Renesas Electronics extend memory for RX130 MCUs
Offering enhanced functionality for touch-based home appliances and industrial automation applications, Renesas Electronics has extended the RX130 microcontroller series.
The RX130 MCUs now have flash memory sizes up to 256, 384 and 512kbyte. The company has also increased package size up to 100-pins for compatibility with the RX231/RX230 touch MCUs. The low power, low-cost RX130 MCUs adds higher responsiveness and functionality for touch-based home appliances, and building and industrial automation applications requiring 3.0 or 5.0V system control and low power consumption.
The 32-bit RX130 MCUs have a new capacitive touch IP with improved sensitivity and robustness, and a comprehensive device evaluation environment. They are designed for challenging, non-traditional touch materials, or devices required to operate in wet or dirty environments, such as a kitchen, bath, or factory floor.
Touch-based HMI is more commonplace in home, building, and industrial devices, and the RX130 MCUs are a powerful, responsive and safety-compliant touch solution that allows designers to explore new materials and operating environments for their devices, says Renesas, while providing design scalability.
The RX130 MCUs combine sensitivity and noise tolerance, making it possible to develop touch keys using a variety of cover materials for use in an array of applications. Target applications are control panels for electric appliances used in locations where they are likely to get wet, home equipment employing recessed switches for an attractive design, and industrial machinery that, for safety, must be operated wearing gloves.
The RX130 MCUs have a new capacitive touch IP that supports both self-capacity and mutual-capacity to improve robustness and sensitivity. The capacitive touch sensor also significantly improves noise immunity and sensitivity for operation in wet or dirty conditions. This allows manufacturers to apply touch keys to a variety of non-traditional materials, such as wood, glass, or thick acrylic. This opens up capacitive touch to a wider range of use in wet materials, while reducing safety or malfunction risks.
To enable multi-language support, integrated HMI and system control, and enhanced functional safety, identified by Renesas as the key trends driving demand for on-chip memory, the RX130’s on-chip memory range and package lineup have been extended. Designers can select an MCU with 64kbyte flash memory in a 48-pin package, or 128kbyte in an 80-pin package, and then move up to 128, 256, 384 or 512kbyte in a 100-pin package.
The RX130 MCUs are compliant with IEC/UL60730 safety standards for consumer electronics, with several built-in functional safety hardware elements.
They are compatible with the RX231/RX230 group of MCUs, offering manufacturers a seamless migration path to the higher-performance Renesas MCUs for touch-control and 5.0V system-control solutions.
Pin compatibility and software compatibility make it possible to reuse existing software resources and providing coverage for a range of low- and high-end devices. Hardware compatibility is supported by Renesas’ RX Firmware Integration Technology (FIT) driver package, which offers a common API for designers to move up or down seamlessly within the Renesas RX family, and also reduces the burden of program development and software resource management in software development.
For evaluation, there is a Renesas Starter Kit, Renesas Touch Solution Kit designed for a detailed capacitive touch feature evaluation, the Workbench6 v1.07.00.00 tool environment with improved noise immunity and tuning ability to improve usability for capacitive touch software development and the development environment toolbox, including Renesas’ FIT, emphasising portability between MCUs within the RX family.
The 38 new RX130 MCUs are available now.
