Design Secure, Connected, Scalable IoT Products‘ top choice will be Renesas‘ RA Family of MCUs

Wouldn’t you like 2022 to be the year your Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint and edge designs are executed more quickly and easily than ever? You’re in luck. Because in 2021 the RENESAS Advanced (RA) family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) we launched in 2019 designed to speed the development of your IoT applications, got even better.

With the flexibility of Renesas development software, the ultra-low-power consumption of Renesas MCUs, and industry-leading Arm Cortex -M33, -M23, and -M4 processor cores, the RA family soon will be the top choice on which to base your IoT designs in industrial and building automation, metering, healthcare, and home appliances.

One Family, Four Series

Choosing a microcontroller for your next generation of secure connected IoT devices is straightforward with the RA Family. With four series within the family, one – or more – will have the features and benefits for your intended design. Here’s the rundown:

· RA6 Series: Maybe you’re working on an IoT endpoint application for factory or building automation where connectivity and performance are key. It’s likely, then, that our RA6 will fit your requirements. In addition to its ability to perform at speeds up to 240 MHz, RA6 devices offer integration with a wide range of communication interfaces: Ethernet, Full-Speed and High-Speed Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, protocols for Controller Area Networks (CAN), and CANs with Flexible Data-Rate, Quad and Octal Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) protocols, and driver integration for thin-film transistor displays.

· RA4 Series: Perhaps you are working on low-power designs for home appliances, office equipment, healthcare wearables, and consumer-grade meters. In that case, you might prefer the low-power RA4 for its connectivity features including Bluetooth 5.0, USB 2.0 Full-Speed, CAN, the Software-Defined Host Interface (SDHI) protocol, Quad SPI, and advanced analog.
 

· RA2 Series: And finally, if you need an entry-level 32-bit MCU with excellent price performance and very low power consumption for a battery-operated, cost-sensitive device, then the RA2 is your best bet. In fact, the RA2 series offers scalable package options as small as 16 pins, superior capacitive touch sensors, and many on-chip peripheral functions that make it a particularly cost-effective choice for small electronics products.
 

· Coming Soon: Suppose you’re building an application in which high performance really matters – such as those involving graphics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and power conversion – look to our RA series based on the Arm Cortex-M85, coming soon. The series is expected to perform above 240 MHz, including high random-access memory integration and up to 2MB Flash, the industry’s highest code flash memory capacity.

Quick Deployment

Many of you tell us that software development is the most time-consuming part of product design. But when you work with the RA family of MCUs, you will be able to significantly speed up your deployment with our open Flexible Software Package (FSP). FSP is compatible with the open-source embedded systems software, too, so you can integrate your choice of the more than 100 trusted technology partners in the RA Partner Ecosystem, an integral part of the Renesas Ready Partner Network.

Built-In Security

With safety and security so crucial to IoT designs, RA family MCUs include extra levels of embedded hardware security for tamper detection and resistance to side-channel attacks. There are endpoint, edge, and smart-factory security thanks to our secure Crypto Engine. There’s Arm Cortex-M TrustZone technology, which protects firmware, assets, and private information. And everything is further assured by Platform Security Architecture (PSA) Certification.

More Memory

As you would expect from Renesas, the leading supplier of MCUs in the world, the RA family comes with peripheral functions that are second to none, including the industry’s highest code flash memory capacity.

Learn more about the RA MCU family at renesas.com/RA and make this the year you help your company get to market faster with your best IoT product designs yet.