Ethernet-based industrial network development requires system manufacturers to select external components, contact various software providers to select the proper protocol stack, and set up the development environment. All these steps make it difficult for system manufacturers to quick start Ethernet-based industry network developments, delaying time-to-market of their application.
The new RZ/N1L Solution Kit announced by Renesas includes a highly integrated RZ/N1L development board and a comprehensive software package which enable engineers to jump start evaluation of industry-leading industrial Ethernet protocols including EtherCAT, PROFINET, and EtherNet/IP without any upfront costs or complexity. The RZ/N1L Solution Kit also includes a general software application programmable interface (API) that simplifies application development and mitigates design risk. These features allow system manufacturers to shorten evaluation time of their application up to three months.
In addition to the RZ/N1D Group for high-end processors for master devices including Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and the RZ/N1S Group for mid-range devices including Human Machine Interface (HMI), the RZ/N Series includes the RZ/N1L Group is optimized for slave devices including remote IO and communication modules, and networked drives. Solution kits for RZ/N1D and RZ/N1S are already available. With the release of the RZ/N1L solution kit, evaluation kits for all groups of the RZ/N Series are now available, enabling evaluation of network functions for a wide range of industrial equipment.
Renesas will demonstrate the new RZ/N1L Solution Kit at its booth (Stand 310, Hall 1) during embedded world 2018, which takes place February 27 to March 1, 2018 in Nuremberg, Germany.
The solution kit features a highly integrated RZ/N1L development board, which provides system developers with access to the resource of the RZ/N1L MPU, including a two-channel Ethernet port for use in daisy-chain topologies or as an end-node slave with system monitoring. The board includes a 32 MB external flash memory for code and data, a debug port, push buttons and LEDs and is USB powered. The stand-alone RZ/N1L development board acts as a reference design for component selection and layout that applies to hardware design guidelines associated with the different protocol requirements, which reduces design risk and delays.
The RZ/N1L Solution Kit leverages the general API that acts as a generic open abstraction layer and provides unified support for different network protocols from leading stack partners in addition to compiler and OS environments. System developers can easily switch between protocols as needed, with minimal impact on the application software.
Sample code and protocol stacks are provided with the solution kit with no additional costs, allowing developers to easily evaluate different protocols with their applications. For example, the remote IO reference, as well as the EtherCAT sample reference provide easy frameworks for building a wide range of networking functionalities.
The kit will be available for customer evaluation starting April 2018. The kit includes a variety of sample applications, development tools, drivers as well as evaluation versions of the protocol stacks for faster prototyping and integration. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)
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