Renesas Launches Virtual Development Environment for Fast Automotive Application Software Development and Evaluation

Rhea-AI Summary

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) has introduced a virtual development environment for automotive application software, enhancing development efficiency. This new platform includes the Virtual Turnkey Platform and a Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, enabling engineers to create software without the need for physical devices. The tools support concurrent development across platforms and are designed to streamline the integration and troubleshooting of complex software components. The initial offering is available for the R-Car S4 SoC, with future support planned for additional products.

Positive

• Launch of virtual development environment enhances software development speed.
• Multicore Debug and Trace Tool simplifies software integration and debugging processes.
• Allows for concurrent development on multiple PCs or servers, increasing efficiency.

Negative

• None.

New Environment Allows Customers to Bring Leading-Edge Software to Market Quickly

TOKYO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the launch of a virtual development environment that enables advance development and operational evaluation of automotive application software to support the latest requirements of electrical/electronic architecture (E/E architecture). The environment includes a Virtual Turnkey Platform, which allows engineers to develop application software before devices or evaluation boards are available. Additionally, the new environment offers a Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, which enables users to analyze and evaluate the operation of their software as if it were running on an actual chip. These tools will allow customers to kick-start development and get to market faster with leading-edge software.

(Graphic: Business Wire)

“With the evolution of E/E architecture, there is an increasing demand for software design that can maximize performance at a system level. At the same time, the increasing time and cost associated with software development have become a big challenge,” said Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Vice President, Automotive Software Development Division at Renesas. “Our integrated software development environment that can be used across gateway systems, ADAS, and xEV development, enables customers to benefit from the scalability of Renesas products such as R-Car and the RH850 family for both software and hardware development.”

As software becomes a critical part of automobiles, customers’ application software becomes larger and more complex. In order to increase the value of their software, customers are looking for new development methods and environments to develop highly reliable software more quickly.

“Virtual Turnkey Platform” Application Software Development Environment

This platform consists of the R-Car Virtual Platform (R-Car VPF) development environment and a software development kit (R-Car SDK) that includes pre-tested software libraries and sample code. R-Car VPF is based on Virtualizer Development Kits (VDKs) from Synopsys, and integrates virtual models of intellectual property (IP) specific to R-Car to customize for R-Car devices. By overlaying the R-Car SDK on this platform, it enables engineers to immediately start development of application software virtually. The platform accurately recreates the behavior of the actual chip and thus eliminates the need to build up a development environment with a physical evaluation board. Multiple users can also develop software simultaneously on separate PCs or servers.

“Multicore Debug and Trace Tool” for Analyzing and Evaluating Software Operation

Once engineers complete the development of multiple software components side by side on the Virtual Turnkey Platform, the next step is to integrate the software and verify that it runs on a single chip. Software components share resources such as the multiple CPUs and IPs on R-Car SoCs. If operational problems are detected after the software components are integrated, it requires a tremendous amount of work to analyze and solve these issues. With this in mind, Renesas created the Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, which simplifies the process of analyzing and identifying the causes of errors occurring from the interaction of the multiple hardware resources in R-Car SoCs. This enables synchronous and simultaneous debugging of the entire heterogeneous architecture of R-Car without using the actual device. This helps identify potential problems and thus accelerates the development process.

Availability

The development environment is available for the R-Car S4 SoC for automotive gateways. Renesas has plans to support the R-Car V4H as well as future versions of R-Car products and RH850 automotive MCUs.

For more information on the Virtual Turnkey Platform, please visit:
https://www.renesas.com/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-virtual-platform.

For more information on the Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, please visit:
https://www.renesas.com/software-tool/multi-core-debug-and-trace-tool.

About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) empowers a safer, smarter and more sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. A leading global provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines our expertise in embedded processing, analog, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These Winning Combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications, enabling billions of connected, intelligent devices that enhance the way people work and live. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

(Remarks). All names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220412005517/en/

Media Contacts:

Americas

Don Parkman

Renesas Electronics Corporation

+ 1-408-887-4308

don.parkman.xh@renesas.com

Source: Renesas Electronics Corporation

FAQ

What is the new virtual development environment from Renesas Electronics?

Renesas Electronics has launched a virtual development environment to enhance automotive application software development, allowing engineers to work without physical devices.

What tools are included in Renesas's new development environment?

The environment includes the Virtual Turnkey Platform and a Multicore Debug and Trace Tool for analyzing and evaluating software operations.

Which product is the new development environment available for?

The virtual development environment is initially available for the R-Car S4 SoC.

How does the Multicore Debug and Trace Tool benefit software development?

It simplifies the integration and debugging of software components by enabling analysis of operations without needing the actual device.

What are Renesas's future plans for its virtual development environment?

Renesas plans to support additional R-Car products and RH850 automotive MCUs in the future.