Renesas Electronics recently introduced the RX23W – a 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) featuring Bluetooth® 5.0 for IoT endpoint devices such as home appliances and healthcare equipment. By combining Bluetooth 5.0 with Renesas’ Trusted Secure IP on its popular high-performance RX MCU family, Renesas offers customers an optimized single-chip solution for system control and wireless communication, while also providing a more secure way to answer the Bluetooth security risks such as eavesdropping, tampering, and viruses.

"While devices with Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy is not new in the market, Renesas adds value for this ubiquitous wireless technology with a twist: strong emphasis on security and privacy,” said Daryl Khoo, Vice President, Product Marketing, IoT Platform Business Unit at Renesas Electronics Corporation. "The recent security concerns clearly shows that the Bluetooth implementations are getting more complex as more core use cases are defined, and there is a strong need to address better, more secure connections. Renesas believes applications deploying Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy capabilities will be complemented with our strength in hardware security, all within one MCU that can handle application, communication and security. I am very pleased that Renesas is well positioned to offer this with our flagship RX family which has a proven track record for reliability and safety.”

The new RX23W is based on Renesas’ RXv2 core, which provides outstanding computational performance with improved FP and DSP functions and operates at a maximum clock frequency of 54 MHz. The RX23W provides full Bluetooth® 5.0 Low Energy support including long-range and mesh networking functions and achieves the industry’s lowest level reception mode peak power consumption at 3.0 mA. Furthermore, it integrates a rich set of peripheral functions that are indispensable for IoT equipment, including security, touch key, USB, and CAN functions. These functions allow the RX23W to implement both system control and Bluetooth wireless functions for IoT endpoint equipment such as home appliances, health care equipment, and sports and fitness equipment on a single chip. In addition, the RX23W's Bluetooth mesh functions make it optimal for industrial IoT equipment collecting sensor data within a factory or a building.

 

Key Features of the RX23W MCU:

  • Full functional support for Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy and outstanding reception characteristics
  • A basic protocol stack package and all standard profiles
  • A revolutionary development environment that allows simultaneous development of system control and communication control
  • Secure communications MCU for the IoT
  • Reduced Bill of Materials through integration

 

Pricing and Availability

The RX23W is available now in both 7mm x 7mm 56-pin QFN and 5.5mm x 5.5mm 85-pin BGA packages with 512 KB of on-chip flash memory. For example, the 56-pin QFN package with 512 KB on-chip flash memory will be priced at US$3.83 in 10,000-unit quantities. To learn more about the new Renesas RX23W, visit: https://www.renesas.com/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rx/rx200/rx23w.html