Renesas RA2A2 Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller offers high-resolution 24-bit ADC, up to 512KB dual-bank flash

Renesas Electronics RA2A2 Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller (MCU) group offers a 7-channel high-resolution 24-bit Sigma-Delta ADC, as well as dual-bank flash and bank swap function for an easier implementation of firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates.

The 48MHz MCU also comes with 48KB SRAM, up to 512KB code flash, various interfaces, and safety and security features that make it suitable for smart energy management, building automation, medical devices, consumer electronics, and other IoT applications that can benefit from high-resolution analog inputs and firmware updates.

Renesas RA2A2 specifications:

• MCU core – Arm Cortex-M23 Armv8-M core clocked at up to 48 MHz
• Arm Memory Protection Unit (Arm MPU) with 8 regions
• Memory
  • 48 KB SRAM
  • Memory Protection Units (MPU)
  • Memory Mirror Function (MMF)
• Storage
  • Up to 512 KB code flash memory in dual bank (256 KB × 2 banks); bank swap support
  • 8 KB data flash memory (100,000 program/erase (P/E) cycles)
• Peripheral interfaces
  • Segment LCD controller (SLCDC)
  • 5x Serial Communications Interfaces (SCI) with support for simple I2C, simple SPI, Smart cards
  • 1x SPI, 2x I2C
  • Up to 77 GPIO pins; 5V tolerance, open drain, input pull-up
  • Analog
    • 7-channel 24-bit Sigma-Delta A/D converter (SDADC24) with a sampling rate of 7.813 kHz/8.333 kHz or 3.906 kHz/4.166 kHz
    • 12-bit A/D converter (ADC12)
    • Temperature sensor (TSN)
• Timers
  • 6x 16-bit general PWM timers (GPT16)
  • 8x 16-bit low-power asynchronous general-purpose timers (AGT)
  • 2x 32-bit low-power asynchronous general-purpose timers (AGTW)
  • Watchdog timer (WDT)
• Safety
  • ECC in SRAM
  • SRAM parity error check
  • Flash area protection
  • ADC self-diagnosis function
  • Clock Frequency Accuracy Measurement Circuit (CAC)
  • Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
  • Data Operation Circuit (DOC)
  • Port Output Enable for GPT (POEG)
  • Independent Watchdog Timer (IWDT)
  • GPIO readback level detection
  • Register write protection
  • Main oscillator stop detection
  • Sub and main oscillation stop detection circuit for SDADC24 clock switch
  • Illegal memory access
• Security and Encryption
  • 128/256-bit AES – Cipher modes of operation: ECB/CBC/CTR/GCM/CMAC/CCM
  • True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
• Debug and Trace – DWT, FPB, CoreSight MTB-M23
• CoreSight Debug Port –  SW-DP
• System and Power Management
  • Low power modes
  • Ultra-low power operation as low as 100 µA/MHz in active mode and 0.40µA in software standby mode.
  • Event Link Controller (ELC)
  • Data Transfer Controller (DTC)
  • Power-on reset
  • Low Voltage Detection (LVD) with voltage settings
  • Low Voltage Detection for EXLVDVBAT pin (select interrupt from 7 levels)
  • Low Voltage Detection for VRTC pin (select interrupt from 4 levels)
  • Low Voltage Detection for EXLVD pin (select interrupt from 1 level)
  • Independent power supply RTC (calendar for 99 years, alarm function, and clock correction function)
  • On-chip RTC power-on-reset (RTCPOR) circuit for VRTC power supply
• Clock Sources
  • Main clock oscillator (MOSC) (1 to 20 MHz)
  • Sub-clock oscillator (SOSC) (32.768 kHz)
  • High-speed on-chip oscillator (HOCO) (24/32/48/64 MHz)
  • Middle-speed on-chip oscillator (MOCO) (8 MHz)
  • Low-speed on-chip oscillator (LOCO) (32.768 kHz)
  • Clock trim function for HOCO/MOCO/LOCO
  • IWDT-dedicated on-chip oscillator (15 kHz)
  • PLL clock for SDADC24
  • Clock out support
• Operating Voltage – VCC: 1.6 to 5.5V
• Temperature Range – Ta = -40°C to +105°C
• Packages
  • 100-pin LQFP (14 mm × 14 mm, 0.5 mm pitch)
  • 80-pin LQFP (12 mm × 12 mm, 0.5 mm pitch)
  • 64-pin LQFP (10 mm × 10 mm, 0.5 mm pitch)

The Renesas RA2A2 microcontrollers are offered in 100-pin, 80-pin, and 64-pin LFQFP packages, and are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package (FSP) with multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and security stacks as well as reference software to build AI, motor control and cloud solutions. Renesas says it allows its customers to integrate legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, and facilitates the migration of RA2A2 designs to larger RA devices if required although there aren’t many other “Rich Analog” parts right now…

Renesas provides the EK-RA2A2 evaluation board based on the 100-pin R7FA2A2AD3CFP microcontroller with 48KB SRAM and 512KB flash, access to all I/Os through headers, and for easier prototyping the board also features Arduino and microBus headers plus some Grove, Qwiic and Pmod connectors allowing engineers to choose from a wide range of expansion modules..

Like other Renesas microcontrollers, the RA2A2 Group MCUs got their own “Winning Combination” with a 3-phase smart electric meter reference design used for heavy industrial and high electricity-consuming homes and making use of the analog capabilities of the new Cortex-M23 microcontroller.

Arm announced the Cortex-M23 core in 2016, but it has not been as popular as the Cortex-M33 introduced at the same time and found in many microcontroller designs. The only other Cortex-M23 microcontrollers covered on CNX Software were Microchip SAM L10 & SAM L11 launched in 2018, and Nuvoton’s NuMicro M23 family.

Renesas RA2A2 Group MCUs are available now for about $5 for one of the 100-pin devices (R7FA2A2AD3CFP#AA1) in 1K orders and the EK-RA2A2 evaluation kit sells for $57.50. Additional information may be found on the product page and in the press release.

Thanks to TLS for the tip.

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