XIAO RA4M1 stamp-sized Renesas RA4M1 USB-C board features 14-bit ADC, 12-bit DAC, CAN Bus interfaces

Seeed Studio has added yet another member to their XIAO board family with the XIAO RA4M1 powered by Renesas’ RA4M1 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 MCU. This compact board includes 256KB Flash, 32KB SRAM, a 14-bit A/D converter, a 12-bit D/A converter, a CAN bus interface, and onboard charging circuitry. It’s designed for low-power, battery-powered applications.

The company started the XIAO family with the Seeeduino XIAO (Microchip SAMD21G18) in 2020, and since then they’ve made several other variants with different processors including the XIAO RP2350, XIAO RP2040, XIAO ESP32C3, XIAO ESP32S3, XIAO ESP32C6, and the nRF52840-based XIAO BLE. Feel free to check them out if you are interested in these boards.

XIAO RA4M1 specifications:

Microcontroller – Renesas RA4M1 (R7FA4M1AB3CFM) as found in Arduino UNO R4
- CPU – Arm Cortex-M4F operating at up to 48 MHz
- Memory – 32KB SRAM
- Storage
  - 256 KB code flash memory
  - 8 KB data flash memory
USB – 1x USB type C port for power and programming
Expansion I/Os
- 2x 7-pin 2.54mm pitch headers and castellated holes with
  - Up to 11x GPIO
  - 1x SPI, 1x UART, 1x I2C
  - 1x CAN Bus
  - Up to 6x 14-bit analog inputs
  - 1x 12-bit DAC (on D0/P014, not shown on pinout diagram…)
  - 5V, 3.3V, and GND
- 8x solder pads with
  - Up to 8x GPIO/Digital
  - 1x SPI, 1x UART, 1x I2C
  - 3x 14-bit ADC
  - 1x CAN Bus (TBC)
Security – AES128/256, secure boot, hardware encryption, key storage
Debugging – SMD solder pads
Misc
- User LED, power LED
- Reset and Boot buttons
- RGB LED
Power
- 5V via USB-C port
- 3.8V battery input via battery pads (BAT +/-)
- Low current consumption (45μA)
Dimensions – 21 x 17.5 mm
Working Temperature: -20°C to +70°C

The XIAO RA4M1, the 10th member of Seeed Studio’s XIAO family, is fully compatible with the Arduino IDE for easy project development and prototyping. It retains the classic XIAO design, making it ideal for space-limited projects like wearables or as a production-ready module for PCB designs. The company provides detailed instructions and a schematic diagram on its wiki page to help you get started.

Seeed Studio sells the XIAO RA4M1 in its official store for $4.99 without shipping charges. The company also provides two 7-pin headers in the package.

Sayantan Nandy

Sayantan Nandy, an electronics engineer with over four years of hands-on experience in PCB design, circuit development and power electronics, is proficient in EAGLE CAD, Ki-Cad, and Altium. He has a proven track record of delivering efficient and effective systems. His expertise extends from R&D, and prototyping to production support, making him a valuable asset to any engineering team.