Class-leading enhancements to JPEG decode for MCU

SEGGER offers hand-optimised extensions to their JPEG decode firmware to optimise IDCT calculations based on the Arm Helium extension available in the new Renesas RA8D1 MCU group, built on the Arm Cortex-M85 processor.

The new firmware extensions make it feasible to accelerate the time-critical IDCT algorithms required to decode JPEG images. The performance increase compared to MCUs without Helium is generally a factor of three times. When running on the RA8D1 at full speed, a JPEG decode can be reduced from 12ms to 4ms. When integrated with the SEGGER emWin graphics libraries, achieving an excellent 40fps decode on an 800 × 480 JPEG image is possible.

"We were happy to be able to partner with Renesas to utilise the Arm Helium extension in the RA8D1 to deliver such high-performance graphics solutions," says Rolf Segger, founder of SEGGER. "The Helium extension is perfect to accelerate the IDCT processing and largely removes the need for special hardware JPEG decoders."

"Having a partner like SEGGER to help us unlock the full graphics potential of the RA8D1 is essential," says Daryl Khoo, vice president of the IoT Platform Division at Renesas. "The fact we have these firmware enhancements available from day one means we can confidently release the RA8D1 knowing we have a market-leading solution."

The company's complete RA development tool suite comprises ultra-fast debugging with the J-Link family of debug probes, the Embedded Studio IDE, including GCC and SEGGER compilers, the full-featured Ozone graphical debugger, SystemView (real-time recording and visualisation tool), and middleware extension solutions such as cycle-accurate embOS-Ultra and emWin GUI. The company complements the development cycle with the Flasher series of production programmers to provide end-to-end support for the entire RA series of MCUs.