IAR full tool support for Renesas RA8 series

Key highlights

• Cutting-edge support: IAR’s Embedded Workbench now empowers developers to harness the capabilities of the Renesas RA8 MCUs, powered by the Arm Cortex-M85 processor featuring Arm’s Helium technology.
• Enhanced security: The Pointer Authentication and Branch Target Identification (PACBTI) extension ensures code and system integrity, enhancing security for developers.
• AI and ML ready: With Arm’s Helium technology and IAR Embedded Workbench’s optimisation, developers can immediately start building powerful applications in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Digital Signal Processing (DSP).
• Strong partnership: IAR’s rapid integration of support for the RA8 MCUs can be attributed to the longstanding partnership with Renesas, spanning diverse systems, including IoT, consumer, and industrial applications.

The Renesas RA8 Series MCUs are the first to feature Arm Cortex-M85 processor and Arm's Helium technology for enhanced DSP and AI/ML capabilities, with the first devices, the RA8M1 Group, now having begun volume shipments. The RA8 MCUs offer extensive support for low voltage and include various low-power modes. They boast remarkable efficiency, with current consumption dropping as low as 0.5µA in RTC mode with battery backup functionality. With an impressive performance rating of 6.39 Coremark/MHz, these MCUs are the most potent available today, expanding potential use cases into applications that previously required microprocessors (MPUs). The RA8 Series incorporates top-tier hardware and software-based security features, including Advanced Cryptographic Acceleration, TrustZone, and Tamper Protection.

The IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm is a comprehensive development toolchain renowned for accelerating embedded development while fortifying security. It compasses the highly optimising IAR C/C++ Compiler and advanced debugging functionalities, facilitated by the code analysis tools IAR C-STAT and IAR C-RUN. The latest release of the tool suite introduces a PACBTI extension, providing a robust defence against Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) and Jump-Oriented Programming (JOP), thereby eliminating exploitable software vulnerabilities.

“Developers aiming to harness the high performance and reliable security features of the Renesas RA8 require an equally powerful development tool suite, such as the IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm,” said Andy Beeson, Product Manager Renesas Electronics. “IAR stands as a trusted partner within the Renesas tools ecosystem, enabling our customers to commence RA8 MCU-based designs promptly.”

“We are excited to be the industry’s first to offer complete tools support for the new Renesas RA8 series,” said Anders Holmberg, CTO at IAR. “With the RA8 MCUs delivering remarkable performance and security, our tools ensure that embedded developers can fully leverage these capabilities for their AI and ML applications.”