RA8T1 Evaluation Kit

Overview

The MCK-RA8T1 is a development kit that enables easy evaluation of motor control using permanent magnet synchronous motors (brushless DC motors). More detailed information about the features of this toolkit and it’s applications can be found here: MCK-RA8T1 Website

MCK-RA8T1 kit includes the items below:

  • RA8T1 CPU board (MCB-RA8T1)

  • Inverter board (MCI-LV-1)

  • Communication board (MC-COM)

  • Permanent magnet synchronous motors

  • Accessories (cables, standoffs, etc.)

RA8T1 Evaluation Kit

MCK-RA8T1 product contents (Credit: Renesas Electronics Corporation)

MCB-RA8T1 is a CPU board for motor control equipped with RA8T1. Motor control using RA8T1 can be easily realized by using it in combination with a supported inverter board. The RA8T1 MCU can be evaluated using this board alone.

By using a supported communication board, the CPU board can be electrically isolated from the PC for safe motor control evaluation and debugging.

The specifications of the CPU board are shown below:

MCU specifications

  • 480MHz Arm Cortex-M85 based RA8T1 MCU in 224 pins, BGA package

  • ROM/RAM size: 2MB/1MB

  • MCU input clock: 24MHz (Generate with external crystal oscillator)

  • Power supply: DC 5V, select one way automatically from the below:

    • Power is supplied from compatible inverter board

    • Power is supplied from USB connector

Connector

  • Inverter board connector (2 pair)

  • USB connector for J-Link OB

  • USB connector for RA8T1

  • SCI connector for Renesas Motor Workbench communication

  • Through hole for CAN communication

  • 20 pin through hole for Arm debugger

  • Pmod connectors (Type6A + Type2A/3A)

  • Ethrnet connector

  • microSD card connector

RA8T1 Evaluation Kit

CPU Board Layout (Credit: Renesas Electronics Corporation)

Onboard debugger

This product has the onboard debugger circuit, J-Link On-Board (hereinafter called “J-Link-OB”). You can write a program (firmware) of RA8T1 with it.

Hardware

Detail Hardware feature for the RA8T1 MCU group can be found at RA8T1 Group User’s Manual Hardware

RA8T1 MCU group feature

RA8T1 Block diagram (Credit: Renesas Electronics Corporation)

Detail Hardware feature for the MCB-RA8T1 board can be found at MCB-RA8T1 - User’s Manual

Supported Features

The below features are currently supported on Zephyr OS for MCB-RA8T1 board:

Interface

Controller

Driver/Component

GPIO

on-chip

gpio

MPU

on-chip

arch/arm

NVIC

on-chip

arch/arm

UART

on-chip

serial

CLOCK

on-chip

clock control

ENTROPY

on-chip

entropy

SPI

on-chip

spi

FLASH

on-chip

flash

Other hardware features are currently not supported by the port.

Programming and Debugging

Applications for the mcb_ra8t1 board configuration can be built, flashed, and debugged in the usual way. See Building an Application and Run an Application for more details on building and running.

Note: Only support from SDK v0.16.6 in which GCC for Cortex Arm-M85 was available. To build for EK-RA8M1 user need to get and install GNU Arm Embedded toolchain from https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/sdk-ng/releases/tag/v0.16.6

Flashing

Program can be flashed to MCB-RA8T1 via the on-board SEGGER J-Link debugger. SEGGER J-link’s drivers are avaialbe at https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/

To flash the program to board

  1. Connect to J-Link OB via USB port to host PC

  2. Make sure J-Link OB jumper is in default configuration as describe in MCB-RA8T1 - User’s Manual

  3. Execute west command

    west flash -r jlink

Debugging

You can use Segger Ozone (Segger Ozone Download) for a visual debug interface

Once downloaded and installed, open Segger Ozone and configure the debug project like so:

  • Target Device: R7FA8T1AH

  • Target Interface: SWD

  • Target Interface Speed: 4 MHz

  • Host Interface: USB

  • Program File: <path/to/your/build/zephyr.elf>

Note: It’s verified that debug is OK on Segger Ozone v3.30d so please use this or later version of Segger Ozone

References