RA8T1 Motor Control 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 Motor Control 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

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

Detailed Hardware features 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)

Detailed Hardware features for the MCB-RA8T1 board can be found at MCB-RA8T1 - User’s Manual

Supported Features

The mck_ra8t1 board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board
Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2
Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo
Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

mck_ra8t1/r7fa8t1ahecbd target

Type

Location

Description

Compatible

CPU

on-chip

ARM Cortex-M85 CPU1

arm,cortex-m85

ADC

on-chip

Renesas RA ADC node1 1

renesas,ra-adc

CAN

on-chip

Renesas RA CANFD controller global1

renesas,ra-canfd-global

on-chip

Renesas RA CANFD controller1 1

renesas,ra-canfd

Clock control

on-chip

Renesas RA Clock Generation Circuit external clock configuration1

renesas,ra-cgc-external-clock

on-chip

Generic fixed-rate clock provider3

fixed-clock

on-chip

Renesas RA Sub-Clock1

renesas,ra-cgc-subclk

on-chip

Renesas RA Clock Generation Circuit PLL Clock1 1

renesas,ra-cgc-pll

on-chip

Renesas RA Clock Generation Circuit PLL Clock out line3 3

renesas,ra-cgc-pll-out

on-chip

Renesas RA Clock Control node pclk block1

renesas,ra-cgc-pclk-block

on-chip

Renesas RA Clock Control Peripheral Clock12 6

renesas,ra-cgc-pclk

on-chip

Renesas RA External Bus Clock1

renesas,ra-cgc-busclk

Comparator

on-chip

Renesas RA ACMPHS (High-Speed Analog COMParator) Global1

renesas,ra-acmphs-global

on-chip

Renesas RA ACMPHS (High-Speed Analog COMParator) Controller2

renesas,ra-acmphs

Counter

on-chip

Renesas RA AGT as Counter2

renesas,ra-agt-counter

DAC

on-chip

Renesas RA DAC Controller Global1

renesas,ra-dac-global

on-chip

Renesas RA DAC Controller1 1

renesas,ra-dac

Ethernet

on-chip

Renesas RA Ethernet1

renesas,ra-ethernet

on-board

Generic MII PHY1

ethernet-phy

Flash controller

on-chip

Renesas RA family flash high-performance controller1

renesas,ra-flash-hp-controller

GPIO & Headers

on-chip

Renesas RA GPIO I/O Port3 9

renesas,ra-gpio-ioport

I2C

on-chip

Renesas RA I2C Master controller2

renesas,ra-iic

on-chip

Renesas RA SCI-B I2C controller6

renesas,ra-i2c-sci-b

Interrupt controller

on-chip

ARMv8.1-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1

arm,v8.1m-nvic

LED

on-board

Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1

gpio-leds

MDIO

on-chip

Renesas RA External MDIO controller1

renesas,ra-mdio

Miscellaneous

on-chip

Renesas RA SCI controller1 5

renesas,ra-sci

on-chip

Renesas RA AGT2

renesas,ra-agt

on-chip

Renesas RA External Interrupt16

renesas,ra-external-interrupt

MMU / MPU

on-chip

ARMv8.1-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1

arm,armv8.1m-mpu

MTD

on-chip

Flash memory binding of Renesas RA family2

renesas,ra-nv-flash

on-board

Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1

fixed-partitions

PHY

on-chip

This binding is to be used by all the usb transceivers which are built-in with USB IP1

usb-nop-xceiv

Pin control

on-chip

The Renesas RA pin controller is a node responsible for controlling pin function selection and pin properties, such as routing a SCI0 RXD to P6101

renesas,ra-pinctrl-pfs

PWM

on-chip

Renesas RA Pulse Width Modulation1 13

renesas,ra-pwm

RNG

on-chip

Renesas RA RSIP-E51A TRNG1

renesas,ra-rsip-e51a-trng

SDHC

on-chip

Renesas RA SDHC1 1

renesas,ra-sdhc

Serial controller

on-chip

Renesas RA SCI_B UART controller1 5

renesas,ra8-uart-sci-b

SPI

on-chip

Renesas RA8 SPI_B controller1 1

renesas,ra8-spi-b

SRAM

on-chip

Generic on-chip SRAM description1

mmio-sram

Timer

on-chip

ARMv8.1-M System Tick1

arm,armv8.1m-systick

USB

on-chip

Renesas RA USB full-speed controller1

renesas,ra-usbfs

on-chip

Renesas RA USB device controller1

renesas,ra-udc

Watchdog

on-chip

Renesas RA Watchdog (wdt)1

renesas,ra-wdt

Note

For using SDHC module on EK-RA8M1, Connect microSD Card to microSD Socket (CN12)

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 available 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