Embedded systems have become extremely complex as systems have moved from disconnected, simple devices to smart and complex internet connected devices. Development teams need a way to remotely fix bugs and also add new features to their products once it has been deployed into the field. In order perform software updates, developers using the Renesas Synergy™ Platform can use the Synergy Software Flashloader Framework…

In the last several posts we have been discussing how to customize the BSP and even how to add modules and frameworks to an application. Adding these components to a project is one thing, but figuring out how to use them can be a completely different animal. In this post, we are going to examine how to use the automatically generated code along with tips and tricks for looking up the API and accessing the documentation…

When diving into the SSP Framework, developers might have noticed that quite a few modules have a property for a callback. Embedded software developers who are new to real-time operating systems and have mostly programmed at the bare-metal level may ...

In the last several posts, we have been examining how to create our own customized board support packages and even export them as a pack. Today we are going to examine how to add frameworks and modules to a board support package along with important ...

In the last post, we discussed the fundamentals associated with creating a base project using the “Custom BSP Creator”. In that post, we saw that there are two scripts associated with creating a custom BSP; the Custom BSP Creator and the ...

The Renesas Synergy™ Platform development kits are a great way to get a jump start on developing an embedded application. The development boards are readily available at an affordable cost but a development kit will only get a developer so far....

The SPI bus has always been my favorite communication interface. It’s blindingly fast compared to other communication protocols like UART or IIC and doesn’t have a complex protocol involving addressing, NAKs or ACKs. SPI does use a single...

Just the other day I was searching a component suppliers’ website looking for sensors to integrate in a prototype IoT device. After scrolling through hundreds of devices, I realized that while sensors offered multiple options for interfacing to...

In order for our digital embedded systems to interact with the analog world around us, they must convert those analog signals into a digital representation that microcontrollers can understand and process. Analog-to-digital converters (ADC) are used ...

Systems have a tendency to work just perfectly while on the bench but once deployed into the field, it is possible for systems to experience lock-up, single event upsets or have a thread run off into the wild. Developers have often employed the watch...

Let’s be completely honest, no matter how many years a developer may have developing embedded software, setting up and configuring interrupts is still the most error prone and rarely works on the first try. There is just something about these i...

The world lives in a rich universe filled with colors and graphical user interfaces but embedded system developers often still live in terminal applications and command prompts. Console applications have been around for decades but have proven to be ...

Serial communications are a critical piece to nearly every embedded system. Whether developers are using UART, SPI, IIC or USB, developers need a way for their systems to communicate with the external world. Traditionally the first communication test...

In the last post, we started to take a deeper dive into the Renesas Synergy™ Platforms building blocks that contain drivers, Application Frameworks and threads. In a real-time embedded system that uses an RTOS, threads act as mini applications ...

The road to developing robust connected devices in a timely manner does not start by duplicating efforts and reinventing the wheel. Successful development teams build their applications on proven, ready-made drivers and frameworks. These building blo...

Software development is perhaps the most expensive endeavor undertaken by mankind. The simplest applications can cost as little as $15 per line of code (LOC) or for safety critical software as much as $1000 per LOC. Despite these steep costs, develop...

Have you ever worked on a team that had amazing, world changing ideas but the barriers to get started and to market were just too great to overcome? Maybe the development team had a funds shortage or a competitor right on their heels. Perhaps the dev...

Embedded software development is becoming exponentially expensive! Twenty years ago a developer using a simple 8-bit microcontroller needed to get a few interrupts up and running, a few peripherals and they were off to the races. Today, a developer n...

In an industry that is always changing, the one constant that has remained through-out my career is that developers can never get features implemented fast enough. Companies and managers have delivery dates for yesterday which puts pressure and stre...

Over the past three posts, I’ve introduced you to Renesas Synergy MCU options for High Performance, High Efficiency and Ultra Low Power requirements. This week I spotlight the fourth and final series of the Synergy MCU family, the S5 series tha...

Think about the Internet of Things (IoT) for a second. What are two essential components that realize the IoT vision? If you answered MCUs and sensors, you win the smart developer of the day award! And what’s a critical MCU requirement for low...

Now that I’ve given you a taste last week in our exploration of the Synergy S7G2 microprocessor (MCU) group, I’ll bet you’re ready to extend your palate to another MCU group. I’m here to fill your appetite as we serve up a tas...

Hard to believe that I’m more than four months into this blog series and I’ve barely touched on Synergy Microcontrollers (MCUs). Seems blasphemous. Why the wait? Well, here’s my thinking. Renesas is already known for its prowess in ...

Remember all that hard work you did during the ISDE Preparation and ISDE Build phases over the past couple of weeks? Well, that’s all for naught if you don’t get the final phase of the design process right: ISDE Debugging. Shortchange thi...

Configuration is cool but coding is king where embedded and IoT application development is concerned. Last week, I showed you all the cool configurator plug-ins the e2 studio Integrated Solution Development Environment (ISDE) provides to help get you...