TOKYO, Japan, July 7, 2021 – Renesas Electronics Group (TSE: 6723), a global supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced Quick-Connect, an innovative IoT system design platform that dramatically simplifies prototyping IoT systems design. The Renesas Quick-Connect IoT System consists of standardized boards and interfaces, enabling designers to quickly and easily connect various sensors to MCU development boards. The system also provides core software components that are portable between boards, greatly reducing coding requirements.

As part of the Quick-Connect IoT system, Renesas and Digilent have developed a new Type 6A extended I2C Pmod interface for wider coverage and greater flexibility. Renesas has standardized Digilent’s new 6A Pmod connector for new Pmod sensor boards and MCU development kits. Standardization also gives designers great flexibility to choose an optimized product mix for any IoT prototyping. The MCU board will have dual Pmod connectors for sensor Pmod and communication Module respectively; Pmods can also be cascaded for greater flexibility.

Renesas has also redefined common software application programming interfaces (APIs) and hardware abstraction layer (HAL) codes for various sensors and embedded them into the Renesas e2 studio integrated development environment. Instead of writing and testing hundreds of lines of driver code, designers can now graphically select their sensor and write a few lines of code. All integration and setup work happens in the background, reducing development time.

“We focus on creating solutions that enable customers to bring superior end products to market faster,” said DK Singh, Director, Systems and Solutions Marketing Division, Renesas Electronics. For example, Renesas has developed hundreds of ‘successful products’ Combination’ provides customers with a higher-order design platform, reducing design risk and shortening development time. Quick-Connect IoT is the latest example of our focus on this technology area, and we will expand its coverage to support more boards and products. In addition, having a standardized hardware connectivity platform also allows customers to adopt compatible Pmods developed by third parties and other suppliers.”

“The new 6A Pmod interface reflects our vision to make system prototyping easier and more convenient,” said Talesa Bleything, Director of Marketing, Digilent. “It is I2C compliant, with optional interrupt and reset pins, and optional control signals. , bringing greater flexibility to users for various types of system development.”

Currently, Quick-Connect IoT includes more than 10 new Renesas Pmod sensors and other modular boards, such as air quality sensors, flow sensors, biosensing, time-of-flight, temperature, and other sensing elements. Meanwhile, more Renesas Sensor Pmods including various sensors and peripherals are also under development. More than 25 MCU development boards and kits from the RA, RX and RL78 product families are compatible with the new Pmod 6A standard, either directly or through a Renesas-developed small breakout board; both RE and RZ development boards will be supported in the near future. Customers can order development kits, sensors, and interposer boards through Renesas’ sales and sample distribution channels.

“Our IoT customers need more than great MCUs, sensors and software; Quick-Connect IoT is a game-changing product that strengthens our presence in the IoT market,” said Chris Allexandre, senior vice president of Renesas Electronics. The advantages.”

Availability and more product information

The Quick-Connect IoT Design System is currently available through a variety of hardware and software products from Renesas.