Renesas Electronics Introduces New RA6M5 Product Group Arm Cortex M33 Core RA6 Series Mainstream MCU Product Line is Completing

     Renesas Electronics Group announced that it has added 20 new RA6M5 group microcontrollers (MCUs) to expand the RA6 series of MCUs and complete the mainstream product line. The new products offer rich communication function options, large-capacity on-chip memory and Renesas' superior security features to help customers develop innovative Internet of Things (IoT) designs.

     The RA6M5 product group provides IoT system product designers with exceptional flexibility in sharing critical data. The new MCUs feature a variety of communication interface options, including CAN FD, Ethernet MAC with DMA, full-speed and high-speed USB, and multiple serial interfaces.

     The new MCU integrates up to 2MB of on-chip flash memory and 512KB of on-chip RAM to support a wide range of applications. An OctaSPI interface is also provided, enabling designers to further expand flash and RAM. The product also supports ECC RAM. Flash block swapping combined with the inherent security built into the RA series makes the RA6M5 product group ideal for applications requiring in-field firmware update capabilities. After the new firmware is written to flash using the background running function (BGO), a selected number of flash blocks (32KB each) can be swapped to become part of the new firmware.

     The RA6M5 MCU uses the Arm Cortex-M33 core based on the Armv8-M architecture and supports Arm TrustZone® technology and Renesas Secure Encryption Engine. The secure cryptographic engine includes multiple symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic accelerators, advanced key management, secure product lifecycle management, resistance to power analysis attacks, and tamper detection. The new RA6M5 product group offers the same security features and software support as the Renesas RA6M4 MCU (the RA6M4 is PSA Level 2 certified and SESIP1 certified). This combination of features enables customers to implement secure chip functionality to provide efficient security and privacy features for highly connected IoT devices.

     "The RA6M5 MCU provides our customers with a rich choice of communication functions and the flexibility to share data in multiple ways to meet the needs of many IoT applications," said Roger Wendelken, senior vice president of the Internet of Things and Infrastructure Business Division at SA Electronics. The combination of high-capacity on-chip memory and our superior security features enables IoT designs."

     The RA6M5 product family is paired with an easy-to-use Flexible Configuration Package (FSP) that includes state-of-the-art HAL drivers. FSP simplifies workflow and significantly speeds up development through GUI tools, and also enables customers to easily migrate legacy 8/16-bit MCU designs. Designers who choose RA6M5 MCUs can also take advantage of the strong Arm partner ecosystem and gain access to a wealth of tools to speed time-to-market.

     RA6M5 MCUs can be seamlessly combined with Renesas analog and power products to create comprehensive solutions for a wide variety of applications. The various "Success Portfolios" showcase the unique capabilities of the RA6M5 MCU and the breadth and depth of the Renesas product lineup. For example, the "successful portfolio" of voice recognition and smart control that integrates the RA6M5 with Renesas power supplies, transceivers, and isolation devices.