TOKYO, Japan, February 23, 2012 — Renesas Electronics, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced its new DC/DC LED control evaluation board based on the RL78/I1A microcontroller (MCU). The RL78/I1A MCU series of five application-specific standard products (ASSP) are designed for lighting applications. The RL78/I1A DC/DC LED control evaluation board enables system designers to experience the benefits of MCU-based solutions for LED driver development. They can also learn about LED constant current control and various methods of dimming using the lighting-specific RL78/I1A MCUs.
An important feature of the board is the new version of a very comprehensive and easy-to-use software GUI tool, called the Applilet EZ for HCD. The Applilet EZ for HCD enables very easy graphical configuration of an LED lighting system while also generating pre-compiled C code for the RL78/I1A MCUs. It enables system designers to program the target device using only a USB cable. Using the Applilet EZ for HCD software tool, they can generate communication protocol stacks for DALI and DMX512 in seconds. The Applilet EZ for HCD is available to download from the website.
The evaluation board is based on the 38-pin R5F107DE device with 64KB of flash memory. It implements efficient circuits to demonstrate programmable 3-channel LED constant 350 milliampere (mA) current control in buck converter topology, using the 16-bit PWM timers running at 64 megahertz (MHz) and set to the dithering function to further improve the average resolution under a nanosecond. The board also provides a number of dedicated analogue peripherals integrated on chip, such as a programmable gain amplifier and comparators. The unique internal architecture of the devices reduces the code size and frees up the CPU to execute other instructions in the background.
Four types of dimming interfaces are supported by the board to demonstrate the flexibility of the solution. They comprise DALI, DMX512, IR remote control and analogue volume.
The RL78/I1A DC/DC LED control evaluation board supports an on-board debug function via the USB interface by using the CubeSuite+ debugger, eliminating the need for additional hardware. It allows flash programming and supports standard debug functions such as code execution, single stepping, software breakpoints and memory manipulation. In addition, the board also supports debugging using the E1 emulator. The full CubeSuite+ Integrated Development Environment is also available to download from Renesas website.
Pricing and Availability
Renesas' new evaluation board will be available from April 2012, priced at US$170 per unit. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)
(Remarks) All other registered trademarks or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Refer to the separate sheet for product specifications
About Renesas Electronics Corporation
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power and SoC products, Renesas provides comprehensive solutions for a broad range of automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT applications that help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.