Industry’s First-Ever Cloud-based System Development Tool Enables Rapid Prototypes and Co-Optimization of Software and Hardware
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions has announced new features and additional coverage for its Quick Connect Studio, a cloud-based embedded system design platform. Quick Connect Studio enables users to graphically co-optimize hardware and software to quickly validate prototypes and accelerate product development.
Quick Connect Studio empowers engineers to graphically drag and drop devices and design blocks on the Cloud to build their solution. After placing each block, users can generate, compile, and build the base software automatically, a major shift towards the no-code paradigm of development. This makes building production-level software as easy as piecing building blocks together. There is very little upfront learning or investment needed. The cloud computing power provides fast compilation, and the intuitive GUI reduces the learning curve. Quick Connect Studio automatically generates system software that can be iteratively tested on the hardware.
Renesas is continuing to expand this platform with a broad 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, as well as multiple Renesas wireless modules and sensors. Additionally, devices from partners such as ams OSRAM, TDK, and Arducam have been added to further broaden the range of supported applications and designs. Quick Connect Studio can now 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 customization and remote debugging for Quick Connect Studio users. The automatically generated code can be customized in real-time in the browser application. Using remote board farms, the code can be tested on target hardware dynamically 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 around the world 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.”
Renesas’ Quick Connect Studio is a part of Renesas Quick Connect, a platform of standardized hardware 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 Renesas to different partners such as major cloud providers, service integrators, and leaders in the open-source community.
