Renesas introduces the RX series' first microcontroller, the RX23E-A, with a built-in analog front end

     Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the introduction of the 32-bit RX Series microcontroller (MCU) RX23E-A product group, which integrates the high-precision analog Front end (AFE) on a single MCU chip. The RX23E-A MCU is designed for manufacturing, test and measurement equipment requiring high precision measurement of analog signals such as temperature, pressure, weight and flow, and is the first Renesas solution to measure such signals with an accuracy of better than 0.1% without calibration.

     This new MCU achieves the highest level of AFE accuracy in the industry (offset drift: 10 nv/°C, gain drift: 1 ppm/°C, and RMS noise: 30 nv rms), A level of performance previously achieved only by combining a dedicated A/D converter circuit with a high-precision operational amplifier integrated circuit. By integrating this high-precision AFE IP onto chips using the same manufacturing process technology, Renesas enables high-precision sensor measurement, calculation, control and communication on a single chip; Enables system manufacturers to reduce the number of components required, save space, simplify system design for a variety of devices that require high precision measurement (such as sensing, temperature controllers, recording, weighing, and force sensing), and accelerate endpoint intelligence through distributed processing enabled by MCUS.

     "The RX23E-A MCU will fundamentally optimize the architecture of high-precision analog measurement systems," said Tianming Fu, vice president of Renesas Electronics' Industrial Automation Division. Going forward, Renesas aims to build a comprehensive product line, starting with the RX23E-A product group. This product group integrates MCU and high-precision simulation technology on a single chip for programmable logic controllers, distributed control system applications, and test and measurement devices that require a variety of high-precision measurements."

     As big data technology drives product quality and productivity improvements, factories and production sites are under pressure to accurately and reliably measure a wide range of sensor data. Because users need high stability when making high-precision measurements of small signals over a wide ambient temperature range, noise characteristics and temperature drift characteristics need to be reduced to a lower level. To meet these needs, Renesas has developed a high-precision AFE and integrated it into RX MCUS that are widely used in the industrial sector.

     Based on the RXV2 core, the RX23E-A MCU has a 32MHz operating frequency, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a high-performing floating-point arithmetic unit (FPU) for adaptive control using temperature data and inverse matrix calculations based on 6-axis distortion data. For example, a robotic arm force sensor needs to measure and calculate 6-axis distortion in a tight space. Using RX23E-A MCU, 6-axis distortion data measurement and inverse matrix calculation can be completed on a single chip.