Renesas Electronics Corp. has expanded its family of RL78 microcontrollers (MCUs) that includes 8- and 16-bit devices for power-sensitive applications. The RL78/G24 features the highest performance among all the devices in the RL78 family, boosting its performance with an application-specific Flexible Application Accelerator (FAA) and a fast CPU that can achieve an operating frequency of 48MHz.

The device’s enhanced peripheral functions, including analog and timer capabilities, are ideal for motor control, power supply control, and lighting control. In particular, by using the FAA, the device can distribute tasks such as inverter control, encryption, sensing, and arithmetic operations efficiently and independently of the CPU, thus substantially boosting processing speed.

“We are thrilled to introduce the top-of-the-line product from the popular RL78 Family, which holds the world’s largest share in the 16-bit MCU market today,” said Toshihiko Seki, Vice President of MCU Device Solution Division at Renesas. “With an extensive range of features and specifications, the RL78 Family empowers our customers to achieve the highest performance, while minimizing costs.”

“Traditionally, processing was done only by the CPU core and a significant burden was placed on the CPU. Tuning to achieve a balance between high-speed processing and CPU load took a considerable amount of time,” said Osamu Ogura, Software Development Manager, Industrial System Development Division of Tessera Technology Inc., a Renesas eco-system partner. “With the FAA capability that comes with the RL78/G24, we were able to divide the communication processing for the CPU and power control as with the FAA. This allowed us to shorten the development time overall.”

“Our collaboration with Renesas enables developers to use Model-Based Design to improve their system performance and identify issues before implementing on the MCU,” said Brian McKay, Global Strategic Partner Manager, MathWorks. “Mutual customers can use RL78virtual models in Simulink to gain a variety of capabilities, including generating production-quality code, Processor-in-the-Loop testing, and maintaining a digital thread.”

The RL78/G24 offers a standby function to reduce power consumption. Customers can choose from two modes, HALT mode, which cuts power consumption by 60% compared to normal operation mode, and STOP mode, which reduces power consumption by 99% compared to HALT mode. These power-saving modes allow the device to use less power overall.

Developers developing with the RL78/G24 can use the Smart Configurator to easily generate driver code for peripheral functions via a graphical user interface (GUI), similar to other RL78 devices. Renesas also offers Model-Based Design using MATLAB and Simulink. As an evaluation environment, users can take advance of the Fast Prototyping Board (FPB), which comes with Arduino Uno and Pmod Type 6A interfaces and Grove connectors for access to all pins. In addition, they can debug and program the device using only a USB cable. Evaluation kits for motor applications and power/lighting applications are also available, which are ideal for initial evaluation of individual applications.

By: DocMemory
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