Renesas Releases Even Faster 16-bit MCUs with Integrated PLC Functions

Demand has been growing for smart meters, which form the core of smart power grids, capable of realizing an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for reducing the peak power requirements of lighting fixtures, electric household appliances, and so forth in addition to conventional automated meter reading (AMR). This has led to calls for microcontrollers (MCUs) with on-chip communication control functions offering improved performance. One communication capability for smart meters that is attracting attention is power line communication (PLC), which makes it possible to transfer data over existing power lines and eliminates the need to install new cables. At the same time, there is strong demand for high-speed data communication, more compactness, and reduced system cost.

Renesas Electronics Corp.'s 16-bit M16C/6S1 MCUs with built-in power line communication (PLC) functions enable data-transfer speeds among the fastest in the industry in the low-frequency band of 10kHz to 450kHz. Suitable for applications such as smart meters, lighting fixtures, and electric household appliances equipped with data communication capabilities essential for visualization of energy usage such as electrical power and quantitative evaluation, the M16C/6S1 MCUs incorporate as PLC modem cores, both the IT700, a conventional differential code shift keying (DCSK) core, and the IT900, which employs a newer system, thereby ensuring communication compatibility with existing M16C/6S MCUs.

Renesas Electronics already mass produces the M16C/6S Group of MCUs that combines a PLC modem and an MCU on a single chip. The new M16C/6S1 Group provides substantially faster communication speeds and on-chip implementation of functionality that previously required connection of an external device, allowing still further reduction of the overall system size.

The M16C/6S1 Group of MCUs incorporates up to 256kB of built-in flash memory, approximately four times the flash memory capacity of the company’s existing M16C/6S MCUs, making it possible to accommodate the addition of application programs for handling larger networks (including AMI support). There is also 8kB of on-chip data flash for storing data, eliminating the need to connect external EEPROM. Finally, the RAM capacity has been expanded to approximately 1.3 times that of comparable earlier Renesas Electronics products.

The analog front-end, which comprises elements such as a driver amplifier circuit, band-pass filter, and 10-bit ADC, and which has to be connected to the existing M16C/6S MCU as an external device, is now integrated into a single chip with the new MCUs. This reduces the mounting area on the printed wiring board by about 20 percent, contributing to greater compactness and reduced system cost.

Renesas Electronics