Renesas Electronics Expands Development Platform for R-IN32M3 Series of Industrial Network SoCs

TOKYO, Japan, June 17, 2014 — Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the expansion of its R-IN32M3 series platform solution for industrial Ethernet protocols with an IAR Systems® development kit and multiple Industrial Ethernet protocol stacks support. IAR Systems eases device evaluation with the release of its low-cost hardware starter kit, IAR KickStart Kit™ for R-IN32M3 SoCs. The kit includes an R-IN board, an I-jet Lite debug probe and evaluation versions of IAR Embedded Workbench® for ARM, as well as lots of protocol stacks on Renesas' website. The solution enables simplified development and contributes to reduced development time for industrial networking applications.

As industry moves towards the Smart Factory, communication networks have become a critical component in improving production efficiency and real-time processing. Nowadays, the number and complexity of industrial protocols like CC-Link IE®, EtherCAT®, PROFINET, etc., as well as a variety of applications, has led to long and complex development cycles.

Renesas' R-IN32M3 series of devices significantly improves industrial Ethernet network performance with optimized hardware accelerators, while reducing costs by supporting multiple protocols such as EtherCAT, CC-Link IE, EtherNet/IP™, PROFINET, CANopen® and others, from a single device. It can be used for real-time network communication in gateways, I/O controllers, PLCs/PACs, embedded controllers, industrial drives and countless other networked applications. Its exceptional design flexibility allows one system design to serve a diversity of networks and applications.

To further ease the development, a new platform for this R-IN32M3 is now available in collaboration with IAR Systems, a leader in embedded software tools. This new platform consists of the new IAR KickStart Kit for R-IN32M3, which contains the necessary hardware and tools to quickly evaluate the features of the R-IN32M3 and leverage the hardware RTOS feature, and the support of leading Industrial Ethernet protocol stacks. The platform solution is complemented by a broad set of industrial Ethernet protocol samples available on the Renesas website. This allows customers to easily set up the environment for protocols, such as EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP or PROFINET, on the R-IN32M3. This combination delivers a complete and powerful, yet simple and cost effective platform for setting up Ethernet-based industrial networks.

Renesas' R-IN32M3 platform solution serves as a key enabler to fulfill the Internet-of-Things (IoT) requirements in an industrial environment. The collaboration of the tools from IAR Systems together with the rich ecosystem provided by Renesas' partners allows system designers to benefit from a “one-stop” solution for their evaluation and system development. The R-IN32M3 platform solution enables a fast and simple setup over industrial environments, while lowering costs compared to conventional approaches.

Key Features of Renesas' R-IN32M3 Platform Solution:

• ARM® Cortex™ M3-based CPU subsystem clocked at 100 megahertz (MHz) clock speed
• Hardware accelerators improve efficiency and offloads from the main CPU
  • Hardware real-time OS accelerator (HW-RTOS)
  • Hardware Ethernet accelerators (IP/TCP/UDP Check Sum, Header ENDEC, Buffer manager)
• 1.3 MB of on-chip RAM
• EtherCAT or CC-Link IE slave controller on-chip (license free)
• 2-port real-time Gigabit switch, supports cut-through and store and forward operating modes, as well as support for IEEE1588 PTP and Device-Level-Ring (DLR) protocols
• Dual-channel 10/100 Ethernet (with dual-channel PHY included, Note 1)
• High-speed, real-time port with dedicated DMAC
• Many peripherals and GPIOs

Key Features of IAR Systems' IAR KickStart Kit for R-IN32M3:

• Kit contents:
  • 1x I-jet™ Lite debug probe
  • 1x compact development board (10.5 cm x 5.5 cm only) embedding the R-IN32M3-EC (EtherCAT-enabled)
  • Evaluation version of IAR Embedded Workbench® for ARM.
• Available software
  • Set of ready-to-go industrial Ethernet protocol sample stacks (Note 2)

Availability

The R-IN32M3-EC (EtherCAT-enabled) and R-IN32M3-CL (CC-Link IE-enabled) ICs are available now. An initial set of sample stacks is available for download now. More protocol stacks from multiple software partners are scheduled to be added during the course of summer 2014.

IAR KickStart Kit for R-IN32M3 is available now through the IAR Systems' website. For further information please visit the IAR website at www.iar.com/renesas/R-IN32M3.
(Availability is subject to change without notice.)

For more product information, please visit: https://www.renesas.com/en/products/factory-automation/multi-protocol-communication.html

(Note 1) Dual-channel PHY is incorporated on the R-IN32M3-EC version only

(Note 2) PROFINET, EtherCAT and EtherNet/IP sample stacks are available. They can be downloaded on Renesas website only.

About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power and SoC products, Renesas provides comprehensive solutions for a broad range of automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT applications that help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Remarks)
IAR KickStart Kit, I-jet and IAR Embedded Workbench are registered trademarks or trademarks of IAR Systems AB. EtherCAT is a patented technology that Renesas has licensed from Beckhoff Automation GmbH, and is a registered trademark. CC-Link is a registered trademark of CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA). Ethernet/IP is a trademark of ODVA. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.