IAR provides full support for the Renesas RA8 series, assisting in AI and ML development

IAR, the global leader in Embedded development software and services, has announced the seamless integration of support for Renesas RA8 MCUS in its newly released IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm 9.40.2. Provides a complete solution for the development of the RA8 series chips based on Arm® Cortex®-M85.

The main highlights:

Cutting-edge support: IAR Embedded Workbench now supports Renesas RA8 MCUS powered by Arm® Cortex®-M85 processors and Arm Helium technology, enabling developers to take full advantage of its performance and capabilities.

Enhanced security: Pointer validation and Branch Target Identification (PACBTI) extensions ensure code and system integrity, providing developers with increased security.

Deploying AI and ML: With optimized options from Arm Helium technology and IAR Embedded Workbench, developers can immediately start building powerful artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and digital signal processing (DSP) applications.

Strong partnership: IAR's ability to quickly integrate support for RA8 MCUS is due to our long-standing partnership with Renesas, which covers applications across multiple sectors including iot, consumer and industrial.

Renesas' RA8 series is the first MCU to feature an Arm Cortex-M85 processor and Arm Helium technology with enhanced DSP and AI/ML capabilities. The first RA8M1 series chips on the market have begun to be shipped in bulk. The RA8 MCU offers broad low-voltage support and includes a variety of low-power modes. In RTC mode, its current consumption can be as low as 0.5µA. Coremark performance tests up to 6.39, making it one of the most powerful microcontrollers available today and scalable to applications beyond microcontrollers. The RA8 family also includes best-in-class hardware and software security features, including advanced encryption acceleration, TrustZone, and anti-tamper protection.

IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm is a complete development toolchain known for features that accelerate embedded development and enhance security. It includes a highly optimized IAR C/C++ compiler and advanced debugging capabilities, and also comes with the code analysis tools IAR C-STAT and IAR C-RUN. The latest version of IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm introduces the PACBTI extension, which provides robust defenses against return oriented programming (ROP) and Jump oriented Programming (JOP) attacks, eliminating software vulnerabilities that can be exploited.

Renesas Product Manager Andy Beeson said: "Developers who want to take full advantage of the high performance and reliable security features of the Renesas RA8 need an equally powerful suite of development tools, and the IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm is the perfect choice. "IAR is a trusted partner in the Renesas tools ecosystem, and now our customers can use IAR tools to quickly start RA8 MCUS based design and development."

Anders Holmberg, Chief Technology Officer at IAR, said: "We are delighted to be the first company in the world to provide complete tool support for the new Renesas RA8 series. Building on the superior performance and security provided by RA8 MCUS, IAR's tools ensure embedded developers take full advantage of these capabilities to develop their AI and ML applications."