Renesas MCU Category - Page 10 of 13 - CNX Software

March 28, 2021April 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Semiconductors lead times in March 2021

As we previously mentioned previously there is a serious chip shortage that will lead to supply issues and higher prices for single board computers and other electronics products. A few days ago, Hardkernel had o increase the price for ODROID boards using DDR4 memory with increases of $3 to $4 for ODROID-N2+, ODROID-C4, and ODROID-HC4 boards. But besides price increase, some semiconductors will not be available at any price with extended periods as lead times of up to 52 weeks have been reported as shown in the table below, obtained from a trusted, anonymous source, which I have translated from Chinese. Every manufacturer is impacted, but items highlighted in red are severely impacted. Since include processors from Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics, and NXP, as well as Broadcom wireless chips which are found in nearly every SBC with WiFi or Bluetooth through Ampak modules. Here’s the source image in Chinese for reference. Jean-Luc […]

January 20, 2021April 3, 2023 by Saumitra Jagdale - 7 Comments

Renesas RZ/G2L MPUs Feature Cortex-A55 & Cortex-M33 Cores for AI Applications

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced RZ/G2L MPUs, allowing enhanced processing for an extensive variety of AI applications. The RZ/G2L group of 64-bit MPUs includes three new MPU models featuring Arm Cortex-A55, and an optional Cortex-M33 core. These are RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs. The Cortex-A55 CPU core typically delivers approximately 20 percent improved processing performance compared with the previous Cortex-A53 core, and according to Renesas, is around six times faster in “essential processing for AI applications”. The company already has four mid to high-end design level MPUs including RZ/G2E, RZ/G2N, RZ/G2M, and RZ/G2H, with combinations of Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 cores. The new RZ/G2L group of three MPUs forms the entry-level design with Cortex-A55. Hence, the seven MPU models together provide scalability from entry-level to high-end design. Common Key Features in RZ/G2L, RZ/G2LC, and RZ/G2UL MPUs Up to 2x Cortex-A55 cores Cortex-M33 core Camera interface (MIPI-CSI) Display interface (Parallel-IF) USB 2.0 interface […]

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Linux 5.9 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.9 on lkml: Ok, so I’ll be honest – I had hoped for quite a bit fewer changes this last week, but at the same time there doesn’t really seem to be anything particularly scary in here. It’s just more commits and more lines changed than I would have wished for. The bulk of this is the networking fixes that I already mentioned as being pending in the rc8 release notes last weekend. In fact, about half the patch (and probably more of the number of commits) is from the networking stuff (both drivers and elsewhere). Outside of that, the most visible thing is a reinstatement of the fbdev amba-clcd driver – that’s a noticeable patch, but it’s basically just mainly a revert. The rest is really really tiny (mostly some other minor driver updates, but some filesystem and architecture fixes […]

October 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas Launches RA6M4 Cortex-M33 Microcontrollers for Secure IoT Applications

Arm Cortex-M33 core with Arm Trustzone security was first unveiled in 2016, and since then several silicon vendors introduced secure Cortex-M33 microcontrollers with, for instance, Nordic nRF91 LTE-IoT SoC, STMicro STM32L5 MCU family, or NXP LPC551x/S1x. Renesas has now added one more alternative with RA6M4 Cortex-M33 microcontroller family clocked at up to 200 MHz with increased performance and security compared to their earlier Cortex-M4 RA6 microcontrollers clocked at 120 Mhz. Key features for RA6M4 microcontrollers: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz with TrustZone technology Memory – 256 KB RAM include 64KB ECC RAM Storage – 512-1024 embedded flash, QuadSPI, and OctaSPI memory interface Networking – Ethernet controller with DMA USB – USB 2.0 Full Speed and CAN Other Peripherals Capacitive touch sensing unit SCI (UART, Simple SPI, Simple I2C), and SPI/ I2C multi-master interface SDHI and SSI (Serial Sound Interface) Security Renesas’ Secure Crypto Engine supporting multiple symmetric […]

August 22, 2019August 24, 2019 by Siji Sunny - 15 Comments

Qt for MCUs – Qt Announces support for Microcontrollers

[Update August 24, 2019: Added information about expected release date and license] About Qt for MCUs Qt- The well known opensource toolkit for creating graphical interface announced their new release: Qt for MCUs, targeting MCU’s. The new graphical toolkit will be capable of running on devices without operating system. This may be a game changer in the entire MCU world, since Qt for MCUs allows developers to create fluid user interfaces on cost-effective micro controllers. This means we will be able to see smartphone like GUI’s which are running on low-end MCU’s with limited resources. With reference to their press release, assuring that Qt-GUI will consume less power to save the battery life. Qt for MCUs Software Stack While developing any applications for MCU, developers still can use their powerful declarative UI language QML and rich set of ready-made Qt Quick controls. And the C++ APIs, helps the user interface […]

May 6, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 5.1 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.1: So it’s a bit later in the day than I usually do this, just because I was waffling about the release. Partly because I got some small pull requests today, but mostly just because I wasn’t looking forward to the timing of this upcoming 5.2 merge window. But the last-minute pull requests really weren’t big enough to justify delaying things over, and hopefully the merge window timing won’t be all that painful either. I just happen to have the college graduation of my oldest happen right smack dab in the middle of the upcoming merge window, so I might be effectively offline for a few days there. If worst comes to worst, I’ll extend it to make it all work, but I don’t think it will be needed. Anyway, on to 5.1 itself. The past week has been pretty calm, […]

February 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Renesas RZ/G2 64-Bit MPUs Target Industrial Applications Leveraging SLTS Linux

Renesas RZ/G1 Cortex-A15/A7 processor series was introduced in 2016 targeting industrial human machine interface, and RZ/G1M was one the the first processors supported by the industrial-grade CIP Super Long-Term Support (SLTS) Linux kernel – as part of Renesas RZ/G Linux Platform – with commitment of over 10 years of support. The company has now launched a 64-bit version of the industrial processors with Renesas RZ/G2 family featuring up to eight Cortex-A53/A57 cores and supported by RZ/G Linux Platform for long term Linux support. Renesas RZ/G2 family is now comprised of four SKUs with the following key features and specifications. RZ/G2 Series RZ/G2E RZ/G2N RZ/G2M RZ/G2H Economical Mid-Range (Pin Compatible) Highest Performance CPU (64-bit ARMv8A) 2x Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz L1, L2 Parity/ECC 2x Cortex-A57 @ 1.5GHz L1, L2 Parity/ECC 2x Cortex-A57 @ 1.5GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz L1, L2 Parity/ECC 4x Cortex-A57 @ 1.5GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz L1, L2 Parity/ECC […]

December 26, 2018December 28, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Linux 4.20 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

After Greg K-H handling Linux 4.19 release, Linus Torvalds is back at the helm, and released Linux 4.20 just before Christmas: Let’s face it, last week wasn’t quite as quiet as I would have hoped for, but there really doesn’t seem to be any point to delay 4.20 because everybody is already taking a break. And it’s not like there are any known issues, it’s just that the shortlog below is a bit longer than I would have wished for. Nothing screams “oh, that’s scary”, though. And as part of the “everybody is already taking a break”, I can happily report that I already have quite a few early pull requests in my inbox. I encouraged people to get it over and done with, so that people can just relax over the year-end holidays. In fact, I probably won’t start pulling for a couple of days, but otherwise let’s just […]