Renesas RZ/T2L Arm Cortex-R52 microprocessor embeds EtherCAT controller

Renesas RZ/T2L is a cost-optimized single-core Arm Cortex-R52 microprocessor (MPU) with an EtherCAT controller based on the same architecture as the higher-end Renesas RZ/T2M dual-core Cortex-R52 processor introduced last year, but at about half the size.

The new MPU enables high-speed and accurate real-time processing performance required for AC servo drives, inverters, industrial robots, collaborative robots, etc.. used in factory automation (FA), medical equipment, building automation (BA), and other sectors and applications where EtherCAT is being adopted.

Renesas RZ/T2L key features and specifications:

• CPU – Arm Cortex-R52 clocked at up to 800MHz with 16KB L1 I/D cache, 512KB ATCM, 64KB BTCM
• Memory – 1MB RAM with ECC
• Trigonometric function accelerator
• Ethernet
  • EtherCAT slave controller: 3x ports
  • 1x Ethernet MAC
• Motor control
  • 2-channel encoder interface with support for A-format, EnDat2.2, BiSS-C, HIPERFACE DSL, FA-CODER
  • Functional safety (FuSa) software up to SIL3
  • Motor current loop < 1µs
  • 3-phase complementary PWM output for dual motor control ​
  • Up to 6-channel ΔΣ
• Other I/Os
  • USB – 1x USB 2.0 host
  • 2-channel CAN/CAN FD compliant with ISO11898-1
  • 6-channel SCI with 16-byte transmission and reception FIFOs
  • 3x I2C bus interfaces up to 400 kbps
  • 4x SPI, 2x xSPI (Octa/Quad)
  • 12-bit 2x ADC unit (4 channels for unit 0 and 1)
  • Serial Host I/F (SHOSTIF)
• Supply Voltage – Core 1.1V , I/O 3.3/1.8V
• Temperature Range – -40 to +125°C
• Package – 196-pin BGA

The table above shows the RZ/T2L does without Time-Sensitive Network (TSN) support in the RZ/T2M, and comes with only one Gigabit Ethernet interface. Software development tools are the same with the Eclipse-based e² studio IDE, IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm, and a “Flexible Software Package” (FSP). Renesas also offers the Starter Kit+ for RZ/T2L for evaluation and software development based on the same design as the Starter Kit+ for RZ/T2M.

The company also designed an AC Servo Solution part of its “Winning Combinations” with Renesas power management ICs, photocouplers, Sigma-Delta modulators, and EEPROM, as well as integrated high-precision motor control and EtherCAT. It’s basically a reference design with hardware design files including Gerber files, and sample program code to get started with the development of AC servos, industrial gateways, and remote I/O.

The Renesas RZ/T2L Arm Cortex-A52 microprocessor is available now and will be for at least ten more years as part of the Product Longevity Program (PLP) from the company.  the Starter Kit+ for RZ/T2L sells for $780 on Digikey, and the AC Servo Solution kit (also known as “RZ/T2M, RZ/T2L, RZ/N2L Motor Solution Kit”) is apparently only available for rent. You’ll find extensive documentation, resources and software to get started, and purchase links on the product page.

Thanks to TLS for the tip.

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