Renesas Advanced (RA) 32-bit Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers

Renesas Advanced (RA) 32-bit Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers (MCUs) deliver a combination of optimised performance, security, connectivity, peripheral IP and an easy-to-use Flexible Software Package (FSP). The MCUs are supported by the RA ecosystem, designed to help accelerate the development of IoT applications with core technologies such as security, safety, connectivity and HMI.

Designing with RA MCUs makes it easy for engineers to develop IoT endpoint and edge devices for industrial and building automation, metering, healthcare and home appliance applications. The family is PSA Certified Level 1, enabling developers to improve security and safety in high-performing endpoint devices.

The MCUs offer IoT security by combining Secure Crypto Engine IP with NIST CAVP certifications on top of Arm TrustZone for Armv8-M, while also providing tamper detection and reinforcing resistance to side-channel attacks. Scalability and compatibility across the family let users build a range of products, and they can quickly begin development with Renesas’s flexible software package.

The first five RA MCU groups comprise 32 scalable MCUs with Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M23 processor cores. They feature pin counts of 32 to 176 pins, along with 256 KB to 2 MB of code flash memory, 32 to 640 KB SRAM and connectivity such as USB, CAN and Ethernet. It is easy to transition within the family due to feature and pin compatibility. Each MCU group provides good active and standby power, and features such as Renesas’s HMI capacitive touch technology.

The FSP provides an open architecture that allows users to re-use their legacy code and combine it with software examples from Renesas and ecosystem partners to speed implementation of complex functions like connectivity and security. The FSP features Amazon FreeRTOS and will also add out-of-the-box support for ThreadX RTOS and middleware on Cortex-M23 and Cortex-M33 MCUs, offering a device-to-cloud option for developers. These options can be easily replaced and expanded with any other RTOS or middleware.

The RA family development environment offers on-chip debug, IDEs, compiler, support tools, board evaluation kits, design files, schematics, PCB layouts and BOM.