I have had the pleasure of experimenting with the Renesas Demonstration Kit (RDK) for the RX63N recently. It’s available for free, while supplies last, within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Of course, the kit includes an RX63N MCU (running at 96MHz), but it also includes a huge peripheral set, including 10/100 Ethernet, a CAN transceiver, a mini USB 2.0 port, a temperature gauge, a three-axis accelerometer, an RS-232 port, a speaker, a headphone jack, a potentiometer, and an LCD screen. (This should keep me busy for a while.) And if that isn’t enough, the board also includes a number of expansion ports.
The RX63N and RX631 group of 32-bit microcontrollers are capable of speeds up to 100MHz. A broad range of memory options are available: 256KB to 2MB of built-in Flash, and 64KB to 256KB of RAM. As you can see above, an abundance of peripherals are supported, as well as a few functions that I haven’t mentioned yet:
A 12-bit A/D converter with up to 21 channels
A D/A converter with up to 2 channels
Timer and pulse-output functions that make PWM output for motor control possible
An independent watchdog timer and CRC function for supporting the home-appliance safety standard (IEC 60730) for Europe
Abundant communication functions, such as SCI, RSPI, and I2C
As someone who loves to learn, I am also intrigued by a book from Micrium about their µC/OS-III real-time kernel which references the RX63N. The book and board combination targets programmers and college students who need to understand the RTOS and how to write programs for it. The book is in two parts. The first part covers the internals, features, API calls, and where and how to use an RTOS, all presented in a clear and useful manner--accompanied by a wealth of diagrams. Part two provides specific examples of using µC/OS-III with the RX63N microcontroller.
Speaking of examples, the RX63N RDK also comes with plenty. Two are particularly interesting to me. One is a Windows application, µC/Probe, that allows you to read and write to values within the memory of the RX63N and map those values to a set of virtual controls and indicators placed on a graphical dashboard. No programming is required! The other is an Exosite demo. It allows you to connect your device to the cloud, where you are able to interact with it via a web browser from anywhere in the world!
If you’ve never worked with the RX series, or the RX63N in particular and would like to learn more about the capabilities of this more powerful controller, I’d strongly encourage you to look at the links I’ve provided. If your interest is piqued, take the opportunity to see if you would be eligible for a free demonstration kit.