Renesa launched a powerful RZ/A3UL MPU, which supports RTOS and can realize high-definition HMI and quick start

     Renesa Electronics announced the launch of RZ/A3UL microprocessor (MPU) product group - to achieve high-definition human-machine interface (HMI) and fast start function for applications requiring high throughput and real-time capability. The new RZ/A3UL enables users to give full play to the potential of the real-time operating system (RTOS), while making full use of the 64 bit Arm with a maximum operating frequency of 1GHz ®  Cortex ®- The performance improvement brought by the A55 CPU core. Using RTOS allows the system to start immediately within less than a second after boot. This function is very suitable for systems requiring rapid response, such as industrial equipment with LCD or control panel, household appliances and office automation equipment, as well as audio equipment and POS terminals.

     The new RZ/A3UL MPU integrates an 8-wire SPI memory interface (note), which is helpful for simpler and more compact circuit board design. In addition, the new device also includes versions that support DDR3L/DDR4 memory interfaces to obtain high-speed DRAM connections. For example, the data transmission speed achieved by DDR3L/DDR4 memory interface is about 10 times faster than the 8-wire SPI memory interface, maximizing the performance required by high-definition (1280 x 720) level displays, interactive and more complex HMI based on camera input or various sensors.

     RZ/A3UL supports two outstanding RTOS in the industry: FreeRTOS and Azure RTOS. As an authorized provider of Azure RTOS of RZ product family, Reza users can simply download high-performance Azure RTOS from GitHub and start using it immediately. In addition, Renesa also provides a flexible configuration software package containing FreeRTOS and HAL (hardware abstraction layer) drivers for developers to use as a reference when developing their own applications. A wide range of middleware can also be used for both operating systems, further reducing development time and cost.

     Maoshu Kato, Vice President of Enterprise Infrastructure Business Department of Renesa Electronics, said: "Many customers who use RTOS told us that they want to retain excellent real-time capabilities and fast start functions, but also want to obtain higher resolution and better performance. I believe that RZ/A3UL can not only achieve the stronger performance they need, but also bring them the flexibility and ease of use provided by MCU."

     Moe Tanabian, vice president of Microsoft and general manager of Azure IoT, Light Edge and AI, said: "The combination of high-performance MPUs like RZ/A3UL and real-time functions of Azure RTOS will directly improve the performance of our customers' devices."

     The peripheral functions and package pin allocation of RZ/A3UL are compatible with RZ/G2UL that uses Cortex-A55 core and is oriented to Linux HMI applications, as well as RZ/Live products based on RISC-V. This means that engineers can use the same circuit board design to develop new products simply by replacing chips. The compatibility between devices also enables engineers to easily transition from RTOS running products to Linux based products, thus promoting the efficient development of multiple product models.