Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L AI development board comes with built-in LTE Cat M1 modem, 96boards form factor

RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L 96boards extended SBC

Geniatech “AHAURA” RS-G2L100 / “AKITIO” RS-V2L100 is a Renesas RZ/G2L and RZ/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 development board that follows 96boards CE Extended v2.0 form factor, and is equipped with a Renesas LTE Cat M1 modem. Both RZ/G2L and RZ/V2L processors are basically the same, but the latter adds the “DRP-AI” (dynamically reconfigurable processor) AI accelerator for computer vision applications. The board also comes with up to 4GB RAM, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a wireless WiFi and Bluetooth module, as well as Full HD HDMI video output, plus some USB ports, and the usual low-speed and high-speed expansion connectors from the 96Boards standard. Geniatech AHAURA RS-G2L100 and AKITIO RS-V2L100 specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L with dual-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.2 GHz, Arm Cortex-M33 core @ up to 200 MHz, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, and DRP-AI vision accelerator (RZ/V2L only) System Memory – 4GB (default) or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 8GB, 16GB, 64GB, […]

Renesas introduces RZ/Five Linux-capable 64-bit RISC-V microprocessor family

Renesas RZ/Five RISC-V processor

Renesas has launched its first RISC-V processor family with the RZ/Five general-purpose microprocessors based on an Andes AX45MP 64-Bit RISC-V CPU core, and with long-term Linux support via the industrial-grade CIP Linux that offers maintenance for over 10 years. The RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with the Arm Cortex-A55/M33–based RZ/G2UL processor family, and while being a general-purpose family, the RZ/Five chips are specifically well-suited to IoT endpoint devices such as gateways for solar inverters or home security systems. Renesas RZ/Five key features and specifications: CPU – Single-core 64-bit RISC-V AX45MP core @ up to 1.0 GHz Internal Memory – 128KB SRAM with ECC Memory I/F – 16-bit DDR4-1600 or DDR3L-1333 memory interfaces with in-line ECC; up to 4GB RAM Storage I/F – 2x SD/eMMC interfaces, SPI flash interface Networking – 2x Gigabit Ethernet MAC USB – 2x USB 2.0 Audio – 4-channel serial sound interface (SSI) Serial – 2x CAN/CAN-FD […]

Renesas introduces sub 50 cents FPGA family with free Yosys-based development tools

Renesas FPGA family

Renesas has just unveiled the ForgeFPGA family of low-cost low-power FPGA’s to go for under 50 cents in (large) volumes following their acquisition of Dialog Semiconductors last August, who previously designed the GreenPAK programmable mixed-signal matrix. The company says its FPGAs consume half the power of competing FPGAs with a standby current of under 20uA, the price point will enable the use of FPGA in new markets and IoT products, and the tools will be free, at least as in beer, without any license to acquire or install. The full specifications are not available yet, but the ForgeFPGA Family will come with a maximum of 5,000 gates of logic, and the first devices ship with 1K and 2K Look Up Tables (LUTs), and as just mentioned, will operate at ultra-low power as low as 20 microamps in standby. ForgeFPGA is expected to target the same market as GreenPAK notably embedded […]

Renesas RH850/U2B automotive SoC features RISC-V-based parallel co-processor

Renesas RH850/U2B

Renesas Electronics RH850/U2B is an automotive SoC designed for electronic control unit (ECU) with used for hybrid ICE and xEV traction inverter, high-end zone control, connected gateways, and vehicle motion applications. The processor includes up to eight 400MHz RH850 32-bit RISC performance cores with four of them in lockstep architecture for ASIL-D and ASIL-B compliance, as well as DR1000C RISC-V-based parallel co-processor (data flow processor) with vector extension (DFP) from NSITEXE designed to support “the fast execution of complex mathematical algorithms”. Renesas RH850/U2B key features & specifications: CPU cores – 400MHz speed for up to 8+4 (LockStep) RH850 G4MH CPUs Memory – Up to 5.1MB RAM on-chip Storage Up to 32MB Flash on-chip SFMA (Serial flash memory interface), eMMC interfaces for external storage Co-Processor – DR1000C RISC-V based MIMD high-performance embedded vector processor Embedded EMU3S (Embedded motor control unit), RDC3X (Position sensor interface), TSG3 (motor timer) for field-oriented traction motor […]

