First Cloud-based System Development Tool Enables Rapid Prototypes

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced new features and further coverage for its Quick Connect Studio, a cloud-based embedded system design platform. The platform allows users to graphically co-optimise hardware and software to validate prototypes and accelerate product development quickly.

The platform empowers engineers to graphically drag and drop device and design blocks on the Cloud to construct their solution. After placing each block, users can generate, compile, and build the base software automatically, a major shift towards the no-code development paradigm. This makes building production-level software as easy as piecing building blocks together. There is very little upfront learning or investment needed. The cloud compute power supplies fast compilation, and the intuitive GUI lowers the learning curve. The platform automatically generates system software that can be iteratively tested on the hardware.

The company continues expanding this platform with a wide portfolio of a growing number of devices from Renesas and partners that users can use to build their prototype systems. Quick Connect Studio now offers support for all the Renesas RA MCU boards and multiple Renesas wireless modules and sensors. Additionally, devices from partners such as ams OSRAM, TDK, and Arducam have been added to broaden further the range of supported applications and designs. Quick Connect Studio can help users build over 350 systems using Renesas MCU and breakout boards. Renesas is working with more suppliers and partners to automate the addition of their complementary devices, thus providing customers with a broad portfolio of supported devices to build their system designs.

Renesas is now introducing real-time code customisation and remote debugging for Quick Connect Studio users. The automatically generated code can be customised in real-time in the browser application. Using remote board farms, the code can be tested dynamically on target hardware to verify the operation before buying or building the physical board and setting up the test system. This capability dramatically speeds up the process of building proof of concepts and prototyping system solutions by concurrently working on both software and hardware components of system design.

Renesas now offers multi-region secure infrastructure deployments worldwide for uniform user experience, fastest response and reduced latency. This enables auto-scaling to accommodate multiple concurrent users to access the platform anywhere, anytime.

“Quick Connect Studio is a transformational offering for the industry,” said DK Singh, Vice President, Digitalization for Renesas. “For the first time, engineers can now pursue hardware and software development simultaneously. Our aim is to remove all the preparatory work from the system development process. This is a radical shift, enabling designers to focus their resources and energy on their core innovation build software immediately with the ability to quickly reconfigure and test product ideas.”

“Renesas is empowering customers to accelerate their proof of concepts and production processes through Quick Connect Studio,” said Sahil Choudhary, director of Marketing at TDK. “Once integrated into this platform, customers can seamlessly incorporate our MEMS 6-axis motion sensor with any Renesas RA MCU, generating production-ready code within minutes without delving into intricate technical details.”

The Quick Connect Studio is a part of Renesas Quick Connect, a standardised hardware platform featuring industry-established interfaces such as PMOD, Arduino, and MIKROE. With standard connectors, engineers can mix and match MCUs, MPUs, sensors, and connectivity boards seamlessly. In the future, users will be able to extend and expand beyond the company to different partners, such as major cloud providers, service integrators, and leaders in the open-source community.