The ITER-CERN collaboration agreement initiated the development of a PROFINET communication interface which may replace the WorldFIP interface in non-radiation areas. The main advantage of PROFINET is a simplified integration within the CERN controls infrastructure that is based on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). CERN prepared the requirements and subcontracted the design of a communication card prototype to the Technical University of Bern. The designed PROFINET card prototype uses the

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... etX Integrated Circuit (IC) for PROFINET communication and a FPGA to collect the electrical signals from the back-panel (electrical signals interface for instrumentation conditioning cards). CERN is implementing new functionalities involving programming, automation engineering and electronics circuit design. The communication between the card and higher layers of control is based on the OPC UA protocol. The configuration files supporting new types of instrumentation cards are being developed and are compatible with the SIEMENS SIMATIC automation environment. It is worth to mention that all required data calculations and protocol handling are performed using a single netX50 chip.