Renesas MCU Category - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 19, 2025May 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

1GHz Renesas RZ/A3M Cortex-A55 MPU embeds 128MB on-chip DDR3L for HMI applications

Renesas RZ/A3M is an Arm Cortex-A55 microprocessor (MPU) clocked at up to 1.0 GHz with 128MB on-chip DDR3L for cost-effective, yet advanced HMI applications with up to 1280×800 resolution. The RZ/A3M is similar to its predecessor, the Renesas RZ-A3UL, but it integrates 128MB on-chip RAM in a single System-in-Package (SiP), supports both MIPI DSI and parallel display interfaces, and adds a 2D graphics accelerator for smoother user interfaces. Renesas RZ/A3M specifications: CPU – Single-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.0 GHz GPU – 2D drawing engine Memory 128KB on-chip SRAM with ECC Built-in 128MB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (16-bit bus width) Storage SPI Multi I/O Bus Controller× 1 channel (4-bit Double data rate) Boot from Serial NAND or Serial NOR flash SD card host interface Display I/F – 4-lane MIPI DSI or Digital parallel output up to 1280×800 resolution @ 60 Hz Audio – Serial sound interface (SSI/I2S) USB – 1x USB […]

May 19, 2025 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

Waveshare RA4M1-Zero mini development board features secure boot, firmware encryption, and castellated design

RA4M1 Zero Mini Development Board versions

Waveshare RA4M1-Zero is a mini development board built around the Renesas RA4M1 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 MCU running at 48MHz. The MCU also features 256KB of flash memory, 32KB of SRAM, 8KB of EEPROM, and a built-in Floating Point Unit (FPU). Hardware peripherals include a 14-bit ADC, a 12-bit DAC, a CAN bus controller, an onboard USB 2.0 interface, and WS2812 RGB LED. The MCU also supports firmware encryption, secure boot, and tamper-proof security features to ensure application safety. Its small size (23.5 x 18mm) and castellated module design make it suitable for space-constrained applications, including IoT devices, industrial control systems, secure embedded systems, and compact sensor nodes. RA4M1-Zero mini development board specifications: MCU – Renesas RA4M1 (R7FA4M1AB3CFM) as found in the Arduino UNO R4 CPU 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F @ 48MHz Memory – 32KB SRAM Storage – 256KB Flash, 8KB EEPROM USB – USB 2.0 device interface via USB Type-C connector […]

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Zalmotek RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3U SoMs follow Adafruit Feather form factor, support carrier board for robotics and industrial control

Romanian company Zalmotek has recently introduced three new SoMs, the RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3UL, and a modular carrier board designed for embedded applications such as robotics, industrial control, and edge computing. There are a few things that I find interesting about this setup. The SoM comes in Adafruit Feather form factor and, as a result, supports various Adafruit FeatherWings. The modular carrier board supports the Dynamixel motor driver module, the Particle M-SoM breakout module, Ethernet, and CAN modules. The RA6M1 Feather SoM is powered by a Renesas RA6M1 Arm Cortex-M4 CPU at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash and 96 KB SRAM while the RA8M1 Feather SoM features a Renesas RA8M1 64-bit Arm Cortex-M85 running at up to 360 MHz with 128 Mbit SPI flash, the RZ/A3UL Feather SoM is based on a Renesas RZ/A3UL 64-bit Arm Cortex-A55 CPU at up to 1 GHz, with 512 Mbit OctaFlash […]

April 22, 2025April 22, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas RA0E2 low-cost, low-power Arm Cortex-M23 MCU operates in extended temperature range (-40°C to +125°C)

Renesas RA0E2 is a low-power, low-cost Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller (MCU) Group part of the RA0 family introduced in 2024 that can operate in an extended temperature range (-40°C to +125°C) and offers a wide variety of peripheral functions and safety features. It follows the RA0E1 devices – the first member of the RA0 family – designed for consumer electronics, household appliances, power tools, industrial monitoring, and other applications, including battery-powered devices. The new RA0E2 MCUs offer both software and pin-to-pin compatibility (for 32-pin SKUs) with RA0E1 devices, but the new family adds more memory and storage with up to 16KB SRAM, 128KB code flash, and 2KB data flash. The RA0E2 also features more I/Os with 32-pin to 64-bit packages, instead of 16-pin to 32-pin packages. Renesas RA0E2 specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M23 Armv8-M Core up to 32MHz Memory and Storage 16KB SRAM Code Flash – Up to 128KB Data […]

