Renesas Electronics Introduces RX23E-A MCU Starter Kit for Fast and Accurate Evaluation of Analog Front Ends for Industrial Automation and Measurement Equipment

TOKYO, Japan, March 24, 2020 – Renesas electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world’s leading supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has launched a 32-bit RX23E-A microcontroller (MCU) for engineers developing The new Renesas Solution Starter Kit (RSSK), this MCU features an industry-leading high-precision analog front end (AFE). The RX23E-A RSSK integrates optimized hardware, software, and tools for evaluating the high-precision 24-bit delta-sigma (ΔΣ) A/D converter built into the MCU. Even customers without professional AFE development experience can accurately evaluate nanovolt (nV)-level analog performance through RSSK, reducing development effort and time-to-market.

“The RX23E-A for industrial IoT sensors is a single-chip solution with an integrated high-precision AFE that achieves accuracy within 0.1% without calibration,” said Daryl Khoo, vice president of marketing for the IoT Platform Business Unit at Renesas Electronics. The solution kit provides a convenient way for users who need to evaluate and calibrate a wide range of sensors, reducing the time required to develop high-precision sensing devices.”

From evaluation board design to software development, the evaluation of high-precision analog performance requires strong analog development and design expertise. In addition, when the required functions cannot be implemented, troubleshooting and analysis of failures can be time-consuming, making it difficult to bring products to market in a timely manner.

The new RSSK evaluation board is designed to optimize the evaluation of the RX23E-A AFE to accurately evaluate the characteristics of a 24-bit ΔΣ A/D converter regardless of the user’s level of analog development. The evaluation board features pluggable binding posts for connecting a variety of sensors without soldering, a thermocouple (temperature sensor) connector, and a reference junction compensation circuit for measuring thermocouples. Users can start evaluation immediately by referring to the thermocouple and weight measurement application notes (both available for download from the Renesas website), reducing the time required to develop IoT sensor devices.

Users can input and change various parameter settings of AFE and A/D converter through the graphical user interface (GUI) tool of the kit, and Display the results of A/D conversion in the form of graphs and histograms, simplifying the communication with the user’s system. Evaluation tasks related to simulation characteristics. With the GUI, the user can view the A/D conversion results in real time like an oscilloscope.

The evaluation board can also be connected to an emulator to develop user applications. Powered via the USB connection, a PC can be used for evaluation and software development. The evaluation board contains RS485 and CAN driver ICs that are widely used in industrial equipment, allowing the development of applications that support industrial networking standards.

About the RX23E-A product group

The RX23E-A product group is equipped with a 32-bit MCU, supports DSP/FPU, operates at a frequency of 32 MHz, and has a built-in AFE that can achieve 0.1% measurement accuracy without calibration. The integrated ΔΣ A/D converter has a maximum effective resolution of 23.6 bits, enabling a single chip to achieve analog performance that previously required a combination of MCUs, dedicated A/D converters, or high-precision op amps. Launched in May 2019, the RX23E-A MCU product group has been widely used in industrial instrumentation applications such as temperature controllers, load cells and strain gauge sensor modules.

About Renesas Industrial Sensor Solutions

Renesas offers several MCUs with enhanced analog functions for different sensing systems. The RA2A1 MCU product group is based on a 32-bit Arm core; the Renesas SynergyS1JA MCU product group features advanced analog functions and integrated security features, ideal for low-power, cost-sensitive industrial IoT sensor applications. Renesas also offers the RL78/I1E 16-bit MCU product line with integrated 24-bit ΔΣ A/D converters in a small 4mm square package ideal for compact pressure sensors and compact flow sensors. In addition to MCUs, Renesas offers a variety of sensor products, including temperature sensors and flow sensors, as well as communication ICs that support standards such as IO-Link, RS485, and AS-i. These sensor system solutions will help accelerate the embedding of industrial equipment into the IoT framework.

Availability

The RX23E-A RSSK is available now with a suggested unit price of $464. (Prices or availability are subject to change without notice)