New RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs Reduce System Power Consumption and PCB Footprint; New SimuQuest and IAR Systems Development Kits and Software Tools Enhance Development Efficiency for Quicker Time to Market

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — September 11, 2014 — Renesas Electronics America, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, is easing embedded design complexity with expanded support for automotive control systems, announcing: 1) The availability of the new 16-bit RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 Group of microcontrollers (MCUs); 2) new RL78 Renesas Development Kits (RDKs); and 3) software development tools provided through Renesas’ partner relationship with SimuQuest and IAR Systems. The RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs, combined with the SimuQuest RDK, QuantiPhi™ Renesas Edition (QuantiPhi™ RE) and IAR Embedded Workbench, create an environment that allows the “easiest path from idea to solution” – contributing to enhanced development efficiency, reduced system costs, lower system power consumption and improved functional safety features for automotive control systems.

“As automotive system designs become increasingly complex, there is tremendous customer value in being able to develop systems quickly, easily, efficiently and accurately,” said Amrit Vivekanand, vice president, Automotive Marketing Unit, Renesas Electronics America. “To that end, we are working with select technology partners to optimize the customer development experience by offering development kits and innovative tools with our MCUs. We are pleased to team up with SimuQuest and IAR Systems, combining the advantages of QuantiPhi™ RE and IAR Embedded Workbench with our RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 devices to speed development times for automotive control engineers.”

“SimuQuest has worked closely with Renesas to develop QuantiPhi™ RE for the RL78 F13 and F14,” said John Mills, President and CEO of SimuQuest, Inc. “QuantiPhi™ RE provides the fastest and easiest way to learn a new MCU like RL78, and configure and generate a production-quality, error-free driver set. We have also included features that make it easy to take advantage of the unique features of RL78, including configuring low-power modes and scaling applications up or down into different versions of the RL78.”

“IAR Embedded Workbench is the compiler and debugger solution of choice for many automotive customers, and we are delighted to extend our partnership with Renesas to cover the automotive versions of RL78,” said Robert DeOliveira, director strategic sales at IAR Systems Software, Inc. “We have worked closely together with Renesas to ensure that IAR Embedded Workbench is tightly integrated into the development process – it links directly to QuantiPhi RE and is available in starter versions of the new RDK. In addition, we are partnering with Renesas to make it possible for them to offer free IAR Embedded Workbench licenses to commercial RL78 customers as part of their “Standardize Now” promotion.”

The new RL78/F13 and RL78/F13 MCUs encompass 91 products designed for automotive control systems. The RL78/F13 MCUs are designed for use in an extensive range of applications – from body control systems, such as power window and side mirror control, to automotive motor control systems, such as electric water pumps and cooling fans. The RL78/F14 MCUs support body control system applications that require larger memory capacities and more networking peripherals, such as BCM (body control module) and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) control.

The RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs offer key features: scalability, compliance with automotive-grade temperature and safety requirements, and reduced power consumption.

Scalability

The RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs are based on the same CPU core and integrate the same peripheral functions and pin layout. These functions include the major CAN (Controller Area Network) and LIN (Local Interconnect Network) automotive networks. The extensive range of the new MCUs supports a wide range of applications. This enables the construction of a development platform based on the reuse of design assets such as software and printed circuit boards, which contributes to increased development efficiency of the overall systems. For instance, ROM sizes can be changed to meet varying systems specifications.

Compliance for Safety-Critical Applications

The ability to scale across a wide temperature range and integrated safety features are required for MCUs operating in a variety of safety-critical applications ranging from fuel pumps, chassis systems and powertrain systems. The RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs operate in ambient temperatures up to 150°C, and can be directly mounted in actuators, thus contributing to further system miniaturization. The MCUs also incorporate a variety of hardware features that support system functional safety including: A/D self-test feature, software stack monitoring, and external oscillator monitoring.

Reduced Power Consumption

The RL78/F13 and RL78/F14 MCUs adopt a lower current consumption process, allowing the standby mode current consumption to be reduced by 50 percent from 1 µA (microampere) of Renesas’ previous generation (78K0R) 16-bit MCUs to 500 nA (nanoampere). The new MCUs also contribute to lower system power consumption with a special low-power mode (snooze mode) that allows A/D conversions to be performed without activating the CPU.

RL78 RDK

Renesas Electronics America provides development hardware and software tools let engineers quickly and easily get an application up and running. On the hardware side, Renesas has created a fully featured RDK, which includes an RL78 MCU, debug interface, motor control pre-driver extension interface, and standard automotive LIN and CAN communication interfaces.