sizes up to 1280 bytes that allows large IP
frames to be carried over a variety of channel types without
fragmenting the packet which provides better bandwidth
utilization of the channel. Having dedicated processor
contexts for the MAC and network protocol support allows
the application to have the same performance independent
of the network traffic. Traditional uni-processor designs must
be interrupted repeatedly to receive every packet on the
network, even when the packet turns out to not be addressed
to the node. This increases the demands on the application
processor and makes the amount of processing available to
the application difficult to predict as it becomes a function of
the network load.
The Neuron 6050 Processor eliminates the need for external
serial EEPROM that the previous generation Neuron 5000
required and instead relies on inexpensive external flash
memories for non-volatile application and data storage, and
for Neuron firmware upgrades. It has 16KB of ROM and 64KB
(44 KB user-accessible) of RAM on the chip. It has no on-chip
non-volatile memory for application use. Each chip, however,
contains its unique identifier (IEEE MAC ID) in an on-chip,
non-volatile, read-only memory. Typical external flash memory
configuration is 512KB of which 128KB is available for
application code. This is a three-fold increase in application
size that can be hosted on the Neuron 6050 compared to
previous generations. Larger application sizes are possible
with larger flashes. For example, a 256KB application is
possible on a 1 MB flash part.
JTAG. The Neuron 6050 Processor provides an interface for
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture
(IEEE 1149.1-1990) of the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) to
allow a Series 6050 chip to be included in the boundary-scan
chain for device production tests.
Communications Port
The Neuron 6050 Processor includes a versatile 5-pin
communications port that can be configured in two ways:
3.3 V Single-Ended Mode and 3.3 V Special-Purpose Mode.
In Single-Ended Mode, pin CP0 is used for receiving serial
data, pin CP1 for transmitting serial data, and pin CP2 for
enabling an external transmitter. Data is communicated using
Differential Manchester encoding.
In Special-Purpose Mode, pin CP0 is used for receiving serial
data, pin CP1 for transmitting serial data, pin CP2 transmits
a bit clock, and pin CP4 transmits a frame clock for use by
an external intelligent transceiver. In this mode, the external
transceiver is responsible for encoding and decoding the data
stream.
Unlike the Neuron 3120/3150 Chips, the Neuron 6050
Processor does not support the Differential Mode
configuration for the communications port. Thus, devices
that require Differential Mode transceiver types must be
redesigned for a Neuron 6050 Processor to use SingleEnded Mode with external circuitry to provide Single-Ended
to Differential Mode conversions. See the Series 6050 Chip
Data Book and the Connecting a Neuron 6050 Processor
to an External Transceiver Engineering Bulletin for more
information.
Any 3.3V transceiver or a 5V transceiver with TTL-compatible
inputs can be used with the Neuron 6050 Processor because
the communications port has pins that are 5V tolerant and
drive a 3.3V signal. Common transceiver types that can be
used with a Neuron 6050 Processor include twisted-pair, RF,
IR, fiber-optic, and coax.
I/O Pins and Counters
The Neuron 6050 Processor provides 12 bidirectional I/O
pins that are 5V tolerant and can be configured to operate in
one or more of 35 predefined standard input/output models.
The chip also has two 16-bit timer/counters that reduce the
need for external logic and software development.
The application code and configuration data are stored in
the external non-volatile memory (NVM) and copied into
the internal RAM during device reset; the instructions then
execute from internal RAM. Writes to NVM are shadowed
in the internal RAM and pushed out to external NVM by the
Neuron 6050 firmware. The application does not manage
NVM directly.
External memories supported. The Neuron 6050 Processor
supports serial peripheral interface (SPI) for accessing offchip non-volatile memories.
The Neuron 6050 Processor supports a variety of flash
devices from different manufacturers. Echelon has qualified
the following SPI flash memory devices for use with the
Neuron 6050 Processor:
Winbond W25X40CL 4-Mbit SPI Serial Flash Memory.
