Renesas Electronics Introduces Power Line Communication (PLC) Modem IC - R9A06G061

     Renesas Electronics Group announced the launch of the R9A06G061, a power line communication (PLC) modem IC. This product can achieve high-speed communication of up to 1Mbps over a distance of 1 km or more without a repeater, which undoubtedly expands the practical application range of PLC. Its optimized analog peripheral functions reduce the number of components required externally, resulting in a lower cost and more compact system. As a result, the new R9A06G061 is ideal for smart meters, which used to be the main application area for PLCs, as well as applications such as heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control, office lighting system control, and series monitoring and power regulator control of solar power generation systems. By eliminating the need to deploy dedicated cables, the R9A06G061 also enables low-cost system monitoring in applications such as cellular antenna monitoring or submersible pump motor control.

     Renesas' current R9A06G037 PLC modem IC supports G3-PLC and PRIME standards and can be used to implement large-scale multi-hop networks with mesh topologies, while the new R9A06G061 is specifically designed to configure simple point-to-point with bus or star topologies (P2P) network. The improved transmission drive capability enables designers to double the number of connectable devices to more than 200. In addition, the IC's excellent noise tolerance makes it suitable for a wide range of applications and environments.

     Toshihide Tsuboi, Vice President of the Industrial Automation Business Unit at Renesas Electronics, said: "The costs associated with installing dedicated signal cables, extended construction time, and maintenance overhead for additional equipment have become critical issues in building and infrastructure equipment management. PLC It is an excellent solution to overcome these problems. I believe that Renesas' new products designed for P2P networks will further broaden the practical application range of PLCs."