Renesas R-IN32M4-CL3 IC for Industrial Ethernet (IE) communication

Renesas Electronics has announced the R-IN32M4-CL3 IC for Industrial Ethernet (IE) communication. The industrial network device heralds support for CC-Link IE Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), a communication standard for next-generation Ethernet TSN technology.

As a supporter of CC-Link IE TSN, the IC satisfies the strict specifications of less than one-millionth of a second time synchronisation accuracy between applications, accelerating TSN support for applications such as AC servos, actuators and vision sensors which demands high-speed responsive control, as well as remote I/O widely used in network communication. As a result, users are able to implement ultrahigh-speed and high-precision motion control.

Furthermore, TSN enables seamlessly linked interoperation between information technology (IT) networks and operational technology (OT) networks, allowing product models or production volumes to be changed in real time, while also providing flexible support for the manufacture of multiple product types in varying quantities and boosts factory productivity overall.

The device features Renesas’s R-IN engine, a Gigabit Ethernet PHY and 1.3 MB of on-chip RAM to support high-speed, high-volume communication with no real-time OS software or external components required, which can reduce the complex development burdens. In addition to driver software, Renesas will provide the TCP/IP protocol software, CC-Link IE TSN protocol software and CC-Link IE Field protocol software essential to developers.

The R-IN engine is based on an Arm Cortex-M4 core with floating point unit (FPU), real-time OS accelerator and Ethernet communication accelerator. Implementing real-time OS processing in hardware allows users to offload the CPU and accelerate processing speeds. The product also supports the existing CC-Link IE Field network protocol; customers can use the IC in existing networking products to expand their capabilities for next-generation network functionality simply by changing the software.