Renesas launches new MPUs for advanced industrial Ethernet communication

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the RZ/N2L microprocessor units (MPUs) for industrial Ethernet communication that make it easy to add network functionality to industrial equipment and devices.

The RZ/N2L complies with many industry-standard specifications and protocols to facilitate the development of industrial automation devices that require real-time capabilities. The new products support the increasingly popular time-sensitive networking (TSN) Ethernet standard that ensures real-time communication.

Equipped with an integrated TSN-compliant 3-port Gigabit Ethernet switch and an EtherCAT slave controller, the new devices also support all major industrial network communication protocols, such as EtherCAT, PROFINET RT, EtherNet/IP, and OPC UA, as well as the new PROFINET IRT.

“Revising the full design of equipment in order to implement Industrial Ethernet functionality creates a substantial development burden in terms of both time and cost,” said Hitoshi Shirakabe, VP of the Industrial Automation Business Division at Renesas. “To address this challenge, Renesas developed the RZ/N2L, which is optimized as an add-on to existing systems. I am confident that it will enable customers to quickly deploy cutting-edge industrial networks with minimal system modifications.”

By using the RZ/N2L as a companion chip complementing the host CPU, customers can add Industrial Ethernet functionality to their equipment without major changes to its internal configuration. This enables customers to develop industrial equipment utilizing rapid and precise synchronized control for factory automation.

“I anticipate that the RZ/N2L, which supports the fast-growing TSN standard, will further accelerate the spread of Ethernet in the factory automation market,” said Dietmar R. Franke, CEO/CFO at port industrial automation GmbH. “We are planning to release GOAL middleware for the RZ/N2L targeting multi-protocol real-time communication to help our customers implement Industrial Ethernet communication technology to their devices.”

A networking companion chip
The RZ/N2L has parallel and serial host interfaces that connect to the host CPU for external applications. This allows direct connection between the RZ/N2L and the CPU for high-speed access. In addition, the external CPU can directly access communication data stored in the system RAM of the RZ/N2L. Since the RZ/N2L can perform network processing independently of the external CPU, Industrial Ethernet can be added to systems without the need for major changes to the existing application software.

The RZ/N2L is built around the Arm Cortex-R52 with a maximum operating frequency of 400 MHz. It integrates large capacity ECC RAM and peripheral functions such as a delta-sigma interface, A/D converter, and PWM timer, allowing the RZ/N2L to be used as a standalone device to develop applications such as remote I/O, sensor hubs, and inverters.

The UART and CAN functions enable the RZ/N2L to serve as a gateway for converting from a fieldbus based on RS485 or CAN to Industrial Ethernet.

Safety support
The RZ/N2L can also be used as an MPU that supports functional safety. Renesas’ functional safety solutions such as self-diagnostic software for the RZ/N2L, functional safety platform software soon to be offered by Renesas and secure networks can reduce the time and workload associated with development. Renesas plans to release a functional safety solution for the RZ/N2L in 2023.