Renesas RE01B Bluetooth 5.0 LE MCU harvests energy for battery maintenance-free IoT devices

EB-RE01B Bluetooth-5.0-Energy Harvesting Board

Nobody likes to change or recharge batteries in their IoT nodes, so any new development related to energy harvesting or batteryless devices is welcomed. Renesas RE01B is a new Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU that consumes at little as 35 µA/MHz during operation and 600 nA during standby making it suitable for battery maintenance-free IoT devices, or even batteryless IoT devices thanks to its energy harvesting controller. Renesas RE01B microcontroller’s features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M0+ core up to 64MHz GPU – 2D graphics accelerator Memory – 256KB SRAM Storage – 1.5MB flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz radio with Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy; up to 400m range (Long Range) and 2 Mbps data rate I/Os 8x PWM outputs 7x 14-bit A/D converters (ADC, Analog inputs) SCI (UART), I2C, SPI Timers 1x 32-bit Timer, 3x 16-bit Timer, 2x 8-bit Timer 2x Watchdog Timer, 1-second event timer, stopwatch […]

Renesas RZ/G2L MPUs Feature Cortex-A55 & Cortex-M33 Cores for AI Applications

Block Diagram of RZ-G2L

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced RZ/G2L MPUs, allowing enhanced processing for an extensive variety of AI applications. The RZ/G2L group of 64-bit MPUs includes three new MPU models featuring Arm Cortex-A55, and an optional Cortex-M33 core. These are RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs. The Cortex-A55 CPU core typically delivers approximately 20 percent improved processing performance compared with the previous Cortex-A53 core, and according to Renesas, is around six times faster in “essential processing for AI applications”. The company already has four mid to high-end design level MPUs including RZ/G2E, RZ/G2N, RZ/G2M, and RZ/G2H, with combinations of Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 cores. The new RZ/G2L group of three MPUs forms the entry-level design with Cortex-A55. Hence, the seven MPU models together provide scalability from entry-level to high-end design. Common Key Features in RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs Up to 2x Cortex-A55 cores Cortex-M33 core Camera interface (MIPI-CSI) Display interface (Parallel-IF) USB 2.0 interface […]

Renesas Launches RA6M4 Cortex-M33 Microcontrollers for Secure IoT Applications

Renesas RA6M4 Cortex-M33 MCU

Arm Cortex-M33 core with Arm Trustzone security was first unveiled in 2016, and since then several silicon vendors introduced secure Cortex-M33 microcontrollers with, for instance, Nordic nRF91 LTE-IoT SoC, STMicro STM32L5 MCU family, or NXP LPC551x/S1x. Renesas has now added one more alternative with RA6M4 Cortex-M33 microcontroller family clocked at up to 200 MHz with increased performance and security compared to their earlier Cortex-M4 RA6 microcontrollers clocked at 120 Mhz. Key features for RA6M4 microcontrollers: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz with TrustZone technology Memory – 256 KB RAM include 64KB ECC RAM Storage – 512-1024 embedded flash, QuadSPI, and OctaSPI memory interface Networking – Ethernet controller with DMA USB – USB 2.0 Full Speed and CAN Other Peripherals Capacitive touch sensing unit SCI (UART, Simple SPI, Simple I2C), and SPI/ I2C multi-master interface SDHI and SSI (Serial Sound Interface) Security Renesas’ Secure Crypto Engine supporting multiple symmetric […]

Qt for MCUs – Qt Announces support for Microcontrollers

QT_TitleImage1

[Update August 24, 2019: Added information about expected release date and license] About Qt for MCUs Qt- The well known opensource toolkit for creating graphical interface announced their new release: Qt for MCUs, targeting MCU’s. The new graphical toolkit will be capable of running on devices without operating system. This may be a game changer in the entire MCU world, since Qt for MCUs allows developers to create fluid user interfaces on cost-effective micro controllers. This means we will be able to see smartphone like GUI’s which are running on low-end  MCU’s with limited resources. With reference to their press release, assuring that Qt-GUI will consume less power to save the battery life. Qt for MCUs Software Stack While developing any applications for MCU,  developers still can use their powerful declarative UI language QML and rich set of ready-made Qt Quick controls.  And the C++ APIs, helps the user interface […]