Renesas Electronics Corporation introduced the RA6W1 dual-band Wi-Fi 6 wireless microcontroller (MCU), along with the RA6W2 MCU that integrates both Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technologies. These connectivity devices address the growing demand for always-connected, ultra-low-power IoT devices across smart home, industrial, medical and consumer applications. With the " sleepy connected" Wi-Fi functionality, these devices stay connected with minimal power draw, meeting the growing requirements of modern energy efficiency standards.
Built on the Arm®? Cortex®?-M33 CPU core running at 160 MHz with 704 KB of SRAM, the MCUs enable engineers to develop cost-effective, standalone IoT applications using integrated communication interfaces and analog peripherals, without the need for an external MCU. Customers also have the option to design with a host MCU that can be selected from Renesas' broad RA MCU offerings and attach the RA6W1 and RA6W2 as connectivity and networking add-ons.
Both RA6W1 and RA 6W2 are designed to work with Renesas' Flexible Software Package (FSP) and e2 studio integrated development environment. As the first Wi-Fi MCUs in the RA portfolio, they offer a scalable platform that supports seamless software reuse across the RA family. With support for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, both MCUs deliver superior throughput, low latency, and reduced power consumption.
Advanced features such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and TWT boost performance and energy efficiency, making these solutions well suited for dense urban environments and battery-powered devices. The RA6W1 and RA sixW2 devices offer advanced built-in security including AES-256 encryption, secure boot, key storage, TRNG, and XiP with on-the-fly decryption to keep data safe from unauthorized access. The RA6W1 is RED certified (Radio Equipment Directive), which makes it easier for developers to future-proof their design.
Additionally, the device is Matter ready and certified with Matter 1.4, and is compatible across smart home platforms. Renesas supports both MCUs and modules through the Renesas Product Longevity Program, offering 15-year support for MCUs and 10 years for modules. These wireless solutions save power, simplify system design and lower BOM cost. By integrating connectivity at the system level, the modules significantly reduce design effort and accelerate time to market.
winning Combinations: Renesas offers "Advanced Low-Power Wireless HMI for Household Appliances" and "Automatic Pet Door & Tracking System" that combine the new Wi-Fi 6 MCU and Wi-Fi/Blu Bluetooth LE MCU with numerous compatible devices from its portfolio to offer a wide array of winning Combinations. winning Combinations are technically vetted system architectures from mutually compatible devices that work together seamlessly to bring an optimized, low-risk design for faster time to market. The RA6W1 MCU is now available in FCQFN and WLCSP packages, along with the RRQ61001 and RRQ61051 modules.
The RA6W2 MCU (BGA package) will be available in First Quarter/2026. The devices are supported by the FSP, e2 studio, evaluation kit and software development kit (SDK) that include flash memory, PCB trace antennas, connectors and embedded power profiler for power consumption analysis. Renesas also offers comprehensive software tools to aid system application development, as well as the Production Line Tool (PLP) and e2 studio integrated production add-ons.
