RA4M1-Zero Tutorial

Overview

Introduction

RA4M1-Zero is a compact microcontroller development board with multiple digital interfaces. In terms of hardware, it uses a R7FA4M1AB3CFM chip, which is equipped with a Cortex-M4® 32-bit single-core processor, equipped with an FPU floating point unit, supports up to 48MHz clock frequency, and has a built-in 256KB ROM, 32KB SRAM and 8KB EEPROM. It is compatible with a variety of peripherals and makes it more convenient to use. As for the software, you can choose Arduino IED for development, making it easy and quick to get started and apply it to products.

Features

Features Renesas RA4M1 MCU, based on the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 architecture, with a running frequency of 48MHz and built-in FPU (Floating Point Unit)
Integrates 256KB flash memory, 32KB SRAM, and 8KB EEPROM
Equipped with 14-bit ADC, 12-bit DAC, CAN bus controller, USB 2.0 interface, and onboard RGB LED
Supports firmware encryption, secure boot and anti-tamper functions to improve the security of data and systems and ensure the security of applications
Provides rich peripheral interfaces, with strong compatibility and expandability
Castellated module allows soldering directly to carrier boards
Compatible with Arduino IDE, supports users in quick development and convenient debugging, reducing development difficulty

Onboard Resources

1. Renesas R7FA4M1AB3CFM
Equipped with FPU and operating frequency up to 48MHz

2. WS2812 RGB LED
Controlled with MCU D6 GPIO

3. BOOT button
Press it and then press RESET to enter Bootloader download mode

4. USB Type-C interface
Supports USB 1.1 host and slave devices for program download

5. RESET button

6. ME6217C33M5G
Low dropout regulator (LDO), 800mA output (Max.)

7. 0R resistor
The jumper selects MCU voltage as 3V3 or 5V, and defaults to 3V3

Pinout Definition

Dimensions

Arduino Environment Setup

Get Arduino IDE from the official website and select the ZIP file to download (for other system users, select the corresponding file to download)

Download and extract the files, then open the extracted directory, double-click on Arduino IDE.exe, and download the board file needed for RA4M1-Zero

After the download is completed, reopen Arduino IDE, create a new project --> Flash program --> Observe serial port

If you see that the serial port outputs Hello, World every 1s, it means that the environment is successfully set up

Bootloader Firmware Download

Download the corresponding Firmware Flashing Tool, after downloading and extracting successfully, enter the Renesas_Flash directory and double-click the exe file to install, and the installation process options remain the default

After successful installation, go to the file in the previous step, enter the directory AWAA, double-click to open the AWAA.rpj tool to set the file

Select Connect Settings on the toolbar, then press and hold the Boot button on the board, then press Reset button to enter the firmware download mode, and then select the corresponding COM port

Select Operation from the toolbar, then click Add/Remove Files to add Firmware, and delete other unnecessary firmware

Finally, click on Start and wait for the firmware download to complete. After the download is complete, unplug and plug in the USB again to power on

Demo

RA4M1-Zero demos
Demo	Basic Description	Dependency Library
01_UART_Test	Basic UART communication demo	-
02_CAN_Read_Test	Basic CAN communication reading demo	-
03_CAN_Write_Test	Basic CAN communication sending demo	-

For more RA4M1 demos, please refer to Arduino official RA4M1 demos

01_UART_Test

Demo description

A simple demo of UART interactive communication.

Hardware connection

Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code analysis

Serial.begin(115200): Initialize UART baud rate to 115200.
Serial.available(): Retrieve data from UART cache.
Serial.read(): Read data from UART cache.
Serial.print(): Send UART data.

Result demonstration

The program compilation download is complete, open the serial port monitoring and input Hello, World, and you can see that the monitoring console outputs Hello, World at the same time, as shown in the figure below:

02_CAN_Read_Test

Demo description

A simple CAN bus data communication demo. If you want to see the actual effect, you need to connect an external CAN transceiver. The RA4M1-Zero only has a CAN controller.

Hardware connection

Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable (refer to demo 01)

Code analysis

CAN.begin(CanBitRate::BR_500k): Initialize CAN bus baud rate to 500K.
CAN.available()': Retrieve data from CAN cache.
CAN.read(): Read data from CAN cache.

Code analysis

To see the actual operation effect, the customer needs to connect an external CAN transceiver, and the demo has passed the test normally.

03_CAN_Write_Test

Demo description

A simple CAN bus sending data communication demo. If you want to see the actual effect, you need to connect an external CAN transceiver. The RA4M1-Zero only has a CAN controller.

Hardware connection