Microcontrollers enable easy upgrades

Microcontrollers with on-chip Flash memory target a wide range of applications, including industrial equipment and consumer electronics.

Renesas Technology Corp has added the R32C/118 group of microcontrollers with on-chip Flash memory to its R32C/100 series.

This new microcontroller group currently consists of two models, and is suitable for a wide range of applications, including industrial equipment and consumer electronics such as audio components.

Sample shipments will begin in September 2007.

The R32C/100 series is the top-level product set in the M16C platform.

They are complex instruction set computer (CISC) microcontrollers and have a strong track record in automotive, industrial and consumer equipment fields.

The R32C/118 group is the successor to the M32C/80 series in the M16C platform.

"By expanding our M16C platform portfolio towards the R32C we give designers more choice when they are selecting affordable, power-efficient industrial microcontrollers", comments Bernd Westhoff, Product Marketing Manager, Renesas Europe.

"Our latest R32C/118 controllers will allow developers to quickly and easily upgrade their existing designs as well as improving the performance and functionality of their industrial control systems".

The R32C/118 group offers better than twice the processing performance of the existing Renesas M32C/80 series.

The group incorporates the R32C/100 CISC CPU core, which is the most powerful CPU core in the M16C platform and is upward compatible with the existing CPU cores in the set.

They also provide improvements in operation processing performance, bus usage efficiency, and code efficiency.

The new device group has a maximum operating frequency of 48MHz, in contrast to 32MHz for the M32C/80 series.

Upward compatibility with the family's existing microcontrollers means that existing software can be used.

Improved system performance can be achieved simply by upgrading the microcontroller.

New on-chip peripheral functions cater for a wide variety of applications.

The R32C/118 group incorporates a two CAN module, providing support for a networking standard that is widely used in the in-car equipment field and industrial fields such as factory automation.

It also increases the number of serial interface channels to nine from the seven of the existing M32C/80 series.

A variety of on-chip peripheral functions also include a watchdog timer, DMA controller, advanced-functionality timers, A/D convertor, D/A convertor and a Intelligent I/O unit providing Input capture/output compare function.

The R32C/118 group offers an expanded operating voltage range and extends the lower limit of the voltage range at the maximum operating frequency.

The voltage range of the existing M32C/80 series was 4.2 to 5.5V, when operating at 32MHz, and that of the R32C/118 group is 3.0V, and 5.5V when operating at a faster 48MHz.

In addition, pin and peripheral function compatibility is maintained with the M32C/80 series.

This allows users to use existing hardware resources while developing products with improved performance and extended functionality.

The R32C/118 group has a single-line debugging interface.

This enables to connect an emulator using only one terminal of the microcontroller, so debugging can be performed in actual operation conditions.

The interface also supports onboard programming of the on-chip Flash memory.

The E30A emulator is under development and will be released soon.

The package is the same 100-pin LQFP used for the M32C/80 series.

Renesas Technology will continue to develop new products to provide support for an even broader range of market requirements.

Future MCU products will increase on-chip Flash memory capacity from 256Kbyte to 1Mbyte and on-chip RAM capacity from 40 to 64Kbyte.

There are also plans to extend the product lineup with additional package options such as 144-pin LQFP, 5V tolerant versions and versions with on-chip network system controllers etc.

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