Low-cost kits provide quick start for MCUs

Three new starter kits for SuperH microcontrollers combine boards, displays, debuggers and software to save on product development time.

Renesas Technology Europe has come up with three new starter kits for users of its market leading SuperH microcontrollers (SHC).

Renesas' low cost RSKs are user friendly (setup time less than 15min), and supplied with board, display, debugger and software, comprising a complete kit that saves on product development time.

Kits RSK7211 and RSK7086 are the latest additions, with the RSK7203plus kit becoming available in May.

The existing lineup of RSKs for SHC includes the RSK7124, the RSK7201 and a USB/Ethernet comms-board, all of which have been available since 2006.

Kit RSK7211 supports the world's fastest Flash microcontroller the SH7211F, with 512Kbyte of 12.5ns read access time, Monos Flash, a 12bit fast ADC, as well as two highly sophisticated timer units (MTU2, MTU2S) that have 12.5ns resolution and support for three-phase PWM to drive two electrical motors.

The SH7211F boasts 320DMIPS performance executing code from its internal Flash, which makes it two to three times faster than any Flash microcontroller from other vendors.

The RSK7086 kit features the SH7086F with zero-wait Monos Flash at 80MHz, delivering over 100DMIPS in a fully deterministic fashion.

The SH7086F is the biggest device in a line-up that includes 19 derivatives from 48-pin 32K Flash (50MHz) and is ideal for small electrical motor drives.

It has several 512Kbyte Flash options with up to 176 pins.

All of these products have the MTU2 timer supporting motor control.

The RSK7203plus is the first starter kit in the expanded RSK-plus lineup for use with Renesas' high-end microcontrollers.

It includes the E10A-Lite debugger and has greater functionality to enable the development of complex systems easily and quickly.

For example, the SH7203 has four serial ports, four IIC interfaces, two SPI ports, SSI, two CAN interfaces and a USB host/function.

It also boasts an integrated TFT drive, and it adds an Ethernet NIC to raise the level of connectivity in the system to that of a full industrial PC.

The SH7203 has a superscalar SH-2A CPU (480DMIPS) and a single/double-precision FPU.

Renesas Europe will further expand its RSK line-up with the SH7671 as the next device to receive a kit in Q3 2007.

The SH7671 features a 200MHz SH-2A/FPU core with Ethernet and USB host/function, as well as an SD-card interface.

Renesas has sold over 3000 RSKs in Europe last year following the RSK programme launch.

Back to top