Low power MCUs to accelerate prototyping for sensor hubs

1 min read

Renesas has announced the RL78/G11 MCUs, a group of small-package, low power devices that is said to enable faster prototyping and the development of systems that support low power sensor hubs and sensor application systems.

The MCUs support up to 13 sensors in a 24-pin package and provide extended features, such as wakeup from standby mode in 4μs, and flash operating mode transitions that are claimed to optimise the CPU operating performance and contribute to energy savings. The MCUs also support battery voltage measurement and sensing referenced to an internal fixed voltage that operates from a 1.8V power supply which further contributes to energy savings.

With a 16kbyte flash memory and analogue peripherals such as A/D converters, D/A converters, comparators and a PGA, the RL78/G11 group supports low power operation (100µA at 1MHz) and is available in 3 x 3mm WFLGA, 4 x 4mm HWQFN and standard 20-pin LSSOP.

The company will provide a development environment that includes evaluation boards, development tools, and software for prototyping and evaluation periods as short as one day.

These devices are also claimed to provide a range of features and functions. These include timer functions that support complementary PWM output and forced cutoff, safety functions that can detect and diagnose incorrect hardware operation, multichannel serial communications functions, timer functions that support flyback control, and an INTFO function that can directly output interrupt signals from external pins.

Using the smart features like data transfer controller and event link controller, peripherals can be connected internally to reduce CPU workload and can save overall power consumption.