Renesas Electronics Announces Important Update for Arm Cortex-M Microcontroller

Tokyo, Japan-Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world's leading supplier of semiconductor solutions, today released a flexible configuration software package (FSP) update for the Renesas 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M microcontroller RA product family . FSP version 1.0 adds new security and connectivity features, advanced neural networks, machine learning, and motor control functions, as well as enhanced compilers, debuggers, and development environments. Its enhanced security and connectivity capabilities can help developers quickly create secure IoT endpoints and edge solutions that can be applied to applications such as Industry 4.0, building automation, metering, medical, consumer wearables, and household appliances.

FSP is very suitable for users who need a flexible and open architecture. By reusing the original code or combining it with Renesas ’software examples, you can speed up the implementation of solutions with complex connectivity and security. FreeRTOS has been integrated in FSP, and customers can also replace it with any other RTOS or middleware according to their own needs. The combination of FSP and the Arm ecosystem third-party solution can provide users with a variety of choices, while taking full advantage of Renesas ’32-bit RA MCU extensive product lineup to select the software model that best suits their needs.

FSP v1.0 provides new security and connection functions, supporting a complete chip-to-cloud connection. The open source code contains a middleware protocol stack that supports all major cloud service providers and implements secure connections, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and any third-party MQTT agent. New security features include secure key generation and persistent key encryption storage, hardware acceleration for NIST-specific AES, SHA-2, RSA 2048, and Brainpool elliptic curve (ECC) encryption, and secure TLS-based MQTT connections.

FSP v1.0 also supports neural networks, machine learning and motor control. The Arm CMSIS-NN library is included in the FSP, and new motor control functions such as three-phase general-purpose PWM timer (GPT) and GPT port output control can be used together to build a solution that supports predictable maintenance functions.

Development tools, including compilers and integrated development environments (IDEs) have also been updated, and now support Renesas e2 studio, Arm Keil® MDK, and IAR Embedded Workbench® for Arm. RA Intelligent Configuration Program (RA SC) supports seamless integration of FSP with third-party IDEs and compilers. The new debug kit supports Renesas E2 and E2 Lite debug emulators. The debug kit also includes support for flash programmers, including SEGGER J-LinkTM.