Renesas Electronics enables increased factory productivity for Industry 4.0

Renesas Electronics Corporation, the leading global supplier of microcontrollers, has launched the R-IN32M4-CL2 which extends the family of the industry-proven R-IN32M3 platform. This platform incorporates hardware accelerators supporting real-time operating system (RTOS) performance as well as Ethernet packet handling and improves network performance by up to five times faster than conventional implementations.

In the era of Industrial IoT (Internet of Things), the industry trend is toward increased connectivity, autonomous and interactive machines, and flexible manufacturing to improve operation and reduce costs. With Industry 4.0, the number of sensor nodes in the factory will increase exponentially, driving the need for more bandwidth in the network in order to move more data and improve analytics. Gigabit-level industrial networks will become the norm, as  the current standard industrial network of 100 Mbps will be inadequate for next-generation networks, and transition to a 1 Gigabit standard is under consideration.

The new R-IN32M4-CL2 is enhanced with a new ARM Cortex-M4 processor with FPU core running at 100 MHz (megahertz), and a single precision Floating Point Unit (FPU) ideal for computationally demanding and complex requirements to support process controllers, gateways, and IO controllers.

Some highlights of the R-IN32M4-CL2 include:
- Dual channel Gigabit Ethernet with built-in PHY
- Multi-protocol support including CC-Link IE Field
- Wide range of peripherals including analog

The explosion of sensor nodes will be expected to read many different types of signals – from process data such as temperature, pressure, and flow, to digital signals from many IO points. To respond to these needs, the R-IN32M4-CL2 includes a floating point unit (FPU) in the CPU core, an 8-channel 10-bit A/D converter, a 16-channel 16-bit timer and other functions.

Renesas says it plans to provide new solutions, using this IC as a platform in conjunction with partner companies in the R-IN Consortium. The company will exhibit an evaluation board that includes the R-IN32M4-CL2 at the Industrial Open Networks Fair 2015, to be held on July 7 (Osaka) and July 9 (Tokyo) this year.