Renesas launches SuperH microcontroller for embedded HD OpenVG graphics

Enables Open VG1.1 2D Graphics Display and WVGA Full-Colour Display

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Renesas Electronics and its subsidiary, Renesas Mobile have launched a new 32bit microcontroller (MCU), the SH7734, with improved graphics and network functionality for automotive, industrial and consumer applications that include an LCD panel. The SH7734 MCU features an Open VG compliant graphics accelerator and a Gigabit Ethernet controller.
The new SH7734 MCU features built-in Open VG 1.1 2D graphics display functions, allowing animation-like displays to be implemented with minimal amounts of memory to improve human-machine interfaces (HMI) in application equipment. To provide high-speed data communications, the SH7734 MCU also includes a built-in Ethernet controller with a data rate of 1Gbit/s. To support higher performance systems and system miniaturization, 16 versions of the SH7734 are available and include offerings with and without an SD memory card interface.
It has become increasingly common for equipment that includes a display to require advanced graphics functionality. In addition to higher performance and higher resolution LCD panels, more and more products, such as OA equipment, home appliances, games, and security systems, also acquire information from multiple external sources over a network and display it in a variety of different ways. This has created a strong demand for graphics functions such as those in the Open VG to enable the implementation of even more complex HMIs. To address these needs, single-chip solutions are required that not only provide high-functionality and high-resolution display functions and high-speed network connectivity, but also integrate powerful peripheral functions that can contribute to system miniaturization.

Key features:

• Open VG compliant graphics accelerator for improved operability in end products; by including graphics display functions that conform to the Open VG 1.1 specifications, the SH7734 MCU can enable, with minimal memory and at high speed, visual effects such as animated display as well as enlargement, rotation, deformation, and colour gradation in figures and text.
• Digital RGB output pins provide full-colour (16.77 million colours) WVGA size (800 × 480) or high-colour (65,536 colours) XGA size (1024 × 768) displays to support increases in the size and resolution of end product screens.
• On-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller, GMII (Gigabit Media Independent Interface) that complies with the IEEE 802.3 standard. The built-in Ethernet interface supports data rates of 10 and 100 Mbps and can also be connected to 1Gbit/s Ethernet LANs. The SH7734 MCU also incorporates a dedicated direct memory access (DMA) controller to reduce CPU overhead and enable smooth, large-capacity data transfers.
• SH-4A CPU core operating at 533MHz and is approximately 1.6 times faster than the existing SH7764 MCU. The SH7734 MCU can quickly perform the audio processing, diverse display control operations, and signal processing required for high-functionality HMIs.
• Built-in memory controller that supports DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM with a maximum clock frequency of 300 MHz. The controller provides memory bandwidths of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second (GBps) to support large-capacity data transfers.

The SH7734 MCU will be available in 16 versions that differ in the combination of SD memory card interface, CAN interface, and other hardware features, allowing system designers to select the version best suited to the specifications of their applications. The SH7734 MCU is provided in a lead-free 440-pin BGA package.
The technologies used in the new SH7734 MCU will continue to be applied to Renesas Mobile’s future R-Mobile series of system on chips (SoCs).