Renesas Electronics adds 20 new RA6M5 group microcontrollers

     Renesas Electronics announced the addition of 20 new RA6M5 group microcontrollers (MCUS), expanding the RA6 family of MCUS and completing the mainstream product line. The new products offer a wide range of communication options, large capacity on-chip memory and Renesas' outstanding security capabilities to help customers develop innovative Internet of Things (IoT) designs. The RA6M5 product family provides IoT system product designers with superior flexibility when sharing critical data. The new MCU has multiple 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. It also provides an OctaSPI interface that enables designers to further extend flash and RAM. ECC RAM is also supported. The combination of flash block exchange capabilities with the inherent security built into the RA family makes the RA6M5 product family ideal for applications requiring on-site firmware update capabilities. After the new firmware is written to flash using the Background Run Function (BGO), a selected number of flash blocks (32KB each) can be exchanged 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 the Renesas Secure encryption engine. The Secure encryption engine includes multiple symmetric and asymmetric encryption accelerators, advanced key management, secure product lifecycle management, resistance to power analysis attacks, and tamper detection. The new RA6M5 product family offers the same security features and software support as Renesas RA6M4 MCUS (RA6M4 is PSA Level 2 certified and SESIP1 certified). This combination of capabilities enables customers to implement secure chip capabilities that provide efficient security and confidentiality for highly connected IoT devices.

     Roger Wendelken, senior vice president of Renesas Electronics' IoT and Infrastructure Business group, said: "The RA6M5 MCU provides our customers with a rich choice of communication capabilities and the flexibility to share data in a variety of ways to meet the needs of many iot applications. This capability, combined with high-capacity on-chip memory and our superior security capabilities, enables IoT design."

     The RA6M5 product family comes with an easy-to-use Flexible Configuration package (FSP) that includes best-in-class HAL drivers. FSP simplifies workflows and significantly speeds up development with GUI tools that also make it easy for customers to transfer their 8/16-bit MCU designs. Designers who choose RA6M5 MCUS can also take advantage of the robust Arm partner ecosystem and access a wealth of tools to accelerate time to market.

     The RA6M5 MCU can be used seamlessly with Renesas analog and power products to create comprehensive solutions for a wide range of applications. The "Portfolio of Success" showcases the unique capabilities of the RA6M5 MCU as well as the breadth and depth of Renesas' product lineup. For example, the "winning portfolio" of voice recognition and intelligent control integrates the RA6M5 with Renesas power supplies, transceivers and isolation devices.