Due to various environmental impacts such as the international pandemic, trade friction, and local wars, the supply and demand of domestic chips have been imbalanced, and prices continue to rise. The lack of key raw materials or extended delivery times is bound to lead technology companies that rely on electronic hardware to face developmental difficulties. In this special period, choosing a processor with stable supply and high cost-performance as the hardware platform has become a top priority for R&D work. This article will introduce a high-cost performance ARM core board created by Renesas RZ/G2L.

The Wanxiang Aoke G2L core board uses the Renesas RZ/G2L as the core processor. This processor is equipped with a dual-core Cortex-A55 + Cortex-M33 processor, and integrates a high-performance Mail-G31 GPU, suitable for various application scenarios such as industrial control, human-computer interaction, data gateways, and edge computing. The core board starts at 198 yuan with 1GB of memory + 8GB of storage, and is equipped with a fully functional evaluation board/development board (328 yuan). Log on to the official website to apply for evaluation immediately!

Figure 1: RZ/G2L Newly Launched

1. RZ/G2LProcessor

Renesas RZ/G2L is one of the most comprehensive interface general-purpose processors, with stable supply guaranteed for at least 10 years. Its operating temperature meets -40℃ ~ +85℃, suitable for various industries such as power, medical, rail transportation, industrial automation, environmental protection, and heavy industry.

This processor is equipped with a dual-core Cortex-A55 @ 1.2GHz + Cortex-M33 @ 200MHz, integrating a 3D graphics acceleration engine, ARM Mail-G31 (500MHz);

Supports OpenCL 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0/3.2,

Supports 1080P HD display and H.264 video hardware encoding and decoding.

Figure 2: RZ/G2L Processor

2. G2L Core Board

The G2L core board uses the RZ/G2L MPU as the main control, with 1GB or 2GB high-speed DDR4 memory onboard, and 8GB or higher eMMC (customization supported). The core board supports running streamlined Linux, Ubuntu, and Android operating systems, providing comprehensive and robust peripheral driver support, aimed at helping users quickly apply the RZ/G2L platform.

Figure 3: RZ/G2L Core Board

The G2L core board integrates Gigabit Ethernet, CAN-FD, UART, USB, and other interfaces, and supports expansion of Ethernet, CAN, and serial port functions. It integrates 8-channel 12-bit ADC, 8-channel 32-bit PWM (supports pulse input capture), multiple SPI and IIC, and supports watchdog and OTP units (can be used for authorization encryption).

Table 1: G2L Peripheral Resource List

3. Performance Testing

How does the G2L core board processor perform compared to commonly used industrial MPU? We used the sysbench open-source multi-thread performance testing tool to test performance in CPU, memory, threads, IO, database, and other aspects. (Note: In the CPU test, sysbench uses the method of finding the largest prime number to test CPU performance.)

Through comparative testing, it can be found that the G2L core board processor’s single-core and multi-core performance is far superior to that of the TI AM335x processor, ST P157 processor, and NXP i.MX6 processor.

Table 2: CPU Single-Core Single-Thread Test Results Reference

Table 3: CPU Multi-Core Multi-Thread Test Results Reference

Table 4: High and Low Temperature Testing (RZ.G2L Core Board with HDG2L-IOT Evaluation Board)

• RZ/G2L Core Board DDR4 Testing
  Test core board with 2 pieces of 1GB DDR4 chips, the average bandwidth of memory copy is1343.367MiB/s.
  Test core board with 1 piece of 1GB DDR4 chip, the average bandwidth of memory copy is1302.379MiB/s.
• RZ/G2L Core Board eMMC
  eMMC write speed:37.2MB/s
  eMMC read speed:78.4MB/s

• RZ/G2L Core Board Power Consumption Testing
  The G2L core board static power consumption isPavg=1.20W.
  The G2L core board CPU full load (including GPU working state) power consumption isPavg=2.41W.

4. Evaluation and Development Kit

The G2L core board is equipped with a fully functional evaluation board/development board, featuring dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual CAN-bus, 2 RS-232, 2 RS-485, 2 USB2.0, camera interface, MIPI display interface, 4G/5G module interface, audio, WiFi, etc. The rich interfaces are suitable for industrial site application needs, and also convenient for users to evaluate the performance of the core board and CPU.

Figure 4: HDG2L-IOT Evaluation Kit

5. Service and Support

The G2L series core boards come with a wealth of development materials, which can be downloaded anytime through the cloud drive, covering file systems and kernel source code, user development manuals, hardware design reference circuits, peripheral interface application examples, and other technical documents. For users with deep development needs, Wanxiang Aoke can provide dedicated WeChat service groups to assist in deeply customizing drivers and kernel systems.

Figure 5: Cloud Drive Technical Materials

Figure 6: User Manual Directory Preview

6. About Wanxiang Aoke

Wuhan Wanxiang Aoke Electronics Co., Ltd. was established in 2016 and is one of the most comprehensive solution providers in domestic embedded software and hardware technology accumulation. The company has an embedded expert team centered on postdoctoral researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a system bottom software team, and an EMC engineer team, focusing on R&D, customization, and production of embedded software and hardware products.

As Renesas Electronics’ first Preferred Partner in China, Wanxiang Aoke combines the performance advantages of Renesas high-end processor chips, original factory supply, and technical support to jointly provide users with in-depth technical services, and can provide personalized customization services based on industry characteristics.

Figure 7: Preferred Partner Certificate