How can industrial equipment handle more functions with fewer chips? A single processor brings motor control, networking and application processing together.
Renesas Electronics Corporation has released the RZ/T2N 64-bit microprocessor (MPU), which integrates motor control, industrial Ethernet communication and application processing into one component. This is ideal for industrial robots, multi-axis servos and PLCs, reducing component numbers, board space and simplifies design.
Previously, multiple components were required for real-time motor control, communication and application processing. The RZ/T2N provides integration of these functions and can act as a network controller or networked device. This allows equipment manufacturers to utilise a single platform for multiple industrial applications.
The application processing is provided via two Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 1.2GHz whilst two Cortex-R52 real-time cores run at up to 800MHz. Each real-time core includes 576KB of ECC protected tightly coupled memory (TCM) to reduce variations in execution times when performing motor control.
Motion control is provided through integrated peripherals allowing up to 4 motor axes. This makes it ideal for multi-axis applications such as SCARA and Delta Robots. The device includes encoder interfaces providing 2 channels per axis. These support Tamagawa T-Format, HIPERFACE DSL, A-format, EnDat 2.2, EnDat 3, BiSS C and BiSS Line.
The device supports industrial Ethernet protocols such as EtherCAT, PROFINET RT/IRT and EtherNet/IP, along with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). It integrates three Gigabit Ethernet MACs, a three-port Ethernet switch and an EtherCAT SubDevice Controller, allowing industrial communication functions to be handled without external communication ICs.
The device also supports network redundancy protocols such as HSR, PRP and FRER, which help maintain communication if a network connection is interrupted. Security features include secure boot, secure firmware updates and Arm TrustZone.
For the official announcement, click here.
