Düsseldorf, September 27, 2016 – Renesas Electronics Europe today announced a low-cost EtherCAT® dedicated communication system-on-chip (SoC) that will help boost production efficiency in factories. The EC-1 SoC is intended for high-speed, high-precision control of slave applications that require higher CPU performance such as intelligent I/O modules equipped with EtherCAT communication functions. The certified remote I/O solution kit which is based on the EC-1 simplifies the adaption of EtherCAT by cutting down the development time for slave devices such as remote I/O by up to 60 percent.
“EC-1 perfectly complements Renesas’ existing industrial Ethernet product portfolio”, said Niels Trapp, Senior Director Segment Solutions at the Industrial Communications Business Group, Renesas Electronics Europe. “It builds on the success of the R-IN32M3 Series of system-on-chips (SoCs) for multiprotocol communication as well as the RZ/T1 Group of highly deterministic microprocessors (MPUs). As a pure EtherCAT communications device for more demanding I/O modules, EC-1 is a logical expansion of the Renesas industrial Ethernet lineup”.
“EtherCAT is a fast growing technology that provides efficient data transfer for any control task while being easy to use and cost-effective at the same time. With the introduction of the high-performance EC-1, Renesas addresses the increased data loads as well as growing application processing requirements”, said Martin Rostan, Executive Director at the EtherCAT Technology Group.
Key benefits of the EC-1 Remote I/O Solution Kit:
-
Certified remote I/O solution kit cuts development time by approximately 60 percent
The EtherCAT-enabled remote I/O solution kit features a robust remote I/O board, software, documentation, and circuit diagrams. It allows users to start developing an EtherCAT slave with significantly lower risk. Moreover, based on Renesas research, it reduces up to 60 percent of the development time. Developers can refer to the supplied circuit diagrams when designing applications in a configuration very close to that of the actual solution kit. Targeted at remote I/O applications, the board is designed to operate on the same 24-volt (V) power supply typical of actual products. The sample software has been certified using a conformance test tool.
-
Simplifies the transition from low speed serial communication to EtherCAT
The new EC-1 enables transition to an EtherCAT support system by connecting to existing low speed serial communication devices to the serial interface. This enables users to devote their time on the development of the application without spending significant amount of man-hours to replace the communication protocol. In addition, the included sample software feature CiA402 drive profile for motor drive devices, as stipulated in IEC 61800-7-201 and IEC 61800-7-301, as well as ETG.5003.1 and ETG.5003.0002 device profiles for semiconductor manufacturing devices. This makes it possible to quickly construct internal control systems for industrial manufacturing devices using servo controllers, mass flow controllers, process controllers, and temperature controllers supplied by manufacturers of slave devices.
-
Future proof controller
EC-1 employs the standard ARM® Cortex®-R4 processor with on-chip RAM memory and an EtherCAT Slave Controller (ESC). The Cortex-R4 is a highly deterministic processor for fast interrupt handling in real-time applications. It delivers sufficient processing power to deal with the increasing requirements of the application software. The integrated tightly-coupled memory with Error Correcting Code (ECC) makes the overall system even more performant and deterministic. With these features EC-1 does not require external RAM or a dedicated EtherCAT® chip. The connectivity has been verified with master devices from approximately ten manufacturers, making it easy to implement EtherCAT slave devices with a high level of compatibility.
About Renesas Electronics Europe
Renesas delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live – securely and safely. The number one global supplier of microcontrollers, and a leader in A&P and SoC products, Renesas provides the expertise, quality, and comprehensive solutions for a broad range of Automotive, Industrial, Home Electronics (HE), Office Automation (OA) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications to help shape a limitless future. Renesas was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Japan. With over 800 hardware and software alliance partners worldwide, it has the industry’s largest local support network. Renesas Electronics’ European structure is comprised of two business groups – automotive and industrial – as well as the global ADAS solution group and the engineering group.
Further information about Renesas Electronics Europe is available at www.renesas.com.
Renesas Electronics Europe is also on social media at http://twitter.com/Renesas_Europe, http://facebook.com/RenesasEurope andhttp://youtube.com/RenesasPresents.
