In this article we want to summarize the differences between our OEM CPUs (SlimLine e Netsyst III) and the Arduino and Raspberry Pi systems. To start we want to clarify that the OEM CPU modules SlimLine e Netsyst III have been designed for prevalent use in an industrial / professional environment and, therefore, present requirements in terms of operating temperature and immunity to disturbances typical of such environments.
Also from the programming point of view the products are significantly different: the CPUs SlimLine e Netsyst they are programmed in the five languages foreseen by the international standard IEC61131-3 (widely used in industrial environments see eg Codesys) through the free tool LogicLab, while Arduino is completely "open" and programmable in C / C ++ and Raspberry Pi is equipped with Linux OS and is programmable in Python, C / C ++, Java etc ..
For those accustomed to using the C language, remember that the ST (Structured text) language of the IEC61131-3 standard has many of the syntactic rules of C (if, for, switch, etc.) and also allows the use of data structures, arrays, pointer (In the forum many examples of programs with source code). The union of the different languages provided by the standard allows to create functions and function blocks in ST language, and then use them as graphic objects within other programs written in LD (Ladder Diagram) or FBD (Function Block Diagram). Here is an example of a program in FBD language taken from this article.
If we wanted to give an application collocation to these systems we could say that Arduino is suitable for the realization of low-performance automation systems for hobbyists, the CPUs SlimLine e Netlog III are indicated in the construction of industrial and professional systems with medium-high performance where time-to-market, program portability and ease of modification are important; while Raspberry Pi is indicated in multimedia applications. In the following table we have reported the essential characteristics of the systems so that the comparison is easier.
| Arduino Uno | CPU Netlog III OEM | CPU SlimLine Cortex M7 OEM | Raspberry Pi Mod. A | |
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| Supply | 7-12Vdc | 5Vdc 250mA max. | 10-30Vdc 2W | 5Vdc 700mA max. |
| Power supplied to the expansion bus | NA | NA | 5Vdc 2.5A max. | NA |
| Processor | Atmel ATmega328 16MHz | NXP LPC2387 72MHz (ARM7TDMI) | Cortex M7 300MHz | Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz Low Power ARM1176JZFS |
| Program memory | FlashEPROM 32kBytes | FlashEPROM 512kBytes (96kBytes User program) |
FlashEPROM 2 MBytes (262 kB User program) |
Boot from external SD-Card |
| Mass memory | None | FlashEPROM 1MBytes (260kBytes User data) |
FlashEPROM 4MBytes (398kBytes User data) |
On external SD card |
| Buffer data memory | E2PROM 1 kBytes | FRAM 16kBytes (3kBytes User data) |
FRAM 32kBytes (6kBytes User data) |
None |
| Data memory | SRAM 2 kBytes | SRAM 96kBytes (12kBytes User data) |
SRAM 96kBytes (12kBytes User data) |
256MBytes SDRAM |
| Real Time Clock | Nobody | Yes, with automatic daylight saving time function | Yes, with automatic daylight saving time function Operation with optional off system Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) supported |
Nobody |
| I / F USB | 1 x USB 2.0 (USB connection B) (device mode) |
1 x USB 2.0 (external connection) (device mode) |
Yes, on conn. micro-USB AB (host + device mode) |
1 x USB 2.0 (USB connection A) (host mode) |
| Video output | Nobody | Nobody | HDMI (rev 1.3 & 1.4); RCA Composite (PAL and NTSC) | |
| Audio Output | Nobody | Nobody | 3.5mm jack, HDMI | |
| Camera | Nobody | Nobody | 15-pin MIPI Camera Serial Interface (CSI-2) | |
| Display | Nobody | Nobody | Display Serial Interface (DSI) 15 way flat cable with two data lanes and a clock lane | |
| Analog inputs | 6 x 0-5Vdc 10bit | Nobody | 2 x 0-10Vdc 12bit | Nobody |
| Digital inputs | 14 I / O 5Vdc | Nobody | 2 Optoisolated PNP/NPN 5-30Vdc, 7mA@24V (of which 1 can be used as counter Fmax 10kHz) |
GPIO 3Vdc |
| Digital outputs | 14 I / O 5Vdc | None | 2 photoMOS 0.25A@40Vdc/ac | GPIO 3Vdc |
| I / F Ethernet | None | 1 x 10 / 100base-T (x) Auto-MDIX (external connection) |
1 x 10 / 100base-T (x) Auto-MDIX (RJ45 connector) |
1 x 10 / 100base-T (x) Auto-MDIX (RJ45 connector not mounted) |
| Field bus | Nobody | 1 x RS485 + 1 x CAN bus (connection and external drivers) |
1 x RS485 or 1 x CAN bus Galvanically isolated |
Nobody |
| SPI bus | 1 (on strip pin) |
Nobody | 1 (GPIO connection) | |
| I2C ™ Bus | 1 (on strip pin) |
1 High-Speed (external connection) |
1 High-Speed (IDC 10pin connection) |
2 (GPIO connection) |
| Max. Number expansion modules | NA | 16 | NA | |
| I / F RS232 | 1 (on strip pin) | 1 x RS232 level 1 x 5V TTL level (external connection) |
2 x DTE (RJ45 connector) | 1 x 3.3V TTL level |
| Mass memory | No | SD HC up to 32GB (external connection) |
HC micro-SD slot up to 32GB | Micro-SD slot |
| User configurable web pages | No | Yes | No | |
| Environment | unreported data | Operating temperature: from -20 to + 70 ° C | unreported data | |
| Storage temperature: from -40 ° to + 80 ° C | ||||
| Humidity: Max. 90% | ||||
| Dimensions and weight | Dimensions: 68,6 mm × 53,3 mm | Dimensions: 107.95 mm W x X NUMX mm W 31.8 mm H | Dimensions: 105 mm W x X NUMX mm W x 90 mm H | Dimensions: 85.6 x 53.98 x 17mm |
| Weight: 50g | Weight: 100g | |||
| Programming tool | Arduino IDE | LogicLab | Alfafruit IDE | |
| Supported languages | C | IEC61131-3 (IL, ST, LD, FBD and SFC) |
Python, C, C ++, Java | |