Automotive

Maintenance-free, energy harvesting can be used for zero carbon asset management. Analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor company, Semtech,   

Ryoden, a LoRa ecosystem and network provider have used the RE microcontroller family from Renesas to connect directly to the LoRa Cloud using Semtech’s LoRa Edge platform (LR1110).

LoRa Edge allows for geolocation capabilities driven by energy harvesting, the battery-free energy solution. It also has security features, making it suitable for tracking of personal valuables, transportation and logistics, animals, and healthcare equipment and assets.

Dr. Shiro Kamohara, senior principal specialist from Renesas’ low power product department, says: “The energy harvesting RE family represents the evolution of microcontroller products that have the advantages of being maintenance-free while keeping top-class efficiency. Through our collaboration with Semtech, we are able to offer a cost-efficient green energy solution for our customers.”

The energy-efficient RE family microcontroller is based on the Arm Cortex M0+. It has a built-in controller which can make a battery-less, maintenance-free product. It also has security capabilities that are critical to the IoT and can help protect IoT embedded devices from viral infections and eavesdropping.

When integrated with Semtech’s LR1110, the power consumption of the product is reduced, reports Semtech. Semtech’s LoRa device-to-Cloud platform enables the rapid development and deployment of low power, cost-efficient and long range IoT networks, gateways, sensors, module products, and IoT services worldwide. Semtech’s LoRa technology provides the communication layer for the LoRaWAN standard, which is maintained by the LoRa Alliance, an open IoT alliance for low power wide area network (LPWAN) applications that has been used to deploy IoT networks in over 100 countries. Semtech is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance.

“With the low power nature and end-to-end security of the LoRa Edge platform, the embedded LoRa Basics Modem-E native modem software operating on the LoRaWAN standard, and the LoRa Cloud geolocation and device and application services, the Renesas RE Family is one of the most power-efficient MCUs available on the market,” says Sree Durbha, director of product management in Semtech’s wireless and sensing products group.

Target applications for the LoRa Edge platform with Renesas RE include asset management, tracking of goods through the supply chain and several other use cases requiring continuous indoor or outdoor tracking.

Ryoden is a member of the Mitsubishi Electric Group and is a LPWAN (low power wide area network) communication carrier. It provides data communication services that utilise IoT devices. In addition, the company manages and operates network servers as a network service provider for LoRaWAN communications, and provides related applications and support services.

http://www.renesas.com

http://www.semtech.com

Software development and validation for smart camera and automated driving applications in passenger, commercial and off-road vehicles can be accelerated using the R-Car software development kit, says Renesas Electronics. The single, multi-OS software platform is easy for customers to access, learn, use, and install, claims the company.

Deep learning is being used by vehicle manufacturers to enable smart camera applications and automated driving systems. Most however are built on consumer or server applications, which do not operate under the same stringent constraints for functional safety, real-time responsiveness, and low power consumption.

Optimised for use with Renesas’ R-Car V3H and R-Car V3M SoCs, the R-Car SDK is built for rule-based automotive computer vision and AI-based functions. The simulation platform offers both AI and conventional hardware accelerators for accurate simulations in real time. Renesas has already confirmed that it will continue to strengthen this virtual platform. A full suite of development PC-based tools is delivered for both Windows and Linux as well as multiple libraries, including support for deep learning, computer vision, video codecs, and 3D graphics. The SDK supports Linux, multiple ASIL-D-compliant operating systems (e.g., QNX, eMCOS, and Integrity) in a single package.

A version of the e² studio is available for the R-Car V series, focusing on the creation of real-time computer vision applications for ADAS and automated driving. The open-source Eclipse-based development environment includes a full set of debug features and an e² studio GUI (graphics user interface) that allows users to customise and integrate third-party tools. It also supports bus monitoring and debug functionalities for image processing and deep learning subsystems.

Software samples, popular CNN networks, a workshop, and application notes are included for a quick start for development. The SDK is also suitable for benchmarking Renesas products and to select the most appropriate SoC for a target application.

The automatic installer ensures all the software libraries and the development environment can be launched quickly on a development workstation. Applications developed and designed on a PC can be seamlessly ported to embedded development hardware. Renesas’ R-Car partner ecosystem – the R-Car Consortium – will have access to the R-Car SDK.

The R-Car SDK is available now.

https://www.renesas.com