Renesas and Thesycon collaborate on USB support for the M16C/6C microcontroller

The new USB 2.0 compliant, full-speed 12 MB/s interface supports standard Control, Bulk and Interrupt transfer types. The components include the M16C/60 16-bit CISC CPU core that works with clock rates of up to 32 MHz and a power supply of between 2.7 and 5.5 VDC.

“Integrating the USB 2.0 interface on the M16C/6C microcontroller is clearly an important step forward towards better integration and connectivity, especially for industrial and consumer applications,” explains Bernd Westhoff, Product Marketing Manager at Renesas Technology Europe’s CID Business Unit. “It’s also very important to choose the right network to ensure effective product support for the end customer. With Thesycon as our USB stack supplier, we know we’ve found a partner who can support our controllers and provide our customers with USB stacks as well as broad-based expertise.”
Thesycon’s USB software stack implements the central functionality of a USB device and optionally provides specific protocols adapted to the relevant device class. This enables developers to easily equip embedded systems based on the Renesas M16C platform’s USB microcontroller with USB device functionality.

The software stack complies with the USB 2.0 specification and supports Control, Bulk and Interrupt transfer modes at maximum speed. It also includes complete USB request processing and expanded error recovery mechanisms for faultless operation. The USB stack firmware is written in ANSI-C and supports Renesas’ High-Performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) development environment. To facilitate integration, the software is designed as a library and provided in source code form. The library does not require specific operating system support, enabling it to be integrated into any embedded operating system and used in standalone applications.

The modular design allows engineers to implement proprietary USB interfaces as well as standard device classes. It supports the development of combination devices that group several logical functions in one physical controller, as well as devices with multiple configurations. Utilising the USB API directly without a device class only requires elementary knowledge of USB, while the device-class specific APIs provide a high abstraction level and are also easy to use.

“With our embedded USB device stack, a reliable and flexible USB solution for the M16C/6C microcontroller is now available for industrial use,” explains Udo Eberhardt, CEO of Thesycon Systemsoftware & Consulting. “We also provide the relevant device drivers for Windows2 and Windows CE. This gives the customer a complete USB communication solution from a single supplier, together with first-class technical support by the developers themselves.”

On the PC side, Thesycon provides a generic USB device driver for Windows called USBIO. This enables developers of Windows applications to control any type of USB device.

The Starter Kit RSKM16C/6C and the M16C/6C family of microcontrollers will be available shortly from all Renesas distributors. The RSK RSKM16C/6C board can be connected to the Renesas debugger E8a, which is supplied together with the RSKM16C/6C.