Renesas Electronics introduced their new RA8D1 microcontroller family. The RA8D1 series is the Renesas’s first MCU based on the Arm COrtex-M85 core. RA8D1 MCUs are designed to deliver breakthrough performance of over 6.39 CoreMark/MHz combined with ample memory, graphics and peripheral functions optimized to address diverse graphics display solutions, and Voice/Vision Multimodal AI requirements for a range of applications in building automation, home appliances, smart home, consumer, and medical market segments. Just like the other RA8 series MCUs, the new RA8D1 series also takes advantages of the high-performance Arm Cortex-M85 core and Arm’s Helium technology with a vector/SIMD instruction set extension that provides up to a 4X performance boost for digital signal processor (DSP) and machine learning (ML) implementations. This added performance boost makes the new RA8D1 an ideal candidate for graphics and neural network processing applications. Along with that, the RA8D1 also offers advanced feature like Arm trustZone, Renesas Security IP (RSIP-E51A), Secure Boot, Octal SPI interface with Decryption-on-the-fly (DOTF), and Pointer Authentication and Branch Target Identification (PACBTI) security extension.
Additionally, the RA8D1 series includes devices equipped with high-resolution graphics controllers and interfaces for LCD display panels, enhanced by professional graphics software solutions. Daryl Khoo of Renesas highlights the growing demand for high-quality displays, while Roeland Nusselder of Plumerai emphasizes the significant performance enhancement offered by the RA8D1 MCUs. The launch of the RA8D1 Group MCUs is supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package, which facilitates application development, and is complemented by Renesas' Winning Combinations solutions, showcasing optimized, integrated system designs. These MCUs are currently available, along with the Renesas RA8D1 Evaluation Kit and various production-ready solutions from Renesas Ready ecosystem partners.
Key Features of the RA8D1 Group MCUs
- Core: 480 MHz Arm Cortex-M85 with Helium and TrustZone
- Memory: Integrated 2MB/1MB Flash memory and 1MB SRAM (including TCM, 512KB ECC protected)
- Graphics Peripherals: Graphics LCD controller supporting resolutions up to WXGA (1280x800), parallel RGB and MIPI-DSI interfaces to external LCD and/or TFT display, powerful 2D drawing engine, 16bit CEU camera interface, 32bit external SDRAM interface
- Other Peripherals: Ethernet, XSPI (Octal SPI) with XIP and DOTF, SPI, I2C/I3C, SDHI, USBFS/HS, CAN-FD, SSI, 12bit ADC & DAC, comparators, temperature sensor, timers
- Advanced Security: Leading-edge cryptographic algorithms, TrustZone, Secure Boot, immutable storage, tamper resistance with DPA/SPA attack protection, secure debug, secure factory programming and lifecycle management support
- Packages: 176-pin LQFP, 224-pin BGA
