Developing Ethernet-based industrial networks requires system manufacturers to select external components, contact multiple software vendors to choose the appropriate protocol stack, and set up the development environment. All of these steps make it difficult for system manufacturers to quickly initiate Ethernet-based industrial network development, delaying their application's time to market. The RZ/N1L Solution Kit includes a highly integrated RZ/N1L development board and a comprehensive software package that enables engineers to begin evaluating industrial Ethernet protocols, including EtherCAT®, PROFINET®, and EtherNet/IP™, without upfront costs or complexity. The RZ/N1L Solution Kit also includes a general-purpose software application programming interface (API) that simplifies application development and mitigates design risk. These features allow system manufacturers to shorten their application evaluation time by up to three months.
Key Features of the RZ/N1L Solution Kit
• The RZ/N1L development board reduces design risk and accelerates time to market.
The solution kit features a highly integrated RZ/N1L development board, providing system developers with access to the RZ/N1L MPU resource, including a dual-channel Ethernet port for use in daisy-chain topologies or as an end-node slave with a monitoring system. The board includes 32 MB of external flash memory for code and data, a debug port, buttons, and LEDs, and is USB-powered. The standalone RZ/N1L development board acts as a reference design for component selection and distribution, adhering to hardware design guidelines associated with different protocol requirements, thus reducing design risk and delays.
• The General API provides a common software infrastructure for major industrial networking protocols and accelerates application development.
The RZ/N1L Solution Kit leverages the General API, which acts as a generic open abstraction layer and provides unified support for different networking protocols from major stack partners, as well as compiler and OS environments. System developers can easily switch between protocols as needed, with minimal impact on application software.
The solution kit provides sample code packages and protocols at no extra cost, allowing developers to easily evaluate different protocols with their applications. For example, the Remote IO reference and the EtherCAT sample reference provide easy frameworks for building a wide range of network functionalities.
