Renesas uses smart Bluetooth microcontrollers to improve the service life of connected devices

Renesas Electronics is a leading provider of advanced semiconductor solutions that help designers extend battery life and accelerate time to market for connected healthcare, body wear and other connected portable applications, with RL78 microcontrollers/G1D group controllers (MCUS) - a new smart wireless solution that supports Bluetooth 4.1's smart specification. The highly integrated RL78 / G1D MCU combines Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver technology with the Renesas ultra-low Power microcontroller RL78 to provide a powerful, energy efficient wireless for a range of connected medical, consumer solutions and industrial applications.

"This is an exciting and challenging time in the early stages of what is truly an iot ecosystem, and designers need flexible, powerful and energy-efficient embedded solutions to meet evolving standards and application needs," said Vin D 'Agostino, vice president, General Products Division, Renesas Electronics USA. "The RL78 / G1D device was developed with this in mind, leveraging our industry-leading low-power technology that ADAPTS RF capabilities and MCU design expertise to help customers bring their wireless applications to market efficiently, easily and cost-effectively."

Low power smart wireless microcontroller for Internet of Things

Renesas designs Bluetooth Smart compatible RL78 / G1D microcontrollers to address the complexities of wireless design, energy efficiency, and time-critical customer needs to market and budget constraints.

The RL71 / G1D MCU combines built-in technology to help extend the battery life of connected devices. On-chip RF transceivers enable wireless operation with the lowest power consumption levels in the industry - 3.5 milliamps (mA) during reception and 4.3 mA at 0 dBm during transmission - providing essentially reduced power consumption that is essential for battery-operated wireless devices. Adaptable RF technology allows power consumption to be adjusted to optimal levels during wireless operation, with priority current consumption or communication range depending on distance. This flexibility greatly reduces the power consumption during NFC, which, combined with on-chip integration of the most required antenna connections, helps reduce the cost of external components.

The transceiver supports the current Bluetooth 4.1 specification, which was developed by the Bluetooth SIG to improve customer availability, as well as support for IP-based connectivity - a key wireless link for the Internet of Things. These, coupled with the excellent power efficiency of the RL78 family of ultra-low power MCUS, provide customers with a powerful, energy-efficient wireless solution. For example, when wireless communication occurs at 1-second intervals while remaining connected to another wireless device, the Bluetooth Low Power (BLE) feature can increase the industry-leading low average current of 10 microamps. The RL78 / G1D MCU supports Bluetooth V4.1 embedded and modem (radio specific) mode.

Simplified RF design

A key factor in matching the RF path - With the new device on-chip, Renesas simplifies the circuit design of the antenna connection by integrating Barron elements. This allows designs to directly connect RF transceiver terminals to external antenna terminals, eliminating discrete unbalanced components and reducing development, product, component, and production costs. Both PCB-based and chip antenna types are supported, and the connection is single-ended.

Accelerate the development of Bluetooth function

With the RL78 / G1D MCU, Renesas offers a variety of tools that enable customers to easily develop Bluetooth smart applications and reduce the time required for development while efficiently utilizing the development environment and software resources. The firmware of the Air (FOTA) function makes it easy for designers to use in the upgrade field. The RL78 / G1D MCU is also equipped with an evaluation board (FCC, IC, CE, MIC, KC certified) that allows system designers to evaluate wireless characteristics and initial communication behavior. Bluetooth SIG- Qualified protocol stack, PC GUI evaluation tool, radio certification guide allows designers to save time and cost.