Memory map. The Neuron 6050 Processor maps the Neuron
firmware, application code, application data, and system data
to an on-chip 64 KB RAM. The Neuron firmware, application
code, persistent data are loaded from an external serial flash
memory. The application code and persistent data can be up
to 256 KB, and is automatically swapped into and out of the
on-chip RAM by the Neuron firmware.
Programming memory devices. Because the Neuron 6050
Processor does not have any on-chip user-accessible NVM,
only the external flash devices need to be programmed with
the application and configuration data. The memory devices
can be programmed in any of the following ways:
• In-circuit programming on the board.
• Over the network.
• Pre-programming before soldering on the board.
Migration Considerations
Most device designs that use the previous-generation Neuron
5000, Neuron 3120 or Neuron 3150 Chip can transition
to using the Neuron 6050 Processor. Because the supply
voltage and memory architecture of Neuron 3120/3150
Chips and Neuron 6050 Processors are different, the
transition requires a hardware re-design of the boards. The
supply voltage of the Neuron 5000 and the Neuron 6050
are the same but they have different memory architectures.
Neuron 5000 designs using external flash could transition
to the Neuron 6050 Processor with minimal changes to the
hardware. The recommended migration path for devices
based on a Neuron Chip depends on the transceiver type
used with the Neuron Chip, as shown in Table 1.
Current Transceiver
Type Used
Equivalent Series 6050
Design
FT 6050 Smart
plus
FTT-10A Transceiver Transceiver
FT-X3 Communications
Transformer
Neuron 6050
Processor plus
EIA-485 Transceiver
EIA-485 Transceiver or (if possible)
FT 6050 Smart
Transceiver plus
FT-X3 Communications
Transformer
TPT Twisted Pair
Transceiver Module
(for a
TP/XF-1250
channel type)
Neuron 6050 Processor
plus TPT/XF-1250 Twisted
Pair Transceiver Module
(for a
TP/XF-1250 channel type)
Comments
Use an FT 6050 Smart
Transceiver for TP/FT-10
channels.
Contact your local Echelon representative for an in-depth
discussion about migration considerations.
End-to-End Solutions
A typical Neuron 6050 Processor-based device requires a
power source, crystal, external memory, and an I/O interface
to the device being controlled (see Figure 3 for a typical
Neuron 6050 Processor-based device).
Serial SPI
Flash
If your design is flexible
enough to allow either
an EIA-485 channel or a
TP/FT-10 channel, use the
FT 6050 Smart Transceiver
with the TP/FT-10 channel.
Sense or Control
Devices: Motors,
Valves, Lights, Relays,
Switches, Controllers
Neuron 6050
IzoT Processor
I/O
Crystal
(10 MHz)
External
Transceiver
Power Source
LONWORKS or other Network Channel
Figure 3: Typical LONWORKS based device
The Neuron 6050 Processor
must be configured to
operate in 3.3V SingleEnded Mode with the TPT
Twisted Pair Transceiver
Module and external circuitry
must be added for SingleEnded to Differential Mode
conversion.
LonWorks LPT11 Link Power
Transceiver
Neuron 6050 Processor
plus LPT-11 Link Power
Transceiver
The Neuron 6050 Processor
must be configured to
operate in 3.3V SingleEnded Mode with the LPT-11
Link Power Transceiver.
Other transceiver
type
Neuron 6050
Processor plus other
transceiver type
The Neuron 6050 Processor
can connect to other
transceiver types for the
supported channel types,
but more hardware design
work may be required.
Echelon provides all of the building blocks required to
successfully design and field cost-effective, robust products
based on the Neuron 6050 Processor. Our end-to-end
solutions include a comprehensive set of development
tools, network interfaces, routers, and network tools. Preproduction design review services, training, and worldwide
technical support — including on-site support — are available
through Echelon’s Support technical assistance program.
Please contact your local Echelon representative for
further details.
Ordering Information
14550R-500 Neuron 6050 Processor: Supports all four
operating modes LonTalk, LonTalk/IP, BACnet/IP and Any IP.
Table 1: Migration for Devices with
Neuron Chips
Preliminary
®
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IzoT is a trademark of Echelon Corporation. Content subject to change without notice.