At Arrow, we see firsthand how the world of embedded software development is changing. At a time when development teams are getting smaller, more and more is demanded of designers.
This presents challenges, but also opportunities. The programs that are able to seamlessly integrate hardware and software development are poised to make the greatest impact and go from application concept to completed solution. The Renesas Synergy™ Platform is just the type of robust solution to stand at the forefront of this newest era of software development. More than just a high-performance MCU family, Renesas Synergy™ Platform is a fully integrated, embedded development platform that allows designers to create robust, scalable designs with increased impact and reduced time-to-market.
As recently as a decade ago, the term “embedded” connoted something different from today. Embedded devices were typically individually contained and self-perpetuating. These solutions were designed for minimal connectivity and maximum durability. Very little about the process was real-time, and systems might go months or years without upgrades. Security was almost an afterthought; operators were primarily concerned with vandalism or theft of the physical parts if they were concerned at all. In the environment of ten years ago, 70-80% of a given design prototype was focused on hardware, and the remaining 20-30% was focused on software. But things have changed. The addition of many more functional requirements for the newly developing IoT market requires electronic solutions to be smart, connected, scalable and secure. Developers are given shorter time-to-market windows and are expected to create more robust solutions than ever before. That’s where the Renesas Synergy™ platform comes in.
The Synergy™ platform is more than just a supplier of embedded software solutions for the modern IoT environment: It’s a fully integrated partner for development teams, complete with hardware, software and design tools, all of which are standardized and fully supported. Synergy™ is the only programming platform where detailed MCU functions, a complete RTOS-based integrated software framework, validated middleware, and integrated development tools can all be accessed under a single development umbrella, and entirely through the API.
The Synergy™ platform isn’t just software, and it isn’t just hardware. It’s both. The backbone of Synergy™ is its integrated platform of ARM based MCUs that fit perfectly within a broad-based software umbrella specifically designed to make embedded development easier for engineers. The Synergy™ microcontroller portfolio includes four MCU series, all of which focus on scalability and compatibility. The S1 series has a core frequency up to 32 Mhz and is ultra-low power for long battery life. The S3 series, with a core frequency of 32-100 MHz, is highly efficient and primed for solutions like IoT sensors. The S5 series operates between 100-200 MHz and has high-integration capabilities for extremely capable embedded control applications across the board. Developers looking for blazing speed can choose from the industry-leading large memory size of the S7 series, with a core frequency of 200-300 MHz. No matter which MCU, The structure of the Synergy™ platform allows for designers to stand on the shoulders of proven hardware design in crafting their IoT solution.
When developers can re-use low-level code across the platform, development time drops and scalability skyrockets. The heart of the Synergy™ platform is the Synergy™ Software Package (SSP). By populating the SSP with X Ware technology from Express Logic, Synergy™ offers developers a turn-key, pre-licensed software suite without additional integration needs in a widely used, standardized C language interface. With ThreadX RTOS as the anchor, developers have access to an advanced scheduler as well as inter-process/inter-thread communication. Support stacks like FileX, GUIX, USBX and NetX offer capabilities including complete flash management, USB communications, an embedded graphical user interface development toolkit, and the implementation of TCP/IP protocol standards, all of which provide the rich user interface, speed, and network connectivity that today’s IoT solutions require.
Synergy™ goes even further with two families of software add-ons that let developers harness an entire extended network of relevant stacks, algorithms, functions, and specialties in developing their own solutions. Qualified and Verified Software Add-Ons (QSAs and VSAs) are plug-and-play third-party software components pre-verified by Renesas Synergy™ as having the same quality level as the SSP itself. With such an extensive network of add-ons and customization options, developers can be more responsive to market needs than ever before.
The best way to excel in an embedded software development environment that requires shortened development cycles and quick time to market it by utilizing shared knowledge. The Synergy umbrella of development tools offers an ecosystem of collaborative partnerships designed to create cutting edge solutions. The Synergy™ Eclipse-based integrated solution development environment (ISDE) is available with C compilers from GNU and IAR Systems and lets engineers begin prototyping right away. The IAR Embedded Workbench is a complete C/C++ compiler and debugger toolchain that has over 4,000 supported Synergy™ devices and easy architecture migration. Engineers can also use C-RUN, C-STACK, C-SPY, and other open source compilers seamlessly within the Synergy™ platform to develop a solution on the cutting edge of IoT.
The embedded software environment has seen explosive growth in IoT, both industrially and commercially. Increased communication and autonomous control in areas of industry or infrastructure have proven a lightning rod for security attacks. For the Synergy™ platform, security starts at the MCU level. Synergy™ Security MCUs are pre-programmed to establish a Root-of-Trust that uniquely personalizes each device. The constantly updated and evolving SSP ecosystem ensures that software adapts to evolving threats. Renesas Synergy™ has designated development tools to manage, deploy, and program encrypted firmware files directly into the MCUs, which allows developers to limit the number of MCUs programmed as they see fit, and to remotely update firmware with the latest software. Security threats are constantly evolving, so it’s integral to have a platform that can evolve ahead of them.
Success in the modern world of embedded development is reliant upon close, continued cooperation between software vendor and customer. Designers need a platform that can offer complete, scalable, integrated solutions that are also secure. Synergy takes the weight of low-level development and continued baseline investment off the shoulders of engineers and allows them to focus on doing what they do best: creating cutting-edge solutions and bringing them to market faster.