Renesas Electronics Corporation has announced the release of a new microcontroller (MCU) called the RL78/G15, which is part of the RL78 family of MCUs. The device is designed for 8-bit applications and has a small package size of 8-pins, making it suitable for use in industries such as industrial, consumer, sensor control, lighting, and inverter applications.
Key Features of the RL78/G15
- RL78 16-bit CPU core operating at 16MHz
- Wide operating ambient temperature range of -40°C to 125°C
- Available in 8-pin to 20-pin packages, with the smallest 3 mm x 3mm WDFN package
- All pins can be used for general-purpose I/O, except VDD and VSS power supply pins
- Up to 8 KB of code flash memory, 1 KB of data flash, and 1 KB of SRAM
- Supports operating voltages from 2.4V to 5.5V
- Multiple serial interfaces supported: CSI, UART, Simple I2C, and multi-master I2C
- High-precision oscillator (±1.0%)
- Built-in comparator
Technical Details
Package Size
The RL78/G15 comes in package sizes that range from 8 to 20 pins, with the smallest 8-pin device measuring only 3 x 3 mm. This small package size is intended to keep the system size small and reduce the cost of end systems.
Temperature Range
The maximum operating ambient temperature of the device is 125°C, which facilitates optimal thermal design and allows the MCU to be used near heat-generating components such as inverter motors.
CPU Core
The RL78/G15 features a 16-bit CPU core that operates at 16MHz.
Memory
The device includes 4-8KB of code flash memory, 1 KB of data flash, and 1 KB of SRAM.
Serial Interfaces
The RL78/G15 supports multiple serial interfaces including CSI, UART, Simple I2C, and multi-master I2C.
Development Environment
Renesas offers a GUI-based Smart Configurator tool to help engineers generate driver code for peripheral functions and a Fast Prototyping Board (FPB) for evaluations. Debugging and programming can be done using only a USB cable. The development environment also includes an Arduino library that can run on the FPB and access development resources of the RL78 as well as the Arduino ecosystem.
The RL78/G15 is available today in volume production. More information on the new product and supporting tools is available.
