Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the availability of the RX71M Group as the new product in the RX Family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs). Developed for use in industrial equipment, the new series doubles the CPU operating frequency to 240 megahertz (MHz) from the 120 MHz of previous products and is available with up to 4 MB of on-chip flash memory. A total of 112 product versions are available with package pin counts ranging from 100 to 177 pins and on-chip flash memory capacities from 2 MB to 4 MB.

Key features of the new RX71M group: Maximum operating frequency of RX Family lineup increased to 240 MHz, for a scalable range of products that contributes to reduced product development time and cost - With the appearance of the RX71M, the RX Family includes in addition to the RX100 Series operating at 32 MHz, the RX200 Series operating at 50 MHz, and the RX600 Series operating at 120 MHz, the new RX700 Series operating at 240 MHz, which is double the previous maximum operating frequency. To smooth transitions among a wide range of products, the RX71M maintains backward compatibility with earlier RX Family products in aspects such as peripheral functions, development tools, and pin assignments. The RXv2 core delivers approximately 1.3 times the performance of the earlier RXv1 core.

It maintains complete code compatibility (backward compatibility) with the RXv1, ensuring easy software portability. Drivers with support for Firmware Integration Technology (FIT) make porting software between RX microcontrollers even easier. Development time and cost can be reduced by up to 50% when porting program code between RX products.

This helps customers in their efforts to develop products based on a common platform. Expanded functionality for ensuring code data confidentiality and preventing unauthorized copying from the development stage onward, which is increasingly important as the move toward IoT brings more diverse communication interfaces and development becomes increasingly globalized - To support the increasing diversity of communication standards accompanying the trend toward IoT, the RX71M expands the list of supported communication interfaces beyond the earlier CAN and SPI to include SD Host Interface, USB High Speed (built into the PHY), and dual-channel Ethernet with IEEE 1588 support. This provides the connectivity with a wide variety of devices demanded in today's industrial equipment.

In response to the increased security risks accompanying the proliferation of communication standards, high-speed encryption functions (AES, DES, SHA, and RNG) are implemented in on-chip hardware. This provides robust protection against leaks of important data and communication data. Previous Renesas MCUs offered functionality to protect leaks of post-development code by preventing code stored in the on-chip flash memory from being read by external devices.

The RX71M expands this coverage to the development stage with a trusted memory function that protects important algorithms from being leaked or copied without authorization. The trusted memory function sets aside a special area of memory from which code cannot be read (copied) even by the internal modules of the microcontroller, such as the on-chip flash memory. This function prevents core software technology from being disclosed, even when development takes place at overseas facilities or is undertaken jointly with other companies.

Up to 45% reduction in BOM cost and double the performance of earlier products to exclusive Renesas high-speed flash technology and large on-chip memory capacity - High-speed flash memory employing the cutting-edge 40 nm flash process and capable of operating at 120 MHz, and the advanced fetch unit (AFU) incorporating exclusive cache-based memory control technology, achieve performance equivalent to no-wait access when operating at 240 MHz. Even if a cache miss occurs, the performance penalty is equivalent to only one cycle, so excellent real-time performance can be achieved even when using only the flash memory. The available on-chip memory configurations extend up to a maximum of 4 MB of flash memory, the capacity available in this class of product; 512 KB of parity checkable user RAM; and 32 KB of single error correction/double error detection ECC RAM.

This makes it possible to do without external high-speed SRAM. The RX71M allows customers to utilize the on-chip memory to the full, realizing a reduction in BOM cost of as much as 45%. Availability: Samples of the RX71M MCUs are available now.

Mass production is scheduled to begin in June 2015 and is expected to reach a combined volume of 500,000 units per month by May 2016.