Renesas Electronics has added eight microcontrollers to its V850 range which are optimised for low power and offer memory from 768kbyte flash/80kbyte RAM to 1Mbyte flash/80kbyte RAM.
Four of the MCUs have USB 2.0 interfaces.
According to the supplier, the low power and increased memory specification is suited to smart meter designs.
“Software complexity continues to increase in many applications. Product designers are faced with the difficult design decision between extending design cycles to reduce software size and paying for extra external memory to shorten design time,” said the supplier.
The claim is that the V850 MCUs with up to 1Mbyte flash can support many applications without resorting to external memory.
There is also a V850ES/Jx3-L low power USB stick demonstrator.
The kit supports current consumption measurement with use of an ampere meter. It also demonstrates RAM retention and real time clock operation in the lowest power mode.