Renesas Synergy Platform Speeds IoT, Industrial, and RTOS Development

Renesas Electronics has developed a platform that removes obstacles for embedded software engineers and designers working in the IoT, industrial, and real-time operating system space. The Renesas Synergy Platform is a ready-to-use development ecosystem for building IoT devices, industrial products, and RTOS. It allows embedded system engineers and designers to design starting at the application programming interface level. With this development platform, total cost of ownership is reduced and time to market for embedded product designs is accelerated.

Software Engineering Development Phase

The traditional software engineering development phase takes from several weeks to months to write code ranging from low-level peripheral drivers to complex communication and application-specific stacks. This development phase requires engineering resources to spend considerable amounts of time integrating, testing, and maintaining software that doesn’t differentiate the end product in the marketplace.

Starting at the software API level allows embedded software engineers and designers to build a real-time control system with a variety of baseline functionalities. This accelerates embedded development, inspires innovation, and enables differentiation.

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Renesas has created an embedded design platform that is unique to the microcontroller industry. The “software-first” approach will make developing devices for the IoT, industrial, RTOS, and other markets easier by taking care of low-level embedded software, real-time event management, secure connectivity, power management, and graphical user interfaces.

The Renesas Synergy Platform

The Renesas Synergy platform integrates qualified software in its new family of microcontrollers and a suite of development tools into one scalable and secure option.

The MCU development platform includes all rights and benefits to enable rich software development for an unlimited number of end products. There is no need to purchase third-party commercial RTOS, communication stacks (TCP/IP, USB), file systems, GUIs, and their associated development tools. All of that is included in the platform. For example, Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS is a premium commercial multitasking real-time kernel with preemptive scheduling and a small memory footprint that provides a stable heartbeat for the Renesas Synergy Platform.

Software Package

The Renesas Synergy Platform uses qualified embedded software, tested to commercial standards with ensured compatibility across all Renesas Synergy MCUs. The Renesas Synergy Software Package includes Express Logic’s X-Ware, which includes the ThreadX RTOS plus X-Ware middleware NetX and NetX DUO IPv4 and IPv4/IPv6 TCP/IP stacks, respectively; USBX USB Host/Device/OTG protocol stack; FileX MS-DOS-compatible file system; and GUIX graphics runtime library.

These are bundled in the Renesas application framework that is completely optimized for use with its Synergy MCUs and compliant to the IEC/ISO/IEEE 12207 software lifecycle process standard. Sold, maintained, and directly supported by Renesas, the software is guaranteed by the supplier to operate as per a published specification.

Synergy Microcontrollers

Within the Renesas Synergy platform, there are new, scalable 32-bit MCUs that span a wide spectrum of performance, power usage, safety, security, cryptography, connectivity, and graphics capabilities.

Tools, Kits, Solutions

The platform’s Eclipse-based integrated solution development environment is available with C compilers from GNU and IAR Systems. Also available are Express Logic’s Windows-based GUIX Studio graphic user interface prototyping tool and TraceX real-time event graphical analysis tool.

Embedded software engineers and designers can begin full development with the purchase of any of the many low-cost development or starter kits available for each of the Synergy MCU series. Renesas also has a number of Renesas Synergy Product Example kits, each one an example of an actual commercial product. Embedded software engineers and designers can leverage this information to modify the product examples to fit the needs of their own similar end products.

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Synergy Gallery

Product developers in the IoT space have widely varied needs and the desire for plug-and-play add-on software components to reduce development time. Renesas satisfies this need with the Renesas Synergy Gallery, an online selection from third-party software vendors that augment the Renesas Synergy Software Package (SSP). Embedded software engineers and designers may browse and download SSP-compliant software for functions and features such as specialized communication stacks, control algorithms, and security services.

Support

All components of the Renesas Synergy Platform are supported directly by Renesas, giving customers a single point of contact for integrated support spanning software, Renesas Synergy MCUs, and hardware solutions. This unified support structure eliminates the struggle customers often encounter when trying to get hardware and software vendors to take ownership of a technical problem.

Embedded software engineers and designers will not need to purchase service or maintenance contracts. Renesas warrantees the specification, provides regular feature upgrades, and addresses all product questions through its global sales support organization.

Selected customers are now evaluating the platform. General availability of the first products in the Renesas Synergy Platform is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.

Don Wilcher is a passionate teacher of electronics technology and an electrical engineer with 26 years of industrial experience. He’s worked on industrial robotics systems, automotive electronic modules/systems, and embedded wireless controls for small consumer appliances. He’s also a book author, writing DIY project books on electronics and robotics technologies. His latest book, Make: Basic Arduino Projects, published by Maker Media, is on the Alabama State Department’s approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) reading list. He’s currently developing 21st century educational training products and curriculum focusing on Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Physical Computing for makers, engineers, technicians, and educators. Besides being an Electrical Engineer, he’s a Certified Electronics Technician with ETA International and Alabama State Certified Electronics Instructor.