Apr. 3, 2023 /SemiMedia/ -- Renesas Electronics Corporation recently expanded its industry-leading RISC-V portfolio by announcing the first RISC-V MCUs designed specifically for voice-controlled HMI (human-machine interface) systems. The new R9A06G150 32-bit ASSP, developed in collaboration with RISC-V ecosystem partners, provides a complete, cost-effective, production-ready voice-control system solution that eliminates the need for RISC-V tools and upfront software investment.

Renesas Electronics Corporation recently expanded its industry-leading RISC-V portfolio by announcing the first RISC-V MCUs designed specifically for voice-controlled HMI (human-machine interface) systems.

Targeting residential and commercial building automation, home appliances, toys and healthcare devices, the new ASSP supports multiple languages and user-defined keywords for voice-recognition operations. The foundation of a turnkey voice-control solution, the R9A06G150 is pre-programmed using specialized application code developed by independent design houses with a proven ability to bring customer designs to volume production.

The introduction reinforces Renesas as a leader in the emerging market for the open-source RISC-V ISA (instruction set architecture) and follows introductions last year of a 32-bit motor-control ASSP and 64-bit general-purpose RZ/Five MPUs based on a 64-bit RISC-V CPU.

“Renesas continues to broaden our RISC-V MCU/MPU offering, in this case by delivering designers an innovative voice-command HMI with pre-developed software that shortens development time and time to market,” said Roger Wendelken, Senior Vice President in Renesas’ IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit. “Through close collaboration with the RISC-V partner ecosystem, this flexible, scalable ASSP solution allows customers interested in voice control to support different application classes on the same MCU hardware platform.”

Renesas’ new R9A06G150 voice-control HMI ASSP is based on RISC-V processing IP from Andes Technology Corp., which incorporated its AndesCore D25F CPU core based on the AndeStar™ V5 architecture. "We are excited to be part of Renesas' turnkey voice control solution," said Frankwell Lin, Andes’ Chairman and CEO. "The 32-bit AndesCore D25F was engineered to deliver high per-MHz performance in a small silicon footprint. Major mixed-signal ASSP developers such as Renesas can thus concentrate on their core engineering innovation and outsource non-critical elements of their design to CPU core suppliers such as Andes."

Renesas will deliver the first RISC-V voice-control ASSP pre-programmed with dedicated application code developed by leading independent design house, Cyberon, an expert in voice-recognition technology, and Orbstar, a systems integrator specializing in embedded solutions As they did with Renesas’ previous motor control ASSP, SEGGER Microcontroller GmbH will provide support for the voice-control ASSP with its complete ecosystem, including Embedded Studio and J-Link.

Key Features of the R9A06G150 Voice-Control HMI ASSP Solution

  • 100MHz CPU with DSP instructions, floating-point extension and cost-optimized specification
  • Specialized audio PDM & SSI I/F for seamless connection to microphones and codecs
  • Compatible with low-cost analog microphones and outputs
  • Low power consumption helps end products to save energy for a greener environment through optimal mix of lowest active current, reduced standby current, background operation, SRAM power-off choices, fast wakeup, low power timers
  • Controlled by external host I/F via SCI/Uart, SPI, I3C or I2C
  • Small package support for cost and integration effectiveness (QFN 48, 32, 24)
  • 256KB program flash, 128KB RAM, 16KB data flash
  • QSPI interface for easy memory expansion
  • Complete reference kit: hardware, software, tools, hardware/software datasheets, GUI manual, app notes

The R9A06G150 32-bit MCU voice-control HMI ASSP solution is available now. For further information, please visit: renesas.com/R9A06G150.