MCUs combine Arm TrustZone with Renesas’ Secure Crypto Engine
MCUs for industrial and IoT applications, the RA4 Series, now include the 32-bit RA4M3 group of MCUs. The MCUs boost operating performance up to 100MHz using the Arm Cortex-M33 core based on Armv8-M architecture. They are based on a 40nm process and include integrated flash memory, 128kbyte RAM, 8kbyte data flash and 1kbyte of stand-by SRAM.
In addition to the Arm TrustZone technology, they include the Renesas’ Secure Crypto Engine, and memory enhancements. The RA4M3 Group can be used by engineers to develop safe and secure IoT edge devices for low-power applications, such as security, metering, industrial, and HVAC applications.
The RA4M3 Group offers a balanced combination of performance and power consumption with the same advanced security and safety as the RA6M4 family, released earlier this year. Customers can take advantage of the flexibility for memory expansion options typically used in industrial and IoT applications.
RA4M3 MCUs are designed for low power IoT applications that require a balance of high performance, strong security, and higher memory. They combine TrustZone technology with an enhanced Secure Crypto Engine, which incorporates multiple symmetric and asymmetric cryptography accelerators, advanced key management, security lifecycle management, power analysis resistance, and tamper detection.
The RA4M3 MCUs drive power consumption down to 119 microA/MHz in active mode running CoreMark from flash memory and 1.6mA in standby mode with standby wakeup times as fast as 30 microseconds. This is critical for IoT applications operating in the field for extended periods.
For memory-intense applications, designers can combine quad-SPI and SD-card interfaces with the MCUs’ embedded memory to increase capacity. The background operation and Flash Bank SWAP option is particularly suitable for memory optimised firmware updates running in the background. The increase in embedded RAM with parity/error code correction (ECC) also benefits the MCUs’ use in safety-critical applications. To lower bill of material costs, the RA4M3 also includes capacitive touch sensing, embedded flash memory densities up to 1 Mbyte together with analogue communications and memory peripherals.
With Flexible Software Package (FSP), the RA4M3 Group allows customers to re-use legacy code and combine it with software from partners across the Arm and the RA partner ecosystems to speed implementation of complex connectivity and security functions. The FSP includes FreeRTOS and middleware, offering a premium device-to-cloud option for developers.
The FSP provides a host of efficiency enhancing tools for developing projects targeting the RA4M3 MCUs. The e2 studio integrated development environment (IDE) provides a familiar development cockpit from which the key steps of project creation, module selection and configuration, code development, code generation, and debugging are all managed. The FSP uses a GUI to simplify the process and dramatically accelerate the development process.
The RA4M3 MCUs are available now from Renesas’ worldwide distributors.