March 25, 2025March 25, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N system-on-module packs Renesas RZ/V2N MPU in a 82x30mm “micro SMARC” form factor

SOMDEVICES µSMARC RZ/V2N is a system-on-module powered by the Renesas RZ/V2N AI MPU and offered in a micro SMARC (µSMARC) form factor that’s quite smaller at 82x30mm than standard 82x50mm SMARC modules. The company told CNX Software it’s still 100% compatible with SMARC 2.1 with a 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector. It’s also cost-effective with a compact PCB and can be used in space-constrained applications. The µSMARC features up to 8GB LPDDR4, up to 128GB eMMC flash, two gigabit Ethernet PHY, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 wireless module. µSMARC RZ/V2N specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2N CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 3D graphics engine (GE3D) with OpenGL ES 3.2 and Open CL 2.0 FP VPU – Encode & decode H.264 – Up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps (Renesas specs, but SOMDEVICES also mentions up to 4K @ 30 […]

March 13, 2025March 25, 2025 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Renesas RZ/V2N low-power AI MPU integrates up to 15 TOPS AI power, Mali-C55 ISP, dual MIPI camera support

Renesas has recently introduced the RZ/V2N low-power Arm Cortex-A55/M33 microprocessor designed for machine learning (ML) and computer vision applications. It features the company’s DRP-AI3 coprocessor, delivering up to 15 TOPS of INT8 “pruned” compute performance at 10 TOPS/W efficiency, making it a lower-power alternative to the RZ/V2H. Built for mid-range AI workloads, it includes four Arm Cortex-A55 cores (1.8GHz), a Cortex-M33 sub-CPU (200MHz), an optional 4K image signal processor, H.264/H.265 hardware codecs, an optional Mali-G31 GPU, and a dual-channel four-lane MIPI CSI-2 interface. The chip is around 38% smaller than the RZ/V2H MPU and operates without active cooling. The RZ/V2N is suitable for applications like endpoint vision AI, robotics, and industrial automation. Renesas RZ/V2N specifications CPU Application Processor – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz (0.9V) / 1.1 GHz (0.8V) L1 cache – 32KB I-cache (with parity) + 32KB D-cache (with ECC) per core L3 cache – 1MB (with ECC, […]

February 21, 2025April 20, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Renesas RA4L1 ultra-low-power MCU family offers 168 µA/MHz operation, dual-bank flash, capacitive touch

Renesas has recently introduced the RA4L1 ultra-low-power Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family along with two evaluation/development boards. This new lineup consists of 14 ultra-low-power devices based on an 80 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor with TrustZone support and designed for metering, IoT sensing, smart locks, digital cameras, and human-machine interface (HMI) applications. The RA4L1 MCU family offers high power efficiency at 168 µA/MHz while active and a standby current of 1.70 µA while retaining SRAM. Additionally, they support segment LCD, capacitive touch, USB-FS, CAN FD, low-power UART, multiple serial interfaces (SPI, QSPI, I2C, I3C, SSI), ADC, DAC, real-time clock, and security features like the RSIP security engine with TRNG, AES, ECC, and Hash. Renesas RA4L1 microcontroller Renesas RA4L1 specifications MCU core Arm Cortex-M33 core (Armv8-M) Up to 80 MHz operating frequency Arm Memory Protection Unit (MPU) 8 secure regions (MPU_S) 8 non-secure regions (MPU_NS) CoreSight ETM-M33 Dual SysTick timers (secure & non-secure) […]

February 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.10 and the importance of power limits

Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit Ubuntu 24.10 Review

I’ve already reviewed the Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit with Windows 11 Home, and today, I’ll report my experience with Linux on the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V mini PC using Ubuntu 24.10 operating system. I would usually review systems with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS OS, but considering the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V SoC is so new, I installed Ubuntu 24.10 when I tested whether disabling VT-d (IOMMU) would improve Intel Arc GPU performance (it does to some extent), and it turns out it was a good decision because Ubuntu 24.04 requires lots of fixes and workarounds to work the Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit, at least until Ubuntu 24.04.2 is released later this month with a more recent kernel. Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit – Ubuntu 24.10 system information My Ubuntu 24.10 installed has both Linux 6.11 (default) and Linux 6.13 kernels, but I did most […]